Internship & Cultural Experience in Korea

I spent two months doing a marketing internship in Seoul (South-Korea) and it was one of the best times of my life. I never went to Asia before, but I wanted to experience the culture there, since I heard it to be so different and peaceful compared to the Italian culture. It was also my first time doing a full-time job for 40 hours a week and that was quite tiring I must say. My main goals were getting to know the Asian culture, working in the ‘real business world’ and improving my English. I think I succeeded on that.

I made a great choice choosing for Asia Internship Program as they assisted me very well by obtaining an internship placement which completely suited my wishes and furnished accommodation. During the first week of my internship, I was already working on challenging marketing projects such as writing new marketing plans, which was exactly what I wanted. AIP found the perfect spot for me and I am really grateful for that. They were always there for me.

I just got back from my 3 months internship in South-Korea and it has been a challenging time for me. I never went abroad before, but an internship abroad was mandatory for my studies at my university. As I had no travelling experience at all, I decided to choose for an internship placement company to help me, because I did not know where and how to start.

I have chosen to do a signature package program with AIP, because I wanted to get the most out of my experience abroad. AIP gave me an amazing room to sleep in and to feel home, helped me obtaining my visa, organized a monthly trip to explore the country and most importantly they found me a great company to do my internship at. Moving to Korea sounded so difficult and scary to me at first, but having the support of an experienced agency like AIP gave me so much security and made things much easier.

I really had a great time and I would definitely do it again if I had the chance. I learned a lot, met a lot of different people and experienced the culture at its finest. I saw a lot of the country during my stay and also visited other countries at the weekends or holidays.

As a South Korean American who never had the opportunity to discover and explore his heritage, this trip was exactly what I’ve been looking for! A trip to Korea was never possible because I was always caught up in my studies and I spent all my summer holidays working in the family restaurant. I never had the chance to really learn my language (I can speak Korean ok but I can’t really read it), eat my food and explore my culture. This didn’t sit too well with me so as soon as I was graduated from University I applied to intern in Seoul for 4 months to gain cultural and professional experience, no brainer to me!
In University I studied marketing but I had zero experience which is why is was so vital for me to do an internship. I really enjoyed my placement, I was heavily focused in digital marketing and social media which comes quite naturally to me. I really enjoyed the work aspect of my time abroad. As I look like a Korean native I had a lot of people speaking to me in rapid Korean – my Korean is only ok and I know almost no slang so this was quite difficult for me at times. I did see an improvement in my language skills but I still need more practice. While I loved my time in Korea the only thing I didn’t care much for was how spicy the food is, even if you say not spicy!