Something about SKKU 2

There will have big orientation for all the exchange students in Sungkyunkwan University and students will be divided in different group, each group will have a local student as a student tutor, you can contact them for any problem or hang out with them. Those students are all from “Hi-club”, a students group has a bunch of really heard warming and friendly people that take charge of exchange students. They will organize many meeting events and tell you how to get in Korean culture most quickly.

 

When the semester started I give many course I wanted because of the timing conflicts that many exchange students also mention the problem when we meet our student tutor. But luckily I take 5 profession courses and one course name is Practical Programming Languages, This is the course I really recommend for people who really interested in programming, like me, must take. One more tip, I really recommend that during the first studying week, you should take all you interested in and even those you didn’t get in. You will get a second change to adjust the schedule during the first weekend, so there is a possibility that there has some space in your wanted course. Also, there are some course that instruction language is English, but the teacher is really only has the course material in English but teach in Korea, or teacher may notice there is only one foreign student in the class, sadly like me, he will explain point in Korean, so the students are easy to understand. In the end I just canceled the course.

Difference between Chinese and Korean 6

• Patriarchy: The egalitarianism of the previous point also extends to gender, though not as much as class. Chinese are more comfortable having female leaders (most of the house churches in China wouldn’t exist if it were not for the abundance of female leaders). Chinese men are not as “strong” (or to spin it in a negative light: not as much machismo or chauvinism) as Korean men. I’ve even heard many Korean parents tell their daughters, “Marry a Chinese man because he’ll treat you better than a Korean man will.” (On the other hand, Japanese look down on Chinese as low-class and peasant-like; Japanese women will never consider a Chinese man as a potential husband, unless she is very Americanized—at that point, the Japanese become the Asian ethnicity with the highest rate of marrying outside their race).
• Academic excellence: here is where they’re most similar. Look at the top universities in the U.S. and they’re dominated by Chinese and Korean students. Despite the first joke at the top of this blog, it seems like both Chinese and Koreans are academic overachievers. This also extends to classical music: aside from Jews, it seems like the top violinists and pianists and cellists in this world tend to be Chinese and Korean.

Something about SKKU

When I see the list of Universities for exchange options that given to me, I decided to go to Sungkyunkwan University immediately. I knew it is a really famous University in South Korea. Sungkyunkwan in the history of South Korea was the foremost education institution in Korea during the late Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties. So Sungkyunkwan University that has 617 years long history is the oldest University in South Korea and it’s the top private research university in that country.

Sungkyunkwan University has two campus, one is the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus that location is really good, in the center of Seoul and in a University area, the other one is the Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, a city located near Seoul, that need about one hour to go to Seoul campus by metro and there is free school bus running on fixed schedule that takes around 45 minutes. Both campuses have student dormitory and it is not recommended to living outside the campus. First, it is much more expensive living outside. And it’s not easy to get any good offer. Before applying for dormitory, the dorm manager may say that there is possible that not all the people get to live in the dorm, but don’t worry they will arrange all the students well.  

Difference between Chinese and Korean 5

•           Style: Chinese generally don’t care that much how they look. It depends, however, if they’re from Hong Kong (very stylish), the mainland (total lack of style), or Taiwan (somewhere in the middle). Koreans really care about how they look, sometimes to a fault (plastic surgery is huge business in Korea, and materialism—everything from Prada bags to designer clothing—is also huge).

•           Economics: Though both China and Korea are economic powers now, Korea is definitely the greater country per capita. It’s just that China has 1.3 billion people so it’s hard to compete with that! But for such a tiny nation, Korea sure outperforms both China and Japan. With Samsung smartphones and flatscreen TVs, and sophisticated cars like Hyundai and Kia (which are no longer in the low-end market but can compete with the best of the rest of the world), Korea has come into its own. China mainly does mass production of everyday items, not high-end goods. But just in terms of sheer economic weight, no one can beat China—not even the United States (China owns most of the USA’s debt). China is an economic juggernaut that is just crushing the competition. The only thing that can beat China is China itself, and it just might collapse under its own weight, or at least the rate of expansion is perhaps unsustainable.

•       Sports: Koreans love baseball and soccer and are pretty good at both. Chinese are horrible at both (unless they’re from Taiwan, then they might be good at baseball)—but they excel in things like gymnastics and basketball. Therefore you will see Koreans being fairly competitive in the World Cup, whereas Chinese do really well in the Olympics. Yet, similar to the previous characteristic, Korea way outperforms China per capita. For  such a tiny country, it is amazing that it always ranks in the top ten in the world in both Summer and Winter Olympics; but China always ranks in the top three in the world in the Olympics.

My day 11 in Korea

My day 11 in Korea is a day full of good food. From all over the place.

We had a tutor back in Singapore and her tutor is a Korean! Recently they decided to go back to Korea so when W's tutor's mum knew that she was coming over, she told her to meet up in Korea. One gang of us decided to join her. :P (Of course we told them beforehand.)

We were meeting with W's tutee at Hongdae after lunch. So we decided to go have lunch together in Hongdae and walk around first. Since we were spoilt with choices, and I was craving for it, I decided to introduce them to Han's Deli, a western restaurant I have previously mentioned. And presenting to you... my all time favourite baked rice. It's so good!

We then met with W's tutor and her mum. She brought us to this little cute cafe in Hongdae - Cafe Etonne. It has the cutest desserts ever. In Korea, somehow food presentation is so important, especially desserts. And if you love desserts and pretty food like me, you definitely cannot miss this place!

We then moved on to Times Square for some shopping. I saw my most favourite tofu banchan, but I don't know how am I gonna pack it back to the guesthouse, or store it. So I decided not to get it. We walked around and around and decided finally to settle at this very grand looking Japanese restaurant on the 8th floor. This seafood ramen is one of the best I have eaten, though it tastes a bit fusion rather than authentic Japanese food. And seriously... I don't understand why they must serve ramen with pickles and kimchi. No matter where you go, what cuisine you eat, there is still kimchi... somehow. (It's weird even though I love kimchi)

When we returned back to our dorm, Y and Z came over and gave us a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. To thank us for guiding them to the guesthouse when they were lost that day. Honestly, we were just doing our part in helping people (because we were equally lost before so we know how it feels) But really thankful for their kindness. It warms our heart to know that we meet nice people in a foreign land. (:

Difference between Chinese and Korean 4

• Culture: Korea is famous for its soap operas (which are exported all over the world) and K-pop music (like Gangnam Style by Psy, the most-watched YouTube video in history). China is famous for its cinema, especially Hong Kong—movie stars like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, and Jet Li are worldwide icons, but you can trace this all the way back to Bruce Lee in the 1960s.
• Climate: Because China is geographically huge, it has a variety of climates. Half of the country is in the tropics, whereas half the country has a climate similar to North America. Korea is more like North American climate, having no part of its country in the tropics.
• Christianity: Koreans are very Christian. Something like 40% of South Korea is Christian. Whereas Christians are more like 10% of China. But, while Korea has the per capita stat on its side, China once again beats out the competition by sheer size. Though in the U.S. you may see just as many Chinese as Korean Christians (go to any college campus and you’ll find that InterVarsity and Campus Crusade, for example, are dominated by Chinese and Koreans), for Koreans being a pastor is a highly-valued status symbol whereas in Chinese culture it’s not. So there are many more Korean pastors in the U.S. than Chinese pastors.