Seoul, South Korea Update 11

Published:


Isaiah Richardson

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š” <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> Western Kentucky University <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Seoul, South Korea <i>Program provider:</i> Yonsei University <i>Major/minor:</i> Computer Science <i>Demographics:</i> First-generation college student Biracial (African American and Caucasian) <i>Future career aspirations:</i> After I graduate I want to work in U.S. a little while as a software engineer, and then eventually move to South Korea and work as software engineer. <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> While I am abroad I want to learn more about the Korean culture. Enhance my software engineer skills by learning about the different approaches to problem solving. Get involved in different student organizations.

Hello, after writing this I can say I have now reached halfway through my semester here at Yonsei University! This past week was my midterms which I am so happy to be finished with them.

Starting off Monday I had my midterm for computer science. This was the big one that I had been studying so much for these past few weeks. I really struggled with it and tried my best to answer all the possible questions. In my Korean class we kind of practiced and prepared for our midterm. Because we were zooming in from home, we had to take extra steps in order to make sure everything went well. As for me, I was able to get somewhere on campus where I could take the midterm which was spread out from Tuesday-Friday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the easier days for sure. It was what I had practiced most on and what I had been working on for so long, so there is not much to say about those two days.

Thursday and Friday however were another story. Thursday and Friday were the more difficult part of the test, and I did struggle a little bit with it, but I still answered all the questions and know I did well!

Other than midterms, this week I explored more of Yonseiโ€™s campus and met a friend who is in my Korean class. My friend and I went around campus, and she showed me some areas that I had not seen before like cafes, shops, etc. Since classes are online, I have been studying and attending classes from home so I had not seen all these places! There was this shop on campus that I will definitely be going back to because there are some souvenirs I want to buy. There were also jackets and sweaters that look amazing too!

Something really small that happened but made me really proud was that my friend saw someoneโ€™s bag that was really nice and wanted to ask him where he had bought it from. She did not know what to say in Korean, but I did! When he passed by us, I asked him in Korean where he bought the bag, and how much it was. He explained to me where he bought it, that there was a sale going on, and the brand of the bag! I was proud because I spoke in Korean but also my pronunciation was good, and I could understand everything he said!

Now that I am halfway through the semester, I am really starting to wonder where time is going! There has been a lot of ups and downs, but I can say I absolutely love my time here so far and I hope it only gets better!

(The picture is from a Starbucks shop)