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Tag: GW Exchange

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By jlee4946

With nearly 3 months in Korea coming to a close, I think I can narrow down 5 of my favorite things to do here.

1. Coin Karaoke (코인노래방): As you may well know, karaoke, or noraebang, in Korea is extremely popular. However, something that's been of fashion or "유행" here is coin karaoke, where you go into the booths that can cozily fit 3 people and each song you sing is about $0.25, although some of them are $0.50. So even if you sing 20 songs, that's still only $5 and over an hour's worth of entertainment. Affordable and enjoyable, best of both worlds!

2. Claw Machine (인형뽑기): My favorite thing to waste money on in Korea doesn't even guarantee an end product. It's the stuffed animal claw machines that I rarely see in the US anymore. In Korea, however, there are entire rooms dedicated to these claw machines, in addition to a variety of selection at arcades. For me, the problem is when I first grab the stuffed animal, I do really well. I bring it really close to the drop box. But then that's where I struggle and spend 1000 won bills (similar to $1) one after another.

3. Street market (시장): So when I got notified that I didn't get a dorm assignment at SNU for the semester, I found a place to stay in a place called Nak-Seong-Dae (낙성대). At first, I was honestly kind of peeved because dorms are SO much cheaper, SO close to campus and just convenient as an exchange student. However, I'm so thankful now that I have my own place in Nakseongdae. There's a street market less than a 10 minute walk from my house filled with traditional Korean foods such as rice cakes and street foods such as spicy rice cakes, fish cake, kimbap, etc., fresh baked bread, even Japanese takoyaki, baked chestnuts, fresh fish, butcheries, sashimi and family owned restaurants. It's such a unique experience walking down the street with grandmas smiling at you that give you a few more pieces of spicy rice cake or people shouting out different prices for fresh fish.

...continue reading "Top 5 Things to Do"

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By gwrobinkim

In my original post, I defined myself in my own words: a third-culture Korean American. After reviewing and reflecting on what I wrote in that post, I’ve realized how much has changed in the three months of being here. I still stand by what I said before, I still identify as a third-culture Korean American.

However, my time here has made me learn a lot about both my identity and community back home. And by “back home,” I mean that figuratively. Like most people, I have several groups of people that come to mind when I think about my community: my family, my university friends, my high school friends, and my middle school friends. Looking at this, my community isn’t centered in one area.

...continue reading "Defining Identity and Community: Mid-Semester Reflection"

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By czhangangel

Studying abroad is a decision that allows yourself to experience the world, be independent, meet different people, adapt to different living, learn about different culture, etc. During time abroad, one will adopt an optimistic, out-going, and relaxed attitude. Your focus turns from school to experiencing as most as you can by traveling the world and making new friends. The overall experience can be addicting and lull one into extending their study abroad experience – at least for me, it did.

I was very tempted to proceed with the process to extend my stay in Hong, but for the first time, I felt held back for once. I thought this situation only happens to those who are “grown up”, or those with responsibilities. “Grownups” have responsibilities to answer to such as family, friends, jobs, and opportunities that should be seized. It is very selfish and immature to just enjoy life without responsibilities – to leave everything behind – because there are people that care about you and want you in their lives, and there are people you will care about too. I asked myself, “Have I ‘grown’ that much to have these responsibilities – to have to make a decision like this?” I understand that studying abroad is a growing experience, but I didn’t realize how much one can grow.

The responsibilities that I believe I personally have are sick family that I must see and take care of, departing friends that I must see, credits I must take to graduate, and jobs and internships to apply for. I had to understand that the study abroad life is not long-term; home is because that is where your past and near future lies. Time flies and things change will you are away and does not wait for you; and the longer you are away, the more you have to “catch up” and accept changes that have occurred. There are future opportunities to come back to your place of study abroad to work or vacation since the location itself will never move.

...continue reading "A Pull From Across the World: To Go or to Stay?"

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Edinburgh takes its Christmas very seriously. So seriously in fact that "Edinburgh's Christmas 2017" as they have branded it runs from November 18th until January Sixth. It seems like a long time but without thanksgiving to get in the middle and make things weird it works. The Christmas Market, which has a reputation for being spectacular was set up over the course of the week and opened this weekend. Today, Saturday the 19th, marked "Light Night," the official kick off of the Christmas season. Complete with multiple music stages, dancers, cheer leaders, amusement park rides, and fireworks, it was a bit of a spectacle to behold.

At exactly five pm (this being Scotland the sun sets just before four this time of year) the brief but impressive firework show coincided with the first lighting of a dome of lights and the festivities were kicked off. Afterwards we(my parents are in town for a week to visit me and make sure I'm actually eating) wandered past the little stalls set up in the streets and toured a very impressive collection of ice sculptures. Sometime last week I was told that part of the market would "smell just like Austria" but, being tired after a long day on our feet we have not located that section yet. The prices for everything for sale were predictably high but the atmosphere was enjoyable and I'm excited to go back and explore more.

One major difference between DC and Edinburgh is the security for street events. Obviously given all that Europe has suffered lately they're working on tightening security at popular events but it still felt very light next to DC. Whereas most police officers in the UK don't carry a firearm (neither they nor the people they serve want to change this) some heavily armed officers were present at the Market.

...continue reading "Light Night"

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Something that I've felt from the first day at Seoul National University is how crazy smart everyone at this school must be.

If you aren't familiar with how college applications work in Korea, basically there's this one test that you study for your entire high school career, called soo-neung (수능). It's kind of like the SATs in the US, except far more difficult and important since it's literally only given once a year so if you don't do well and want to re-take it, you have to wait an entire year. I've looked at the practice tests for the English portion, and honestly I don't even know what they're talking about. Additionally, unlike the US where nearly every school boasts about their holistic approach to scanning applicants, Korean universities rely heavily solely on the soo-neung score.

This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot recently, since this year's soo-neung was supposed to be last Thursday and all the convenience stores had huge gift selections to I guess either celebrate or console the kids that just took it. Unfortunately, there was an earthquake in the southern part of Korea the day before so in an unprecedented fashion, soo-neung was pushed to this week; this actually presents a greater problem because I've heard many high schoolers book legendary trips for after taking probably one of the most important tests of their lifetime but now they probably have to pay $100s to reschedule their flights and hotels...

...continue reading "Academics in Korea and SNU"

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Today's blog has to do with a topic very near and dear to my heart, food. Food here is, of course, not dissimilar from food at home but there are some marked differences. Before I dive in it is important to remember that America has regional culinary differences and all of this is from my point of view, having grown up in Wisconsin.

One thing I think all Americans can get behind me on is my confusion when I first encountered a can of "Squirty Cream." Squirty cream is, as the name implies, cream that squirts, in other words its canned whipped cream like reddi-whip. After talking to my flat mate and another classmate I learned that canned whipped cream is much more rare over here than at home and usually (In her experience,) when a British family wants whipped cream they buy heavy whipping cream and whip it themselves.

One major difference is that they have a wider variety of pickled goods here. The traditional pickle as Americans know them are almost impossible to find at most grocery store and usually the closest you can get is the sweet gherkin. Pickle relish in the American sense is nonexistent. There are many relishes for sale but they are generally made of pickled carrots and other veggies with no pickled cucumbers included. I did manage to stumble upon a singular container of American style pickle relish after months of hunting (as you might be able to tell I put more thought into pickles than I need to) and it was clearly branded as being "New York Style" and shipped over from the states.

...continue reading "Squirty Cream?"

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By mariekevanhaaren

 

Laneways are perhaps the most unique thing Melbourne has to offer in terms of tourist attractions. In the city, there are tons of laneways in between buildings that are lined with cafés, shops or graffiti art. They are usually not very wide, and are sometimes quite hidden.

If you want to go to a laneway with hole in the wall type cafés, Degraves Street or Centre Place are the ones to visit. The best time to go is for breakfast or lunch (or brunch!), as most of them close before dinnertime. It’s also typical Melbourne style to just pop in one of the cafés for a coffee and sit in the laneway to people watch! If you want to get the true experience, I’d definitely recommend going through as many laneways as you can.

Below is a picture of Degraves Street – you can see how cramped it is!

...continue reading "Melbourne Laneways"

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By gwrobinkim

I’m not a Korean, nor am I an American. I’m a Korean American, as I outlined in my very first blog post. But my experience here has been emphasizing more of that middle ground, even further between the Korean and American. What do I mean by that? I have so many more cultures and countries that have influenced my life and my personality beyond my Korean and American boundaries -- from each and every country I lived in and went to school in.

I guess I can’t pass as Korean.

Depending on the group of friends that I’m with at the time, I’m either the best or worst Korean speaker. When I’m the worst Korean speaker, I sit back and fit in. However, when I’m the only/better Korean speaker in the group, I’m often put in a sticky situation.

I’m pushed to order at restaurants since I can speak the language. Yet I feel instantly exposed when I notice the waiter hear my American accent or when they ask me a question I don’t understand and thus exploiting the fact that I am obviously not Korean. For example, I was at a smoothie cafe and was asked which protein supplement I wanted - I was so lost.

I can feel that people are trying to figure me out. Am I Korean? Am I a Korean American? Am I an Asian that can speak Korean? I was at a street food cart with a friend (another exchange student) on our way to pick up our alien registration cards (identification cards for foreigners in Korea). I ordered our food in Korean and then continued speaking to my friend in English. The owner, curious, began to talk with us - asking us where we’re from, where we’re studying, what our majors were, etc. After conversing with him for a few minutes, he asked me why my Korean was so good.

...continue reading "Who do they think I am?"

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By jlee4946

Something I've realized in Korea is that yes, I am actually here for school.

Being in a new place for such a short amount of time, I feel like there is a lot of pressure. Not only to focus on academics but also making new friends, trying new things, discovering new places, getting to know your "new home" country, something along the lines of trying to make each weekend worth it.

But ultimately, we are at school with classes to take and exams to prepare for.

The exam season is similar to that at GW, where most classes have a midterm and final with homework and assignments and quizzes all in between. Midterm season was at its peak around the 3rd and 4th week of October where it was impossible to find a seat at a cafe to study. An interesting thing to note though was that during the peak of exams, professors typically cancel the class before the exam. So if you have a Monday & Wednesday class with an exam on Wednesday, the Monday class would be cancelled. Maybe this is common practice at GW as well for some, but it was a new concept for me!

Another thing I found interesting was how in the library, if you want to take a study break and leave to get some food, you can trust that no one will take your stuff even if you leave your laptop open and your notes astray. Even if you leave for over an hour, your stuff will remain as you left it. I guess people really respect the mutual suffering they're going through.

...continue reading "Exam Season…"

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By mariekevanhaaren

Exam time is upon us in Australia, and finals here are a bit different from the states. Instead of having many assignments throughout the semester that are worth a large part of your grade, most classes at UniMelb have a few that are worth 10-20%, along with a midterm that is worth 10-20%. This, unfortunately, means that the final is worth the largest part of your grade, up to 80%! There is a full reading week to review before exams start, and study space fills up very quickly.

In order to not fail your classes, I would first recommend keeping up with your classes throughout the semester. It is really easy to slack off and focus on other fun things, like travelling to Sydney or meeting new friends. However, this will cause reading week to be much more stressful, so even a little effort through the semester can make a difference.

Another helpful thing at UniMelb is that all of the lectures are recorded and all class slides are online. I would recommend writing down lectures that you want to go back and rewatch, as it’s quite helpful to review what you might have already forgotten.

...continue reading "Study Season in Melbourne"

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