Author: Jacob Bodishbaugh | Major: Computer Science | Semester: Fall and Spring 2024-2025

Walking through Gyeongbokgung Palace weaing a hanbok

I can still remember on my first day stepping out of the taxi at Sogang University and into the muggy summer heat of Seoul. I felt so small, dwarfed by the towering apartment high rises and domineering office buildings. It didn’t help that, because of my flight, I was late to check-in at the dorm. Oh, and I didn’t know any Korean besides “Hello” and “Thank you.” All these things combined with the exhaustion of 20 hours of travel, left me undoubtedly anxious to spend the next year in South Korea. That anxiety quickly turned to excitement though as I was finally able to settle into my dorm and get some much-needed rest. I had been dreaming of studying abroad in South Korea for about 4 years, I wasn’t about to let my nerves ruin it for me. An old friend had introduced me to Korean culture and that was when I set my sights on coming. The blend of old cultural values, rapid modern advancements, history, and technology was so alluring to me as a Computer Science major with a deep interest in history as well.

The program that facilitated my study abroad, CIS Abroad, really helped me dive into the historical and culture aspects of the trip that can often feel difficult when you don’t know where to start. The CIS Abroad onsite staff were also available to help with just about anything I needed while I was there, which really helped when navigating governmental issues such as with visas or the Korean national healthcare. CIS planned multiple cultural experiences that I would not have thought of doing or been able to do otherwise. For instance, one day we rented Hanboks, the traditional Korean clothes, and walked through Gyeongbokgung, the main palace in Seoul. I really felt like I was a member of the king’s court during the Joseon dynasty. My favorite CIS trip, though, was an overnight trip to a coastal town called Yangyang. Here, we took surfing lessons, visited Naksansa (a beautiful seaside Buddhist temple), and went hiking in Seoraksan National Park. I also took other trips with friends I made through CIS to places such as Busanand Jeju Island. These trips, both with CIS and without, were some of the best parts of my year because I was able to get out of the big city of Seoul and see more local and rural parts of Korea. These areas better reveal how Koreans really live in their day-to-day lives. For me, the hardest part of being in Korea wasn’t the cultural shock, it was, well, an education system shock. I found South Korean universities put much more emphasis on pure memorization rather than understanding or application, which where I feel the University of Arkansas places its emphasis. It was a difficult, and at times annoying, process for me to first realize this was how the classes were evaluated and then for me to adapt to it. This emphasis on memorization was most evident when if I asked a Korean friend how their studying was going, they would reply with how many more slides they had left to memorize. I really struggled with studying by memorizing slideshows instead of with practice problems. This led to some of the courses feeling more difficult than I think they should have been, but it also forced me to adapt to a newway of learning and accept that I won’t always be able to control the environment in which I learn. Even then, though, I really enjoyed the content of my classes. While in Korea, I had two favoriteclasses, because to me they really felt like the same class. One class was Data and AI and theother was Natural Language Processing. The former I took in the Fall and the latter in the Spring, but both were taught by the same professor and during the same time block. The classes had similar subject matters, AI models, and were taught in a very similar way. Their main difference was the first course, Data and AI, focused more on image recognition while the second course, Natural Language Processing, focused more on language models. I had known for a long time that AI at its core was a bunch of matrix multiplications leading to the probability of certain outcomes, but I never really understood why that worked or how to build a model myself. Both classes went into depth about the math behind AI and the different approaches to making an AI. The classes also ended in final projects where I got to develop and train my own AI model using Python’s PyTorch library. I was also fortunate enough to take a beginner Korean language class in my Fall semester. Before coming to Korea, I did learn how to read the Korean alphabet, Hangul, but I didn’t know what anything I read meant. This class really helped with that. I was able to read basic things while I was on the street or riding the metro. I could go to restaurants and confidently order for me and my friends. This course was the most fun course I took simply because it allowed me to connect with the people and the culture in a much deeper way. However, most of the Korean I remember is very causal and slang that my Korean friends taught me. Looking back on this past year makes me realize and truly appreciate just how fortunate I am to have had this opportunity to study in South Korea. All the experiences I had, all the people I met, and all the delicious food I ate will stay in my heart forever. This past year has shown me how to stay calm in unfamiliar situations, adapt to uncomfortable circumstances, and know that I can thrive anywhere so long as I put my mind to it and try my best.