sick....

Okay, I'm officially sick. I woke up this morning (first night at my apt) and had a sore throat and stuffy/runny nose. We went to orientation today and it was whatevers. I was pretty anti social because I felt so horrible all day. My apt mate and I ended up leaving the orientation early. We figured out how to ride the bus from the university back to our apartment. After a long day, we cooked some rice and had a very frugal but typical college student meal. (Rice, seaweed, and some side dishes). Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow because we have a long day ahead of us. We have EAP Orientation from 1-2pm and then activities all the way until 9pm. -____-

Here are some pictures from orientation. There was a traditional instrument performance and we also learned the Yonsei cheers. The students here have a lot of pride. It reminded me of how I usually am at Cal football games. I tried my best but my attempt to follow along was pretty sad. Haha.

^^That's me and my roommate Christine on the shuttle to Yonsei for Orientation^^

Here are some pictures of my apartment at DMC Ville. It is like a luxury style apartment. Very nice! They are pretty strict here though. You can't have visitors and if you do, they have to sign in and only stay no longer than an hour. =X

On Sunday I went to watch Hachiko, a story about a dog. It was a really good movie. We went to one of the big movie theatres inside the Coex Mall. The theatre is called Megabox. What's cool about Korean movie theatres is that when you buy your tickets, you choose your seats.

Did some shopping/eating at E-Mart to buy apartment essentials. E-Mart is basically Korean Walmart.
Stopped by DMC Ville yesterday to drop off my luggage in the room. Check-in will be Monday 2pm!
My cell phone in Korea. It was free with the plan so nothing too special.

I'm Finally Here!

After a long 12 hour flight, I'm finally here! The plane ride was actually pretty bad. I had this old woman sitting behind me who did not speak English. And she constantly kicked and pushed my chair, thus I didn't sleep for more than 30 minutes the whole way there.

I actually got in last night. My uncle picked me up from the airport and we met up with other relatives. After a good nights rest, I ate breakfast with my family and picked up my cell phone. I was hoping to get a month to month plan (pay as you go) but my uncle put me under his account for a 2 year contract....I guess he wanted me to use a cell phone for 4 months and then he'd give it to his daughter when I left.

During the flight, it was actually registration time for Yonsei classes. After making a list of 6-7 classes, I had my sister sign me up since I wasn't able to. I didn't go through it first had but basically all of the classes I wanted were filled up. I was only able to add in 2 that I had on my list:

Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Policy

Health Education

I only put health education because it had a good time slot but I don't really want to take it. I'm currently looking for an internship right now. A professor from DukSung Women's University that I met at the Haas School of Business is helping me find an internship through his personal network. I was lucky enough to meet him when I was looking around for a seat at the BofA forum (sitting area at Haas). When I was about to leave, he asked if I was Korean and that's how it all started. I tutored his children in English for about 3-4 months before coming to Korea.

Anyhow,

Since I'm unable to move into DMC-Ville (off campus housing) until Monday, I will be staying at my cousins in Seoul. We actually called and they said we could drop off my luggage. Picture to come soon!

2 More Weeks

The days are getting closer until I have to leave. I'm getting more and more nervous and it seems like time is running out for me to say my goodbyes to everyone.

On another note, I am arriving Feb. 19th in the evening but my course registration begins at 9AM on Feb. 19th. Don't know if I'll get into the classes I want.

I'm having some problems with Korean websites. I can't really access the course catalog to choose classes from... -__-

One Step Closer

Hi everyone,

This is the beginning of my blog for my study abroad internship in South Korea. I started this blog not only to update friends and family on my adventures and experiences in Korea but also to help anyone who is curious about studying abroad to South Korea. I was fortunate enough to receive a Gilman Scholarship which has tremendously helped me finance my trip. I encourage everyone who is interested in studying abroad to check out the Gilman Scholarship. You have to write two short essays. You can get up to $3000-5000 in scholarship money. The only requirement is that you do an outreach event to promote studying abroad and the Gilman Scholarship. This is my way to outreach to everyone and show you how the Gilman Scholarship made it all happen.

To introduce myself, my name is Laura and I just recently finished my graduating requirements at UC Berkeley in Business Administration. So I'm technically graduated and I've done the whole graduation walk but the classes I will take in Korea will still be on my degree. I'm going to Korea to hopefully become fluent in my native language. I was born in California but my first language was Korean. After I entered pre-school, I basically lost the Korean language. I can read and write okay but my vocabulary is limited and thus it is hard for me to communicate with anyone in Korean.

All my other friends have left for their study abroad programs. I have friends going to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Rome. The Yonsei University program begins a little later. Orientation isn't until February 22nd. But I'm one step closer because I just bought my plane ticket last night. It cost about $950 but I upgraded so that I could have a flexible return date. I'm not sure whether I will be too homesick that I will want to leave right after the program or if I'm having so much fun, I will want to stay a bit longer. I also applied to housing 2 weeks ago. I've decided to live in the S-House aka off campus housing. This choice was much more expensive, as much as my housing in Berkeley. However, I thought it would be the best decision because although the mew on campus housing (I-House II) will be brand open to us, they will begin renovating the first I-House and so I don't want to wake up to construction noise for 4 months.

I'll be blogging every now and then along the steps of my journey abroad. Stay tuned!