A semester of discovery and lifelong memories! October 17, 2022

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The Korean language course I took (KLI) was incredibly rigorous and really helped me navigate life abroad alone. The other courses, such as through the international education department, were not as rigorous as a typical American college course but the subjects being taught were enjoyable.

On-site administration of your program

There was a lot of pre-departure support and information sessions to make sure we were ready to adjust to the program once landing. I enjoyed that we had a specific person of contact for who we could reach out to in case of emergency. The program did have an in-person check-in once a semester, but I think it would have been helpful to have held it either earlier in the semester (before midterms) or more than once.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I enjoyed living on campus. I lived in the international student housing, which the university has specifically for non-domestic students. There was a convenience store, as well as several restaurants, in the building so it was very nice. Overall, a clean and safe dorm with a private bathroom.

There was no meal plan, but the food options nearby are very affordable and good. A typical meal at the dining hall costs about $5, so it is not an inconvenience to not be on the meal plan.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Because of COVID-19, there were a lot of restrictions (no in-person classes, curfew, etc) which made it difficult to interact with local people. However, CIEE did create small mentor groups in which local and exchange students could socialize about once or twice a month. If it had not been a COVID semester, I believe it would have probably been a lot easier to integrate into the local culture.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

It took a long time to get national health insurance since the college was slow in processing our residency cards. In the last month of the program, we were also required to get COVID tested frequently and the program provided us with locations to go get tested.

City is generally very safe, even at night. The only thing to really keep an eye out for is members of religious cults which are very common around campus. However, aside from this, there were not really instances of crime during the time I was in the program.

I really enjoyed the big city setting and the cost of living was very affordable compared to other programs. The safety of the city as well as the reliability of public transportation also just made exploring so much easier and enjoyable.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Seoul is a very affordable city when looking at the price of public transportation and food. If spending just on this, it is very easy to live on a student budget; however, with there being so much to do, it is also easy to want to go out often and spend money on other forms of entertainment or travel. I would say I spent about $20 on food a day, so about $140 a week for food.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

It was not a requirement by CIEE to learn the language, but there were options to take classes. There were also cultural workshops put on by CIEE that gave crash courses for those who needed them.

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• Dorm

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• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Affordability
• Safety
• Big city

• More check-ins
• More slots for activities

The Academic or Linguist