Motivation
I had planned on exchanging during my undergraduate degree since the first year, as experience in different environments is my value. But due to COVID-19, I did not have a chance to attend the in-person global exchange program earlier. When I heard of this experience from my friends, I realized this is a great opportunity for me, and I can also learn about the education culture in South Korea and study for credit at the same time.
Professional Development
During the experience, I traveled to Gangneung myself, and I planned it individually. It was important to manage time as I relied on the public transport in Gangneung, where there were only a few buses scheduled. You may need to wait for 2 hours if you missed the bus, and everything could be massed up. Therefore, I had made a detailed plan for each destination I went to, especially how long I could stay. It benefits my future career in terms of time management independently.
Funding
The budget for my experience comes from the IGET grant and my parents, and the total spending was around 5,600 AUD in total. Here is the breakdown of the expenses for this month:
Accommodation (renting near the campus): 800 AUD, transport: 200 AUD, food (cooking at home + eating out): 800 AUD, tuition fee: 1400AUD, flight (round trip back to Brisbane): 2400 AUD
Note: These expenses did not include the fee for my personal trips outside the summer experience program in South Korea. For future students, I reckon it is important to prepare earlier, and if they still want to travel around except for studying, they can rent outside instead of living in on-campus accommodation. KU only provides the accommodation during the experience, and you have to move out immediately after the course finishes.
Accommodation
I found out the information about the accommodation on an application for international students. The apartment is just next to Korea University and close to public transactions. The living space is quite small and very similar to the student apartment in Australia, but the rental price is relatively lower. You can also apply for on-campus accommodation, but you can only stay there during the experience and have to find another place to stay after the experience if you want to travel around Seoul. However, it might be hard to make friends if you choose to live alone instead of living on campus. From my opinion, I would prefer living outside, considering the timeframe for staying in Korea.
