My experience
I chose the experience I completed because I was interested in visiting South Korea, and the program offered an introductory marketing course - which is a subject I was interested in. I found the course to be very relevant to everyday life and it made me question my responses to advertising and stimulus. My favourite aspect of studying overseas was being able to live independently, and meet new people on a regular basis. Furthermore, I loved being able to interact with the local students and culture and it really pushed me to learn a new language and learn about cultural sensitivities and adjust my behaviour.
How has the experience changed you?
The experience equipped me with many experiences - both positive and negative. I learned how to deal with mishaps, such as losing items overseas and lodging complaints. I was also able to come out of my shell and interact with people from different backgrounds and different parts of the world. Although my Korean skills were not the sharpest, I was able to communicated my way around, order food, go shopping and complete everyday tasks with any hassle. Furthermore, I was able to confidently commute and go around the city like a local which gave me a great amount of self-confidence. Academically, the course was very condensed - as it was a 4 week course so it was quite difficult to keep up with the content, especially with the constant distraction of travel; therefore, I was quite happy with my ability to stay organised and find time to balance work and travel.
Favourite memory
My favourite memory from the experience is going to Gwanghwamun Square to watch the world cup match between South Korea and Germany. There where tens of thousands of people there wearing red, with flags and red light-up devil horns, eating chicken and sharing drinks while chanting the sports anthems. Everyone would scream and 'aww' everytime something happened in the game. The South Korean spirit and enthusiasm was really amazing for me to witness. As Korea does not usually do well in the world cup, no special outcome was expected from the match. However, they managed to score two goals in the last 10 minutes of the match so it was absolutely incredible to watch everyone celebrating, shouting and hugging each other at 2am in the morning. I also went with some Korean students from KU which made the experience so much better for me personally.
Top tips
The advice I would give is to make as many different friends as possible when going on exchange, from different classes, or dorms. I would also suggest that they try to meet people from the country they visit - as it is really difficult to meet local students in summer programs due to them being on holidays too. I would also suggest taking the time to learn a bit of the local languages and customs before going in order to show respect for the culture and also overcome the language barrier. I remember landing at Seoul on my first day, and having to help a group of exchange students with ordering lunch as none of them could read or speak a word of Korean!
Funding
I received a New Colombo Grant of $3000.