First day of school

Today was the first day of class at Seoul National University (SNU).
Unlike many other countries, Korea’s school year starts in March. So today not only was the first day of the Spring term, but it was actually the beginning of the new school year.
The area near the main auditorium of SNU was very crowded because of the entrance ceremony for the freshman students. Because SNU is one of the best school in South Korea, most parents are very proud of their children’s acceptance to SNU, and want to attend the ceremony.
While the freshmen were busy finding their places at the ceremony, regular class schedule was held for the rest of the students.
So I was busy finding my place to my first class, “Understanding Korean Contemporary History”. Although I already attended the campus tour as a part of orientation, and held my campus map tightly on my hand, it was difficult to find my way to class.
First reason was because SNU was located on the mountain side. So I have to find which stairs and hills that would get me to my class. Second reason was because SNU was so big. According to SNU’s website, the area of campus is 1401km², which is 1/4 of the size of Philadelphia. One fourth! And this is not including the forest that surrounds the school, which is also the school’s property. No wonder there are three shuttle buses that go around the campus and few local buses that come inside of the campus to take the students from the subway stations to the campus.

Anyway, my class was great. The professor was Korean and she told us she was the alumna of SNU, and studied English in Canada for few years. She spoke very clearly, and my other exchange student friends from Germany and New Zealand said they did not have any problem understanding her. She seemed very proud of her course, since she was there to teach foreign students about the history of Korea. I expect to see different prospective of Korean contemporary history from that class.

The food at SNU was great overall. There are 18 cafeterias/restaurants in SNU, and 12 snack-bars/cafés. So SNU definitely offered variety of choices. Although most of cafeterias tend to serve traditional Korean foods or some other foods fused with Korean recipe. But I felt much healthier eating at SNU cafeteria than eating in U.S. restaurant, because many Korean dishes had rice as main menu and had side dishes of vegetable, meat, and soup.

Oh, and about the students at SNU!
First thing I noticed about SNU students were they dressed up very nicely for the class. I mean many Koreans tend to dress nicely for most of occasion, because it is expected as social standards. But to me, who got used to sweat pants, jeans, t-shirts and hoodies, the outfits of SNU students were very impressive. Many guys had business suits, although they were little more casual looking than the ones for the works. And many girls had skirts, although it was average of 33 Fahrenheit today. The most shocking part was, so many girls wore high heels, despite the fact the school is located on the mountain side, and there are numerous hills and countless steps that even guys with sneakers have difficult time climbing up. So looking at their formal outfits and uncomfortable shoes, I thought that since people need to be dressed even in their college years, Koreans’ expectation on the fashion of adults must be very high. And when I discussed this with my new Korean friend I got from SNU, she agreed, and also said fashion sense significantly affect the result of the interviewing in Korea, so it actually might be great for many students to practice what is the best outfit for the formal occasion.

Behind note: Such occasion was very interesting, but I was actually very worried about my wardrobe. I might need to go shopping soon.

Welcome aboard!
My name is Yoona Koh, and I will be your guide to the Land of Morning Calm, South Korea for next six months!!

Yes, I am one of the three students from Drexel University who were accepted to “Drexel in Korea: Seoul National program.” I will be studying at Seoul National University during the spring of 2009, in the Department of Business Administration.

To briefly introduce myself little more, I am a pre-junior, double majoring in Business Administration and Political Science.
I was born in South Korea, and lived there for 16 years. So to be precise, my study abroad at South Korea is more like my “study HOME”.

I applied to Drexel in Korea: Seoul National University (SNU) program, because I wanted to learn more about the history and the political science of Korea. As a student who is studying business and political
science, modern Korea’s transition to capitalistic economy and democratic government greatly interested me.
Also, I believed that combine the knowledge I learn from American and Korean with what I learned in American college for past three years, having the most up-to-date knowledge of South Korean economic and political situation can make me more competitive in class and in global job market. I learned from my experience that being a “specialist” of any subject can be a great advantage. And being the specialist of my own country is not only easier for me, but also keep me motivate with the obligation of knowing more about my country.

So with several reasons in my mind, I am back in my country after 5 years that I left.

I am very excited to see how my country changed for the past years I wasn’t here. I know many of the places that I visited as a kid changed so much, because of the stimulated economy Korea and its development.
Many businesses bloomed and doomed as the trends of the younger crowds changed. Especially for past few years, Korea became more opened to other cultures and so did many new buildings and sights of Koreas. Part of the reason was because many of the popular pop-cultures incorporated the cultures of different countries. Especially the Third Opening policy of Japanese cultures to Korea allowed most of Japanese TV series and music albums to be available in public.
And since Japan, the country that was traditionally considered as “enemy” who invaded Korean peninsula, many of other cultures flowed into the country.
Seeing how Korean people mixed such cultures and created their own will be one of my main focus of my study abroad.

I hope my journal helps you understand South Korea and its people.
So if you are ready, Bon Voyage!