Hiking with friends

Author: Victoria Reid | Major: Animal Science

This fall I self-enrolled to study for a semester at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. I chose this program because Yonsei has a well-known Korean language program and I had initially planned to focus on studying Korean language. However, after failing to secure seats in the culture and language classes that were directed at exchange students, I ended up in English-taught courses that allowed for more integration with the Korean student population. In that way it ended up working to my benefit. Our classes were all online for the semester, but I was able to experience a teaching style less geared towards international students. Even though they were English-taught courses, students were still able to ask questions in Korean and the professor would answer and translate so that any non-Korean speakers were also able to understand. Ecotoxicology was my favorite class; it was taught by an American professor who placed heavy importance on having a discussion-based class, which is something I haven’t experienced much of before. He would run the class by asking questions and all students were required to share multiple answers throughout the lecture. While this and my other courses didn’t directly align with my professional goals. It was nice to have the opportunity to broaden my interests and to take courses that I would have otherwise not have taken. One of my other courses was Theories of Democracy and as an animal science major, I didn’t really consider taking any political science courses at the U of A, but I ended up really enjoying this course. It was a debate style class, and it was very interesting to hear the perspectives of such a diverse group of students and their opinions on various aspects of democratic theory.

Outside of class I spent a lot of time with my friends. We would go to cafes, go out to eat, shop, and just explore. Though much of my time was spent in Seoul, one of my friends was from Okcheon and during the week of Thanksgiving he took me around his hometown. It was much calmer than Seoul and it was nice to experience what life was like in a less crowded and less bustling place. There was less public transportation available and less to do overall, but it was enjoyable to be out in nature without all the noise of a big city.

If you are considering studying abroad, I highly recommend it. Even though I ended up in none of the classes I had originally wanted to take, I was able broaden my interests with the classes I did end up in, meet people that I normally wouldn’t have the chance to, and experience things  that I wouldn’t have otherwise. My one piece of advice is to just have an open mind. Things may seem like they aren’t working out in the beginning but there are so many opportunities to be had if you are abroad and if you look at situations with an open mind, you will be exposed to so many new possibilities.