Svante is 26 years old and from Germany. He is currently working in Helsinki, Finland for an internship and writing his bachelors thesis that is part of his studies of International Transport Management at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Elsfleth, a really small town in the north of Germany. To get a great difference to that small town he spent one semester abroad studying in Seoul, South Korea, one of the biggest cities in the world.
Why did you choose this program?
The semester abroad is a mandatory part of my studies in International Transport Management at the Jade University of Applied Sciences. Unfortunately, my home university does not have any agreements with universities in Asia and as I was searching for possibilities I found the website of Asia Exchange.
The program at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) immediately sounded exciting to me as this was also the first time Asia Exchange offered this program. It was always a dream for me to visit the country of South Korea, because of its mixture of modern society and many historic traditions. So I decided to apply immediately.
What did your program provider assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
Asia Exchange was in contact with HUFS and therefore responsible for all the paper work. I had to organize the study visa at the local embassy of South Korea in Germany and book the flights on my own.
Asia Exchange was always there to help even in these cases and tried to assist in questions for the visa. But mainly all the paperwork for HUFS was done by Asia Exchange and that made the process a lot easier. It was good to know that they were always there to help.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?
South Korea seems to be always a bit forgotten when it comes to semesters abroad in Asia. Of course there are possibilities to go to China, Japan, or South East Asia.
South Korea, and especially Seoul, is such an exciting place to study abroad.
The vibrant city has so much to offer during day and especially at night. I was expecting a great time but everything I experienced during my semester abroad exceeded my expectations. When you think about going abroad to Asia, don’t forget South Korea, you will definitely not regret it.
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
International Students at HUFS are completely free in their choice of courses so it is basically up to you what your weekly schedule looks like. Of course you should take courses taught in English if you are not an expert in Korean.
I had to take five courses in order to get all the credits I needed for my home university as this semester abroad was mandatory. With these five courses I had lectures from Monday to Thursday, mainly from 9 am until the afternoon. The lectures were very interesting, especially to hear different approaches to subjects from students that were from all parts of the world.
In the afternoon and the weekend there was always a lot of free time to spend with new friends, exploring the city, hiking in the surrounding mountains, singing as loud as you can at karaoke (so called Norebangs – small rooms you can rent with your friends and have a private karaoke party) or even organizing a trip to Busan or Jeju, a beautiful island in the South, or even Japan and the Philippines.
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it and/or how did your views on the issue change?
Actually the biggest and only fear I had was the language as I don’t speak any Korean. I was afraid that at University or e.g. in restaurants there will be only Korean and that no one will understand me. Of course this was not the case and English is spoken everywhere in Seoul.
Furthermore it was very interesting to try to understand some of the squiggly lines of written Korean. We found out that it was actually not that hard to read and after some time could understand some words or phrases. At least we knew what to order in a restaurant and tell the taxi driver in case they were not familiar with English that much.
