Living in the capital of South-Korea


It is a great experience to visit Seoul for a holiday or a roundtrip, but living there for a couple of months is even better. You will become familiar with the great parts of the city. Seoul represents latterly the soul of Korea. For foreigners there are a lot of activities. Visiting a palace or traditional shops and restaurants, create the possibility to learn all about the culture. Especially for people from western cultures, this will be an opportunity to broaden you horizon. I will tell something about the most fascinating places I have visited.
In one of the first week I came here, I was totally exited to explore the city and have a lot of fun with my new friends. So, before school started we were up for doing quite a lot of activities. Of course, the “Lonely Planet” was our best friend, but sometimes a Korean friend came with us to show the best spots in the city. One time we went to the fish market, it is about 30 minutes from the Sungkyunkwan University. I did not really know what to expect but everything became very clear as soon as we got there. I was standing in a huge hall were Korean people were busy to sell their fish. I had never seen so much fish in my entire life! We were exited to look at all the buckets because in every bucket there was a different kind of fish. I saw a lot of shells, flatfish, squid, salmons and even sharks! It was amazing! After looking around for a while we decided to buy some fish and eat it in the restaurant which was located at the fish market. We bought some squid, crabs and fishes to eat for dinner. The salesman threw everything is a plastic bag so we could take it to the restaurant. While we were talking about the amazing stuff we just saw, the chef was preparing our meal. It turned out to be delicious. The squid was chopped up in pieces and was still moving! So, that really created a challenge to eat. This one of the things a lot of foreign people try to eat while being here in Korea. It was a really nice dinner and it will last in my memory for a very long time.
Even though we were able to take 20 kg of luggage to Korea, girls have the feeling that they never can bring enough clothes with them. Therefore, we went shopping in a well-known shopping area, called ‘Meyongdong’. The shops over there are providing very cheap clothes, shoes and other accessories. Also guys would like to come here because there are so many stores and shops. At first I thought it would not be nice to go shopping due to differences in fashion. But I found out that the fashion in Korea is actually very good! The Korean girls have a lot of knowledge about it. So, I would definitely recommend you to go shopping in Seoul.
One of my professors at the Sungkyunkwan University thinks it is very important for an exchange student to go out of the room, explore the Korean culture and enjoy the time here. To stimulate the outdoor activities to learn about the traditional habits and uses in Korea, the SKKU is providing a budget especially for this course I am taking. The course is called: ‘Korean business and Management’. We are doing a lot of fieldtrips and when we are having lecture we discussing some interesting fact about the Korean culture and the way it differs with other culture. This really helps you understanding the Korean culture which can be quite complicated sometimes. During the first field trip we went to a theater where we can participate in making traditional music and we learned some traditional dance moves. The traditional dance and music might sound not so interesting but it sure is! After you have been practicing some rhythms, you will start recognizing more music. Wearing traditional clothes gives you the feeling how people lived in the old days but it tells you also why the salespeople behind the counter in the shop gives you back your change in one hand while supporting this hand with the other hand. It is so funny that a habit like that is still maintained by the society in Korea. After all of this we went to a nice traditional restaurant with the teacher. He explained us something about the food that was served. It was really nice to go for dinner with the teacher and my classmates.
The second field trip was all about Hyundai Motors. Together with the professor and my classmates we went for a company visit at the plant of Hyundai Motors. Hyundai Motors is a very big company in Korea and therefore it was a fantastic opportunity to take a look inside. We got a tour through some buildings including the manufacturing buildings where we could see how robots were producing cars. Everything is so well managed within this company. We were astound by the way Hyundai Motors manages to produce so many cars. Maybe my future car will be made by these robots.
At last, at the third fieldtrip we went to a temple for a real ‘temple-stay’. During our five hour stay at the temple we learned a lot about Buddhism. The monk told us actually what to do and led us around in the temple and the remaining building. We learned about the basics of Buddhism, how to meditate and how to participate in a tea ceremony. We also made a beautiful lotus flower and we met the Zen-master how told us some very wise words. I think it is important to learn more about Buddhism because it is a great part of the history of Korea. If you would like to learn more about the Korean culture you should definitely take this course. Most of the exchange students are able to take this course, so it could not be a problem.
Jeju is a very popular island in Korea and the Korean people call it ‘the honeymoon island’. A lot of exchange students like to see more about the country and decide to visit Jeju. Like other students, I went to Jeju as well. We booked a very cheap flight with ‘Jeju Air’ but you also have the possibility to travel to the south by train of bus. From there you can take the ferry which will bring you to the island. Since we were only going for 4 days we decided to fly because it is the fastest way.
This island is very beautiful with nature and beaches. There are a lot of tourist attractions so you don’t have to be bored here. Because Jeju is located far south the temperatures are higher than in Korea. That makes it even more attractive to come here. In the four days at Jeju we have been doing a lot. We went to museums, bionic garden, the world cup stadium, waterfalls, lava cave, a spa, a horseracing stadium, riding ATV’s, and we tried to climb the highest mountain. The restaurants are providing the special meat from the black pigs which are originally from Jeju. Everybody agreed: “This is the best meat I have ever eaten!” After the meal we went to a pub for some drinks and had a great time together.
Shortly, my stay at Jeju was wonderful and I am glad I went there. Being here gave me some kind of a holiday feeling. Isn’t that great?
If you are not really a person who likes travelling but you are more into enjoying the environment and the nature, Korea has really a lot to offer. Here hiking is a very popular sport and there are a lot of national parks where you can go hiking for hours! Just on the border of the city a mountain is waiting for you. Once, I went up there. It took me about three hours to get to the peak, but the view was absolutely amazing! We were able to look over the entire city, the capital of south Korea, Seoul! So, if you are up for a challenge, go to the national park and see where it takes you.