In the 3rd third year, I decided that I wanted to go for an exchange semester. The choice was not difficult and immediately fell on South Korea. Since I was interested in Korean and studied it on my own for a while, I wanted to be in a language environment. As a result, I applied to Kyungpook National University, College of Economics and Business Administration, in Daegu.
The process of preparing the documents seemed to me not complicated, but long, at least it took more than a week to translate and notarize the documents. Also, a small minus, I had to go to Moscow a couple of times to apply for a visa and get it. But it was absolutely worth it.
In order to make it easier for international students to adapt to a new place, the university has a buddy system. This is a student who will help you with everything – he will meet you at the station and help you get to the campus, take a tour of it, go to the bank with you, and so on. You can contact him with any questions and they will help you. Speaking of excursions, it will be absolutely necessary, because the campus is very large. At first, it is difficult to remember where everything is, and how to find a way out of campus. There is absolutely everything on the territory: a large modern library in which you want to study; several canteens, cafes and grocery stores; a bookstore; a spacious park – a favorite place for students to socialize; stadiums for all possible sports - from volleyball to baseball, and much more.
During my studies, I managed to communicate with many people from different countries of Europe and America, with some of them we became close friends. It's not easy to get close to Koreans. But when there are Korean friends, it becomes much easier to survive off campus, because most people there do not speak English at all.
As for studying, students choose courses and schedules independently, places for some courses run out in a matter of minutes, so you need to register very quickly. Most of the classes are lectures, but some teachers also conduct practical classes. The final exams take about a week to do everything on time, it was necessary to start preparing much in advance. One day I had 3 exams in a row.
In addition to studying, the university organizes various events: film screenings, themed games and excursions. The first tour was in Daegu, we climbed the highest mountain in the city and went to the lake. Another excursion was to the neighboring city of Gyeongju, where many historical buildings, palaces and temples have been preserved. Every semester, festivals are held at universities, to which famous performers are often invited, you can also look at other universities, which we did.
Separately, it is worth mentioning trips to other cities on weekends. Before Korea, it seemed to me that there was nowhere else to go except Seoul and Busan, but this is not the case at all. All cities have a completely different atmosphere and there will be something interesting in each. If you happen to be in Korea, I advise you to also visit Ulsan, Pohang, Ansan and Suwon.
It is impossible to tell about all the impressions, there are too many of them. In general, I am very glad that there was such an opportunity and I decided to take an exchange semester. I would like to repeat this experience again and again.
Created / Updated: 7 October 2023 / 2 April 2024
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