Find Your Seoul Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This depends largely on what you take, but both of the classes that I took were really interesting and taught by good professors. For my Asian American Literature class (which was taught in English), there was quite a bit of reading, but was expected with the nature of the class. My professor was James Kyung-Jin Lee and he was greatly engaging and honestly a very interesting lecturer. I also took a Korean language class (taught in Korean), and my professor was very good about making sure concepts were clear, even while only using Korean,

On-site administration of your program

Amazing, all of the staff are extremely helpful and kind. If I ever had any questions or concerns, they were very helpful and gave me the information that I needed. They were also very easy to contact and available very often.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The Yonsei dorms are a bit small, and the room with the shower doesn't have a door, but overall they were completely acceptable for the time I was there. The beds were relatively comfortable, and even with the heat in Seoul the AC was able to keep the room cold.

Food in Korea is so good and it's cheap too. You can get ramen and gimbap for like, a dollar in convenience stores if you really don't want to spend much, and the cafeteria on Yonsei's campus also has some good options for not much more.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I will say that I stuck with my group quite a bit, but with the Seoulmates program I got to spend a lot of time with native Korean students and so I did get to experience what living in Seoul would be like, rather than just going around to all the different tourist-y places. I also did get some opinions about places that are good to go and the best ways to get there, so I definitely think my experience was way different than if I just went there by myself.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I myself didn't have really any experiences, but some people I knew did, and they seemed to be able to get good care. My program advisors were really good about helping people and telling them what to do in order to get care. In terms of vaccines, I did have to get a TB test done, but there was nothing outside of that.

I never felt unsafe while I was in Korea, even when it was at night. Like being any place alone, you should be aware of the things around you, but I never had any bad experiences, and neither did anyone else in my group. Seoul is actually very safe when it comes to crime. I will say that you might get some comments if you are female (I certainly did), but they were much calmer than anything I have received in the States.

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

Food can be made really cheap in Korea, and transportation is also really cheap (only about two dollars for a round trip within Seoul). Most of the money I spent was on souvenirs and things like makeup and skincare, since these are really well made in Korea. Overall, I could have made my trip pretty cheap.

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

This was definitely not considered to be an intensive language program, and so English was used quite a lot. A lot of the usage was mostly personal, so if you wanted to use Korean, there was definitely an opportunity to.

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• Dorm

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• International Students

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• International Students

• The Country
• The Food
• The People

• Amount of time there

The Academic or Linguist