korea adventures
Weekly updates about the things I'm up to. Mainly so my grandma doesn't worry too much about me.
SNU started school on Wednesday 9/1, but I don't have class on Fridays. Yay for a 3 day weekend, every weekend! As of right now, all classes are being held via Zoom due to Seoul being in Level 4 social distancing (the strictest restriction). However, some of my classes have a possibility of going in person starting in October/November. I had gotten all of the courses I wanted during the original registration period, but I ended up changing my schedule like 5 times within the first 3 days of school because of various reasons mentioned below.
Important note: I should have been more prepared for registration. I definitely regret not submitting more course petitions ahead of time to Shidler. I had the mindset that I would just submit petitions for the courses when I actually register for them, but I should've submitted petitions for EVERY course that I had any interest in (or anything related to business in general) when the SNU courses were first posted. That way, I would have known which courses would transfer back home ahead of time. Here are the classes I was originally registered for and the course equivalency at UH: Sport Marketing (MKT 361, Wednesday 10-12:50) Financial Statement Analysis (BUS 367F, Wednesday 2-4:50) Digital Marketing (MKT 362, T/Th 2-3:15) Modern Korean History and Society (HIST 328, Monday 1:30-4:20) Sustainable Business Management (BUS 367G, Tuesday 10-12:50) On Wednesday, I was supposed to go to my Sport Marketing course that began at 10AM that I registered for during the original registration period, but I found out that I couldn't take it because it was restricted for people in the Physical Education Department. BUT, SNU's registration system is really complicated, so you can only add/drop classes between 9AM-6PM from 9/1-9/7 on weekdays. Thus, I had to wait until Wednesday morning at 9AM to drop the Sport Marketing class. I found a course that still had open seats called Economics for Business. I registered for it, submitted my course petition (for BUS 367F) and syllabus to Shidler right after, and attended the class at 9:30AM. The professor seemed really nice and the course sounded interesting. However, I had to drop the course the next day because Shidler got back to me and said the course is equivalent to BUS 313, which I already took last semester. I was kind of surprised because the material that was supposed to be covered in the Economics for Business course seemed to have a different focus than BUS 313. To any future exchange student reading this, please do not be like me. I repeat: submit your petitions ahead of time so you know that the courses you are registering for will give you credit back at home. Also on Wednesday, I had the Financial Statement Analysis class that I registered for during the original registration period. I was really looking forward to this class because it was the only class directly related to my majors of Accounting and Finance. I thought I would be well prepared for it because we did a financial statement project in ACC 321 last semester. Although there were no pre reqs for the FSA class, the professor said that we should have prior knowledge of basic accounting/finance concepts, and he proceeded to give us an ungraded pop quiz. He mentioned that if we struggle with the pop quiz, it would be a good idea to find another course to take. I was honestly stumped on some of the questions because I don't think I've learned it before (or it could have been from the nearly four month long summer vacation), and I figured that it would be best if I find another course to take. After my classes were done on Wednesday (and before 6PM), I browsed the SNU course website for another business course to take. I dropped the FSA course and decided to take the Economics of Sustainability course, which the other girl from UH is taking. To end the day, my friend took me to a market about a 15 minute walk from our goshiwon. There was a large supermarket (similar to Palama), but the road surrounding the supermarket had a bunch of vendors selling fish, kimchee, clothes, and anything you could think of. I didn't buy anything because I didn't bring my reusable bag (and Korea charges for plastic bags just like Hawaii). On Thursday morning, I submitted my course petition (for BUS 367F for Economics of Sustainability) and syllabus to Shidler. I began to worry that the course wouldn't transfer back home. I decided to drop the Modern Korean History and Society class and replace it with Introduction to Modern Economy (already on the pre-approved list for BUS 367F) because the times overlapped on Monday. I still wanted to take a Korean related class since I am in Korea, and luckily a class called Korean History had ONE seat left. At 9AM, I tried to add the class, but it wouldn't let me. Apparently, if a course was full before but seats opened up during the add/drop period, the times to add the courses are different. It makes absolutely no sense to me, so I had to wait until 10AM to add the course. On the bright side, I was able to get the last seat! Also on Thursday, I attended my Digital Marketing class. The professor has a very diverse educational background, so I am really looking forward to taking his class. This was the only class so far that has not had any problems. In Hawaii, I primarily live by myself during the week without a meal plan, can't use the stove for anything besides eggs, and rely on easy to blend/cut/microwave Costco food or stuff my sister makes for me. Basically, I am quite hopeless when it comes to cooking, and my sister has been telling me to learn how to cook for the longest time. However, now is my time to learn how to cook. It's probably cheaper and easier to eat out in Korea (depending on what/where you're eating), but sometimes it is nice to eat a healthy, home-cooked meal. My friend and I went back to the market (with our reusable bags this time) and bought a few groceries to cook dinner in the goshiwon kitchen. I sent a picture of it to my sister, and she told me what to do with everything. I made a tofu stir fry, and honestly it wasn't that bad. Mission accomplished! And my sister can't bother me about not being able to cook when I go home. On Friday, I didn't have class, so I signed up for Lunch and Board Game day with the SNU Buddy Program. For SNU Buddy, there are about 80 Korean students total who have 4-5 international buddies each (us international students were able to choose our buddy). There are also about 10 big groups that consist of 8 Korean students and their international buddies (each big group has 40 people total). The purpose of these big groups is to meet people outside of your own small buddy group. SNU Buddy has events planned almost every week, but because of COVID, they do sign ups for each event to restrict the number of people. Once slots filled up, 3 international students are randomly paired with a Korean buddy. As of right now, only four people can hang out together before 6PM, and that number reduces to two after 6PM. For lunch, we ate at a pork belly place near SNU station and went to Sulbing after for bingsu (bingsu count: 4). Instead of going to a board game cafe, we all agreed on doing a breakout room. We rode the train to Gangnam to do one of the Seoul Escape Rooms. I think I am bad luck when it comes to escape rooms (I tried Breakout Waikiki 3 times and have never broken out), and I did not break out once again. I had a lot of fun though, and yes, the hints and locks were all English friendly. We walked around Gangnam for a little bit, and this was my first time seeing the sun while in Korea. When I rode the train back to the goshiwon, I was honestly kind of tired, but I had to make the most of the sunny day. I went for a short walk down the road to the market and Daiso. On Saturday, I had a very busy and fun day with Justina and her roommate. Justina and I have a list of places we want to eat at, and one of them was the Kakao Friends Cafe in Hongdae. I had a savory cheese and onion biscuit and some kind of sweet apple dessert. When I tried to purchase the food, the worker said that if we are dining in (which we were), we must buy a drink from the cafe. I thought that was absolutely ridiculous because the food was already expensive, and the cheapest drink was an americano for $4. I don't love coffee, but I wasn't going to spend $8 on a smoothie. I just bought the americano, and the caffeine made me feel jittery for hours. Other than the ridiculous drink policy, I really enjoyed the food. After Kakao Friends, we rode the train to Dongdaemun and took a quick look at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. We saw a lot of vendors selling fake Louis Vuitton and Gucci on the streets. From Dongdaemun, we rode a bus straight to Namsam Seoul Tower. We were super lucky that it was a clear day once again, so the views from the observatory were beautiful. Since Itaewon was nearby, we decided to try a vegan restaurant called Plant. To get there, we walked down the mountain, but we ended up walking to the wrong side of the mountain... and ended up taking the train to get to Plant. Apparently Plant is a super popular restaurant even at 3:30PM, but while waiting for a table, I met students also going to SNU who live in my goshiwon! The wait for Plant was worth it though, and it was the best meal I've had in Korea so far. I had a mushrooom burger and hummus dip. There were a lot of foreigners dining there, and all of the workers spoke English very well. On Sunday, I spent my morning doing some things for IBO back at home. In the afternoon, I decided to get a little bit of exercise in by exploring the SNU campus. I followed the main road, which ended up being a 6 mile walk. I am kind of thankful that classes are online for now because the campus is gigantic, and I would definitely not be able to find any of the buildings. The campus is also super hilly, so my legs are thankful too. Even though it was a weekend, there were a bunch of cars and people around campus. I think it is because there are hiking trails located on the edges of campus. That is something I will check out on another day.
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AuthorStudying abroad at Seoul National University! Archives
December 2021
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