Week 4 in Seoul, South Korea.

By:

Isaiah Richardson

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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,

I am back with my fourth week in Seoul, South Korea. This week was a lot of prepping for classes while also trying different foods and meeting new people.

Monday, I decided to try something new. I went and visited a PC room. These rooms are where people can go and pay to play games or just use the internet on computers. When I first got there, I was struggling a lot because my Korean speaking still is not great. However, there was someone there who helped me. He spoke English very well and I found out he lived in Texas and was here for college. We became friends and talked about some of the different games we like. It was a lot of fun and I found out you can order food and different drinks while you are there! I had one of the best Americanos ever while I was there. After I left the PC room I had to meet up with an acquaintance of my friend. I found out he had studied abroad in Australia before which I thought was so interesting. We talked about different topics like basketball and music which we both enjoyed. Turns out we both like the Los Angeles Lakers which I thought was awesome!

Tuesday was a little different than the other days. I went and visited the PC room and talked with some of my friends who are in the states for a little while. Later I went with my friends to get bingsu (first imagine) and look around. I got back home pretty earlier, so I studied some Korean vocabulary and did laundry.

Wednesday and Thursday have been busy because I was learning how to register for classes which is completely different than what I am used to at my home university Western Kentucky University. Normally, I search the classes I want on a portal and add them to a schedule planner and just register at the required time. At Yonsei, we had to log in at 9:00am on Friday and search for the classes we want and then use mileage points to bid for each class we want. We are given a certain amount of mileage and we can only use a certain amount for each class. If for some reason I do not get the classes, there is another round where I will be able to register for different classes.

Another amazing week in Seoul I would say. I learned about my registration for classes, met up with new friends, and also visited new places. I am slowly getting more confident speaking Korean and I am learning a lot. Next week I plan to visit a few different places and also meet up with my friend again to learn more!