South Korea Internship with Meiji Internships

My internship in South Korea was everything I hoped it was and more. Opportunities working in Asia for fresh graduates are far and few between, particularly with no language abilities, so I was surprised to see Meiji were offering them! I jumped at the chance and requested a PR/Marketing related internship, and Meiji ultimately partnered me with a small fashion boutique. Even though I wouldn’t consider myself as very fashionable, I was over the moon with this! Seoul is famously very stylish, so it was great to see a behind-the-scenes perspective and mingle with some young creative minds driving the scene forward. I got on really well with them as they all spoke fantastic English - my favourite moments were the breaks we had together, laughing at all of our weird cultural differences. Meiji did a great job taking all the hassle out of my hands, the apartment they sourced was also nice. It was clean, spacious, and pretty centrally located, so very convenient. My experience with Meiji couldn't have been any easier, so I would absolutely recommend their service.

My internship with Meiji in South Korea was 3 months in total. I lived in downtown Seoul and I worked with a great company that was in the industry of marketing. Luckily for me the company was doing some of their work in English, so I was managing the marketing for the English customers. This was good because I did not speak any Korean, so I could still do work. The company was interesting to work with because the staff were quite international, I met people from Europe, Africa, and other Asian countries. This was good because I could very easily make friends, and after work we would always go to hang out together in the city! Seoul is a great city to relax in I think, there are so many nice restaurants and very cool bars, my favourite thing to do was just walking around at night and looking at all the city lights. After my internship I felt like I got some good experience that will help me in the future, plus I received a certificate to show that it was completed. It was a great experience for me.

DISORGANIZED - I had to hound Meiji for important information that could have forced me to terminate my internship had the issues not been addressed in time. I felt alone during the preparation process and throughout the entirety of my internship once I got to Korea, as I only ever heard from Meiji if I reached out in an emergency. I was nearly forced to cancel my trip altogether due to Covid complications, which Meiji left me to navigate alone despite already having the information I needed at the time.

MISLEADING PROMISES - I arrived at my housing accommodation and found that Meiji had basically dropped me off at a dump. The place was still under construction, and I was the first and only resident. Dirt, workers, and construction fumes everywhere. Ear-splitting noise from the drilling outside my door every morning. Waste fumes coming from the bathroom. A sewer fly infestation moving from the drains to my bedroom. There was hardly room enough to live and it wasn’t fully furnished like I was promised it would be. The place wouldn’t have been acceptable for a standard accommodation, let alone the “superior accommodation” that I had paid for with Meiji's business package. Even then I had to fight them for four days before they finally agreed to move me, at which point my health was already compromised.

POOR FOLLOW-THROUGH - Also included in my package were language courses, sightseeing trips and networking events, and I only received information on these WEEKS into my internship after reminding Meiji multiple times that I was waiting on them. The “networking events” were a few web links to interest groups completely unrelated to my field of work, most of which either required payment or were not meeting within my period of stay. I understand events were difficult to find during the pandemic, but Meiji should have warned me of this before I payed for the service.

NO WORK MENTORSHIP - The internship itself was an okay experience and my boss took good care of me. However, I was not learning from a creative professional who could teach me how to finesse my abilities, but rather getting projects thrown at me and trying to figure out on my own how to give the company what they were looking for. I did get some work experience to put on my resume, however, and I am thankful for that.

UNSAFE - I must also mention that in the three months I was there I was put in danger multiple times. Perhaps I was a rare case and Meiji had no means of protecting me, but my aloneness as a woman and lack of a support system in Korea put me at risk. By the halfway point of my internship I was afraid to leave my apartment.

FALSE HOPE FOR YOUR CAREER - Meiji claims that their business package is meant for those who intend to pursue a career in Asia upon graduation and want the best experience possible to “free yourself of any stress.” I returned home with no hope of finding a job in Asia, and those three months had my stress and anxiety at the highest they’ve been in a long time. South Korea itself is amazing and I do believe the experience of working an internship abroad is worth it, but if I were to do it again I would not go with Meiji Internships. This was an enormous time and financial commitment, and I felt that the amount I paid far exceeded the quality of service that I received.

I spent my first 4 months of the year in Seoul, a place that's as dreamy as the internet makes it seem. This company was an important tool to achieve this dream, they were quick to find me a company that would accept me even with my limited experience and that was willing to spend tons of time giving feedback each time my work didn't match their standards (I worked mostly on video editing and photo retouching). Don't be afraid to apply to any program even if you feel like your CV is empty, most likely they will make it work, for which I'm very grateful.

Meiji is full of great people who actually want you to have a great time during your internship. They got me the kind of companies I was hoping for to really test my coding abilities and my interviews were awesome. Once in Busan, my accommodation was perfect and I basically didn't need to contact Meiji after everything was set up. It's an easy process and they deliver what they are supposed to. They would check on me constantly just to make sure everything was going well and that I didn't need anything or run into any inconveniences. I got a nice certificate of completion once my 3 month program was over and got the credit I needed for school. I would recommend this for people who want to intern in Korea. Refrain from sketchy companies is my #1 tip.

Honestly, what an experience. Now that it's over I'm extremely sad and suffering some post-trip depression, but I would not change a thing. Meiji Internships really did they're best to make my trip easy, they were very methodical with each of the steps and and helped me redo my CV to get host companies to get an interest in me and eventually (faster than you'd think) I had a successful interview with a very respectable company. I worked seamlessly with them for a few months, I did my part and they did theirs, no problems whatsoever and I learned more than I could've wished for. Not to mention my CV looks pretty decent nowadays.

I remember reading Meiji Internship's reviews on go overseas back in like 2019 when I first thought about doing an internship abroad, crazy to see how much the world and my life have changed since then, I was clueless. After some of the toughest times of my rather-short life, I am sooo glad I got behind a couple semesters in uni, otherwise I would have ended doing a boring internship back at home or an online one (those are actually cool from what I read here). In any case, I wanted the realest of experiences and tbh I think my internship ended up being better that what it would have been had I taken it back in 2020. My Korean got better and even though you don't really need it in Seoul, it was a nice extra that made me feel closer to the culture and proved a bit handy at work. So do learn the basics at least if you plan on going.
I just got back home and the people at Meiji reached out to me asking for an honest opinion, and how could I say no to them? They facilitated the internship and the trip of my dreams, and made it seamless. They only thing I had to do was work hard to get that experience on my CV and enjoy my free time in the place everyone wants to be nowadays. Their programs are good and iirc they offer different packages, so you can choose what you need.

After finishing my internship in Seoul there's only one biiig downside: now I don't know if I want to visit Japan next or if I should just go back to South Korea. You know, being there for months has been the best experience of my entire life, and I even got to feel like a local by the end of my stay. However, I did wish I spent more time traveling (which I couldn't do as much because I was supposed to be working obviously). I mainly did small weekend trips and those were incredible but if you're planning to do your internship there and you have the budget, i'd recommend adding at least 2 extra weeks dedicated to just traveling. Oh and Meiji was great of course, the fact that I don't need to mention anything in particular is a sign of how easy everything was with them: getting info, the payments, interviews, etc. was all nice and simple.