Oversea Exchange at Sungkyunkwan university
- 7:12 PM
- by
- celinebleh
Finally back from exchange!
Just 3 months ago, we were discussing on the various overseas exchange programmes for either summer school term or during our vacation break from school. My friend then decides to google and did a comparison for different universities in Korea such as Hanyang University or Yonsei University. We found out that majority of the schools require at least 3-month programme over there clearing mostly general education modules like taking up Korea language as a module or to learn about their history and culture. However, for Sungkyunkwan university, they were offering a 1-month programme in exchange for 2 modules! But then, it was definitely way more hectic as we would have classes every day from 8 am to 1145am, and then 1 pm till 3.45pm. The classes were also structured pretty much like SMU style, seminar based with tutorials and lecture. The professors in the schools were very friendly and internationalised, meaning they can really speak very well in both Korean and English.
Our big data and technologies module professor taught students in a reputable US school before, while another IT, business and sustainability professor was from India and she moved to Korea due to her husband's work commitments. It was really not difficult to catch up with all the lessons as the modules were structured with hands on tutorials to try out. But I honestly dislike going to school every day, as it is a crazily tiring journey. Every single day we would have to climb the hill upwards where the whole campus is located at 8 am in the morning. As a result, my legs became really slimmer haha not kidding!! It was pretty easy to come down cause it's just a slope.
Well, a brief history of Sung Kyun Kwan University:
Sungkyunkwan is a private research university with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. Originally it was founded in 1398 by the Joseon Dynasty located in the heart of central Seoul. As we were walking past, we saw many traditioned palace like huts which we thought was from the past. The school was also authorised as the educational institution of Joseon, and state administration pertaining to the royal assent. Samsung does partner with SKKU's programmes and in university ranking, the school was consistently placing in the top 3 nationally. Not bad a school.
The school's history is also very interesting!! It was built to offer prayers and ritual to Confucius and his disciples and to promote the study of the Confucian. Their notable alumni include Song Joon Ki (yay)
Wew. Can't believe we are actually there! We also heard that the admission process is really tough from our classmates and Koreans are subjected to interview evaluation, good grades and testimonials from the teachers. Korea education is considered one of the hardest especially studying for their examinations to get into local universities. He told us he used to have two or three tuitions every day till 10pm every night to enrol into SKKU school. Also, we were considered lucky! our application to the school was considered a breeze, just mapping to SMU's modules can be quite a hassle... For payment wise, they only accept Woori bank and POSB rates can be really bad. Our rate that time was 1SGD = 798 won, and the bank rates were quite bad, including processing fees. Thankfully, the administrative office in-charges are really friendly and they even waive off early bird fees for us! If I'm not wrong was 200,000 won per person?
We got many perks such as school trips to Gyeongbokgung palace, free admission to everland and carribean bay which Samsung kindly sponsored (yay again!), pizza party, welcome party, bbq party, Korean folk village and things like that. We even had a mini graduation day where the teachers gave speeches and receive our transcripts which I skipped cause I made an impromptu decision to go Busan that........ I will never regret :P
wew. Some ceremony that Daniel sent to us while they jogged up the school.
Some of the things we did in school! Like, making posters, presentations. We even made 3D version. How creative HAHAHA
Yaaas, with the prof and our friends from NTU chemical engineering i think??
Our last 3rd week hiking up Namsan tower with our classmate, Min song! He was super cute in telling us to bring towers cause we will all sweat like crazy climbing up the stairs again and the steep slopes. But the sunset view was worth it. That was the best part of the exchange, getting to know so many people of around your age and making friendships that cross borders.
Our big data class!!!!! Wew. Learned about watson analytics, some stuffs about big data and the technologies used. Ok don't judge but we always stalk our eye candy hahahaha and he found us.
On the last day!!!!! :D :D :D
The thing about korea is that, there is so many eye candy around. People there are really so good looking and the girls are pretty as well. The girls even put makeup every morning in the school toilets, while eating and super glamorous while talking.
Paper Tumblr? Sustainability of using tumblr instead of paper cups, we went around the subway station area to ask their opinion as part of the project.
Happy us after completing at starbucks and sending to our Kakaotalk chat.
So after our Tableau presentation, our eye candy known as the handsome classmate's friend came to ask where we were from. Then we took the opportunity to take photo and exchange kakao. HAHAHAAHAHA #bestdecisionever #bestdayever he look like some korea celebrity.
We also stayed near the campus (just 5 minutes away), I won't elaborate the hostel cause it's really small and not very tidily kept but the convenience is really awesome. Thankful that I brought my pillow and blanket as it was not provided. But for the price we pay per night, it was damn worth it lah considering there is a fridge to store all my banana milk, my porridge, kimchi and a small study area for me to study.
Credits: Daniel Instagram pic.
Thankful for all the memories created and the exchange opportunity. This will mark my first update for exchange! If you're thinking of clearing your modules within a short span of time then this will be a place! The opportunities, the experience will be worthwhile. Alivia and I even hiked up in the night to the campus to print our KTX tickets to Busan and was greeted with half the night scenery of Seoul. Amazing.
Course fees, 1,400 per module (we took 2 modules so it was close to 3,000)
Accommodation: 400 per room
Thanks for reading :)
1 comments:
Hi,
May i know how is the big data course that you took at skku? Do you a lot of exams and tests like in SMU?
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