With the tensions growing quickly with North Korea, I thought I'd write about what it's like being in South Korea with this issue.
It's quite interesting being here while this issue develops, but there really hasn't been much change in the daily life of Seoul. I talked to my PEACE Buddy and her friend though, and they did mention that these threats seem more serious this time considering that nobody knows what to expect from North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un. The latest news is that North Korea may actually be testing missiles this week.
Surprisingly though, I haven't gotten much information from Ewha or the US Embassy. I did get an email last week from the embassy saying that we should be taking security precautions, and I'm assuming it means to be ready to leave if we may need to. In that case, my parents made sure that I be ready to go if there's any news suggesting to leave. It ended up getting around the dorms that I was supposedly leaving already! But no, I'm still here and am okay so far.
I'm making sure to just keep up with the news and any notices from the embassy. As of now, it seems like there's too little information for people to know what may possibly happen with this issue. I just hope that everything will be okay and everyone will be safe!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Applying for Alien Registration
Sadly, I don't have any pictures to add to this post. I went down to the Seoul Immigration Office to finally apply for my alien registration card today, and wanted to just jot down my experience and any helpful tips!
I believe any foreigner in Korea must apply for alien registration if they're going to be in the country for over 90 days. It's quite a long process, but you use most of the time waiting for your turn to come up.
Things you'll need:
- Valid passport
- Copy of both passport and visa
- Certificate of Enrollment
- Alien Registration Application
- One 3.5cm x 4.5cm photo
- Money for fees
A couple of my friends still needed to apply for their alien registration cards, so we planned to go together after their classes. One of my friends had already went and already knew the process, so that definitely helped. I'd say the immigration office is about 20-30 minutes away by subway from Ewha. You stay on the first floor to apply for the alien registration card, but need to go to the other floors to pay for things and such. By the time we got there, their lunch hour was still in session, and we just pulled our numbers. I believe we selected "Student" for the service we were wanting.
I went to take my pictures and get copies of my passport and visa while we waited, and there's a photobooth and someone there to make copies on the third floor of the immigration office. It's in the same room, and there wasn't a line when I went but I heard there can be, but the wait is pretty quick. It costs 6,000 won for a sheet of six 3.5cm x 4.5cm photos (That's the only option even if you only need one for the application). And I think the copy of one sheet of your passport and visa was about 100 won only.
After I got the pictures and copies, we decided to go to the second floor to pay for our fees. You'll need your passport for this process. You pay for the 20,000 won application fee through an ATM at the back of the room near the end of the seating area. When I was there, someone was helping assist pay for the fees at the ATM. I'm not sure if there is a way to translate the ATM in English, but since he just asked for my passport and money, he zoomed through it in Korean and just gave me my receipt. That was easy!
If you want to have your card mailed to you, you must go to another desk at the back of the seating area. Right around the ATMs on the second floor still. Anyways, she asked us what school we went to and what dorm building and room number we lived in. You then just write out your name and phone number on what I believe is the mailing slip. To have it mailed to your address, it costs 4,000 won. If it's not worth it to you to go back out to the immigration office, just get it mailed to you.
After all of that, we were finally ready to just wait and turn in our application and documents on the first floor. When we got down, there was about 15 people ahead of me, and that wait is much longer than what it seems. So get comfortable and maybe bring something to do. I was just sitting there... But someone no longer needed her ticket number and gave me two tickets like 9 spots ahead! Maybe after 30-45 minutes, my number was finally called and I originally just gave him my passport, application, copies, and certificate of enrollment. He'll also need the mailing slip and your receipt from the ATM. He actually just grabbed my folder and took whatever else he needed. If you have everything, you're good. I was sitting at the desk for maybe 5-10 minutes?
He then directed me to the desk for fingerprinting. I'm not really too sure what it's for, but once you're done with the fingerprinting, you're done! I believe the same desk for fingerprinting, is the same desk for picking up your alien registration card if you choose to pick it up yourself. So make sure to choose the right service when you come back to the immigration office.
We were only out for maybe a few hours, but we were seriously exhausted after all of that. At least it's done finally!
I believe any foreigner in Korea must apply for alien registration if they're going to be in the country for over 90 days. It's quite a long process, but you use most of the time waiting for your turn to come up.
Things you'll need:
- Valid passport
- Copy of both passport and visa
- Certificate of Enrollment
- Alien Registration Application
- One 3.5cm x 4.5cm photo
- Money for fees
A couple of my friends still needed to apply for their alien registration cards, so we planned to go together after their classes. One of my friends had already went and already knew the process, so that definitely helped. I'd say the immigration office is about 20-30 minutes away by subway from Ewha. You stay on the first floor to apply for the alien registration card, but need to go to the other floors to pay for things and such. By the time we got there, their lunch hour was still in session, and we just pulled our numbers. I believe we selected "Student" for the service we were wanting.
I went to take my pictures and get copies of my passport and visa while we waited, and there's a photobooth and someone there to make copies on the third floor of the immigration office. It's in the same room, and there wasn't a line when I went but I heard there can be, but the wait is pretty quick. It costs 6,000 won for a sheet of six 3.5cm x 4.5cm photos (That's the only option even if you only need one for the application). And I think the copy of one sheet of your passport and visa was about 100 won only.
After I got the pictures and copies, we decided to go to the second floor to pay for our fees. You'll need your passport for this process. You pay for the 20,000 won application fee through an ATM at the back of the room near the end of the seating area. When I was there, someone was helping assist pay for the fees at the ATM. I'm not sure if there is a way to translate the ATM in English, but since he just asked for my passport and money, he zoomed through it in Korean and just gave me my receipt. That was easy!
If you want to have your card mailed to you, you must go to another desk at the back of the seating area. Right around the ATMs on the second floor still. Anyways, she asked us what school we went to and what dorm building and room number we lived in. You then just write out your name and phone number on what I believe is the mailing slip. To have it mailed to your address, it costs 4,000 won. If it's not worth it to you to go back out to the immigration office, just get it mailed to you.
After all of that, we were finally ready to just wait and turn in our application and documents on the first floor. When we got down, there was about 15 people ahead of me, and that wait is much longer than what it seems. So get comfortable and maybe bring something to do. I was just sitting there... But someone no longer needed her ticket number and gave me two tickets like 9 spots ahead! Maybe after 30-45 minutes, my number was finally called and I originally just gave him my passport, application, copies, and certificate of enrollment. He'll also need the mailing slip and your receipt from the ATM. He actually just grabbed my folder and took whatever else he needed. If you have everything, you're good. I was sitting at the desk for maybe 5-10 minutes?
He then directed me to the desk for fingerprinting. I'm not really too sure what it's for, but once you're done with the fingerprinting, you're done! I believe the same desk for fingerprinting, is the same desk for picking up your alien registration card if you choose to pick it up yourself. So make sure to choose the right service when you come back to the immigration office.
We were only out for maybe a few hours, but we were seriously exhausted after all of that. At least it's done finally!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
That Culture Shock
I caught a really bad cold last week and have been trying to rest and get through it! Korea is so cold, I was surprised to get sick from it. I don't normally get sick from the cold in Hawaii... Regardless, must take better care of myself!
But as mentioned earlier, I wanted to write a post on my experience through culture shock in Korea. And how others people can cope and maybe learn from what I dealt with!
Anyways, before coming to Korea, people told me about culture shock and how to cope with it. I was so excited to go to Korea, I thought I'd be one of the last people to deal with culture shock then. I didn't really realize that I was going through culture shock until my friend confronted me about it actually. He had been going through the same thing while our other two friends were completely fine. I had gotten sick a few days before going to Korea. Pretty much the 24-hour flu. A lot of people thought that it started to be nerves and such, and I think now, I can say that they were probably right. I couldn't eat and I started to become really stressed when people tried to talk to me about Korea. I was almost scared to leave already.
Upon my arrival to Korea, I became very distant from the idea of me being in Korea. I was almost more so comfortable just staying in the international dorms where I knew I could communicate with people in English at least. I think the language barrier could've been my biggest obstacle to overcome. I realized that a lot of things weren't as English-friendly as I had thought, so it sort of brought a bit of stress to me.
The first few days were definitely a transition, but slowly I was more willing to go out and do more things with friends. I realized that I really wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if I didn't try and cope with the issues I had. Over time then, I was able to get the hang of things and started to become much more comfortable here! Most importantly, my appetite started to come back, haha.
So what's my recommendation to cope with this transition to a new country? Be very open to learning and experiencing something new. You may be put out of your comfort zone for a bit, but this open-mindedness definitely helps you to become more comfortable in another country! You're more willing to try things, and then can really get a taste of the country and its culture.
Don't be afraid though! You're not the only one going through this transition, and I think friends and meeting people can definitely help too. You guys can be there for each and work together to get to know the area. Just remember to have fun in whichever country you may choose to study or live in! It really is a blessing and quite a special experience to have and remember.
But as mentioned earlier, I wanted to write a post on my experience through culture shock in Korea. And how others people can cope and maybe learn from what I dealt with!
Anyways, before coming to Korea, people told me about culture shock and how to cope with it. I was so excited to go to Korea, I thought I'd be one of the last people to deal with culture shock then. I didn't really realize that I was going through culture shock until my friend confronted me about it actually. He had been going through the same thing while our other two friends were completely fine. I had gotten sick a few days before going to Korea. Pretty much the 24-hour flu. A lot of people thought that it started to be nerves and such, and I think now, I can say that they were probably right. I couldn't eat and I started to become really stressed when people tried to talk to me about Korea. I was almost scared to leave already.
Upon my arrival to Korea, I became very distant from the idea of me being in Korea. I was almost more so comfortable just staying in the international dorms where I knew I could communicate with people in English at least. I think the language barrier could've been my biggest obstacle to overcome. I realized that a lot of things weren't as English-friendly as I had thought, so it sort of brought a bit of stress to me.
The first few days were definitely a transition, but slowly I was more willing to go out and do more things with friends. I realized that I really wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if I didn't try and cope with the issues I had. Over time then, I was able to get the hang of things and started to become much more comfortable here! Most importantly, my appetite started to come back, haha.
So what's my recommendation to cope with this transition to a new country? Be very open to learning and experiencing something new. You may be put out of your comfort zone for a bit, but this open-mindedness definitely helps you to become more comfortable in another country! You're more willing to try things, and then can really get a taste of the country and its culture.
Don't be afraid though! You're not the only one going through this transition, and I think friends and meeting people can definitely help too. You guys can be there for each and work together to get to know the area. Just remember to have fun in whichever country you may choose to study or live in! It really is a blessing and quite a special experience to have and remember.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Peace Buddies and Insadong!
Every international student is paired with a student from Ewha that is there to hangout with and help us during our stay in Korea. These Ewha students are known as PEACE (Professional. Ewhaians. At. Cultural. Exchange.) Buddies, and have been such good help to us during our transition towards living in Korea. They've helped set up bank accounts, get cellphones, and other business that may be difficult for a foreigner. But they've also planned a lot of fun events for us like our welcoming party, lunches, and other get-togethers. It's really nice to be able to reach out to someone that's from Korea, and can help us with any issues or share with us the cool places to go to in Korea!
On Friday, me and my buddy planned a small get-together with some of the other students from Hawaii and their buddies. We all met at the front gate, and I was expecting us to just go to dinner around the area, but they decided to take us out to Insadong! My buddy told me that Insadong is known for expressing Korea's traditional culture with traditional houses, antiques, and food! We ate a restaurant in a traditional house, and the food was so good! I was so focused on eating, I didn't even bother to take pictures! Tells you how good it was because I love taking pictures of food...
After dinner, we walked down the street and went to Ssamziegil, which is this cute, little shopping center. The buddies told us that this place is a common place for couples to come to, and there definitely were a lot of couples there. I loved the style of the shopping area, and you basically just walk along the stores in a spiral. I managed to get a few pictures of the shopping center and the walkways!
On Friday, me and my buddy planned a small get-together with some of the other students from Hawaii and their buddies. We all met at the front gate, and I was expecting us to just go to dinner around the area, but they decided to take us out to Insadong! My buddy told me that Insadong is known for expressing Korea's traditional culture with traditional houses, antiques, and food! We ate a restaurant in a traditional house, and the food was so good! I was so focused on eating, I didn't even bother to take pictures! Tells you how good it was because I love taking pictures of food...
After dinner, we walked down the street and went to Ssamziegil, which is this cute, little shopping center. The buddies told us that this place is a common place for couples to come to, and there definitely were a lot of couples there. I loved the style of the shopping area, and you basically just walk along the stores in a spiral. I managed to get a few pictures of the shopping center and the walkways!
We eventually made our way up to a photo booth like purikura! We decided to dress up and wear some traditional clothes!
After all that fun, we went to this traditional tea cafe. It was such a peaceful and calm atmosphere, it was the perfect place to just relax and chat with friends. The tea was so good. I got the yuzu tea, which was sweet and citrusy! They also ordered these Korean rice cookies or crackers for us to snack on.
I absolutely love Korea! It seems like there's always something to do here, and you'll definitely never be bored here. I'll be honest, it was a quite a transition and culture shock at first, but by going out and experiencing the culture, I think I was able to overcome my struggles and I'm having an amazing time now!
Look out for a future post that's more in depth about my culture shock and transitioning to a new country.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Class Registration
At Ewha, the international students register for courses on the same day that classes start. In my opinion, it's not the most efficient way to register for courses.
The Korean students are able to register for courses before us, so the international students basically ask for overrides into courses. We register for courses online, but we still must get the professors' signature to actually be in the course. So if there's too many students in the course already and even though you registered for the course online, you can still be denied to take the course from the professor. And you won't know any of this really until the first day of class. I've already heard that some of the international kids haven't been able to get the classes they wanted.
I decided to register for the full 18 credits then, depending on what I can and can't get here. If I get everything I need, then I can drop the other courses I've registered for. I just need to make sure I withdraw from the course before the withdrawal period ends!
To me, this type of system for registering can be really risky for students on an international exchange. If students are not able to get the classes they need, they may be left taking classes that go towards nothing in their program. I'm unsure if Ewha sets an amount of spots for international students for the English-taught courses, but it doesn't really seem like it. It's really hard then if the international kids can't get English-taught courses they need and I'm sure many of us aren't capable of taking the courses taught in Korean. So yeah, very risky.
I have to go to my first class today for Financial Management (BUS 314 equivalent), so hopefully I will be able to get into the course!
The Korean students are able to register for courses before us, so the international students basically ask for overrides into courses. We register for courses online, but we still must get the professors' signature to actually be in the course. So if there's too many students in the course already and even though you registered for the course online, you can still be denied to take the course from the professor. And you won't know any of this really until the first day of class. I've already heard that some of the international kids haven't been able to get the classes they wanted.
I decided to register for the full 18 credits then, depending on what I can and can't get here. If I get everything I need, then I can drop the other courses I've registered for. I just need to make sure I withdraw from the course before the withdrawal period ends!
To me, this type of system for registering can be really risky for students on an international exchange. If students are not able to get the classes they need, they may be left taking classes that go towards nothing in their program. I'm unsure if Ewha sets an amount of spots for international students for the English-taught courses, but it doesn't really seem like it. It's really hard then if the international kids can't get English-taught courses they need and I'm sure many of us aren't capable of taking the courses taught in Korean. So yeah, very risky.
I have to go to my first class today for Financial Management (BUS 314 equivalent), so hopefully I will be able to get into the course!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Settling
I arrived in Korea a couple of days ago! Left on Monday to be exact.
It's been a rush getting settled here, but I'm starting to get in the groove of things. One of the hardest things for me to adapt to so far has been the timezone difference, honestly. It's always such a restless night of sleeping and I haven't been able to sleep through the night once! I guess that's the reason why I'm writing this post at 6am, Korea time. But that's just something that'll take time.
We had orientation yesterday, and it was a great opportunity to meet some of the other international students! There were two parts to the orientation. The first was a bit like a formal introduction to the school where the vice president of the school attended and provided us with musical performances and little skits. It was about an hour or so, and then we got a break and provided us with a lunch buffet!
Two hours after our break, the second part of orientation started, which was about all the important details during our stay at Ewha and Korea (class registration, alien registration card, etc). The second part was about an hour and a half, and then we went on a campus tour. The campus is huge! And on a hill. So there's a lot to explore, but be prepared for a lot of walking.
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| Ewha Campus Complex (Similar to the Campus Center of UH) |
Later at night, there was a welcoming party for the international students at this club called BarFly. It was a fun way of getting to know more of the other international kids on campus! My friend was even a runner up in one of the dance competitions to be the "Dancing King."
All in all, I'm still settling in and adjusting, but I'm having a good time! There's still a lot to do like get a cellphone and start up a bank account, but I hope in the coming days that can all be accomplished!
Friday, February 1, 2013
The Unexpected
No matter how much you may prepare, the unexpected can always happen. I'm one that likes to over prepare and be able to know everything to the smallest details. I knew that I literally could not know everything and that I'd have to be flexible throughout this trip, but I wasn't exactly expecting it to happen this early on... And I'm not even in Korea yet!
Sadly, my admissions packet has been lost. Some miscommunication seems to have happened, and UH can't locate the documents! Ewha notified the exchange students about three weeks ago that they had sent out the admissions packet, leaving me more and more nervous as the days passed. I had went to the office to see if maybe I missed something, but no, it was nobody's fault and sadly just a big miscommunication.
Things happen, and we can't control everything. Studying abroad is normally a process that students may go through once in their school career. It's not exactly something you can do over and over again and learn from past mistakes. When working with your home institution, host university, and planning other details for your stay abroad, bumps and miscommunications are bound to happen. We can't get everything right. I've realized that it's important to be understanding of these situations, but also must be prepared to handle and follow up on these unexpected situations.
I'm really just relieved that we know what has happened and we can move on towards getting our documents! Need to get that visa still! I've prepared all the other documents and all I need to do is simply head over to the Korean Consulate once I get my acceptance letter. I'm so thankful that UH is helping us get the documents as soon as possible though. Hopefully they can have better luck getting in touch with my school than me! Seems like Ewha is really busy preparing for the upcoming semester. And so will I!
Sadly, my admissions packet has been lost. Some miscommunication seems to have happened, and UH can't locate the documents! Ewha notified the exchange students about three weeks ago that they had sent out the admissions packet, leaving me more and more nervous as the days passed. I had went to the office to see if maybe I missed something, but no, it was nobody's fault and sadly just a big miscommunication.
Things happen, and we can't control everything. Studying abroad is normally a process that students may go through once in their school career. It's not exactly something you can do over and over again and learn from past mistakes. When working with your home institution, host university, and planning other details for your stay abroad, bumps and miscommunications are bound to happen. We can't get everything right. I've realized that it's important to be understanding of these situations, but also must be prepared to handle and follow up on these unexpected situations.
I'm really just relieved that we know what has happened and we can move on towards getting our documents! Need to get that visa still! I've prepared all the other documents and all I need to do is simply head over to the Korean Consulate once I get my acceptance letter. I'm so thankful that UH is helping us get the documents as soon as possible though. Hopefully they can have better luck getting in touch with my school than me! Seems like Ewha is really busy preparing for the upcoming semester. And so will I!
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