Category Archives: Korea University

[Tip/Tutorial] How to choose a gositel / livingtel

13 January, 2012 1:12 PM \ 15 Comments \

For students or those on a budget that are looking to stay in Korea for an extended period of time (> 1 month), a gositel or livingtel is probably one of the top choices.

Firstly, let me briefly go through the choices that you have:

1. Gositel / livingtel

2. renting a very small apartment

3. doing homestay

4. living in a apartment converted into a mini hostel

Each of the choices has its own advantages/disadvantages, but since I chose choice 1, I’ll focus on it at the moment.

If you are going on exchange to a university, you may find that their international dormitories are too full or occasionally in a location that is not very accessible and convenient (as in KU).

A gositel / livingtel is an ‘upgraded version’ of gosiwon that boasts a slightly better facility. Most of the gositels in university areas are populated by exchange students, korean students (from other cities), language program students etc.

A gositel can either occupy one / more floors of a building or have their own building. The general idea is that a floor is divided into many SMALL rooms, and they share a common kitchen, with some kind of common area. Each floor usually has an office for the ajusshi living there and it is usually located by the door.

I have lived in two gositels: one very bad (A) and one pretty good (B) and I’ll make reference to both from time to time.

Rooms:

The rooms are usually very small (don’t ask me for dimensions), but there’s barely enough space to walk around. You stand in the middle and you can reach your bed, your table, the bathroom door and the main door – essentially a shoebox size.

There are usually 4 types of rooms:

  1. inner window (내부창) with bathroom
  2. outer window (외부창) with bathroom
  3. inner window without bathroom
  4. outer window without bathroom

Outer window / bathroom are usually the more expensive options. Inner window simply means a really SMALL square window (video below). I don’t open the inner window for privacy reasons and this means the room can get a little stuffy at times. Having an outside window means u are subject to the elements of the weather (super cold in winter) and mosquitoes in the summer. Having your own private shower facility is the best (for girls at least) but there’s also a common shower / bathroom on each floor.

Most rooms have a mini TV and a mini fridge. Bathrooms have the sink and the toilet bowl near each other and you shower using the shower head connected to the sink.

Kitchen:

Unlike what you see in photos, kitchens are not big. Usually it’s annoying to have more than 2 persons in the kitchen but sizes vary from places to places. Gositel A had a spacious kitchen with a kimchi fridge and gositel B had a smaller one with a normal fridge.

Most gositels provide free kimchi, cooked rice, ramen packets and eggs. Gositel A leave their eggs outside in room temp and I often see bad eggs around. I never touched eggs there. The cooked rice are left to keep warm in the cooker but sometimes I feel that the rice looks super old. The eggs in gositel B are HUGE and refrigerated and their rice is the purplish kind (which I like!) and cooked twice a day.

Utensils and bowls are provided and the quality of each varies. Gositel B is good. I usually use their plates / bowls.

Common Area:

Again, there’s no such thing as a common area (for most gositels). Whatever you see in the photos is taken at such a deceiving angle. Most gositels say they provide a PC and although they do, it’s usually the super old PC and located near the entrance of the gositel. It’s so weird to sit there and do your stuff so I suggest you either bring your own laptop or go to school to use their computers. All gositels like to save space and maximise the use of their space.

Internet / Misc:

Most gositels do not offer wireless network service and they provide just a ethernet cable. A solution may be to buy your own router device. There is usually a dustpan / vacuum machine for common use and also an ironing board and iron! Don’t expect too much though D:

General Tips:

  • Buy your own cleaning sponge. I am a clean freak and I use my own sponge to watch the utensils before and after using
  • I buy my own pot / pan. A small ramen pot cost around 3000won and a frying pan 5000won in Daiso (the savior of all exchange students) and I keep those in my own room after washing!
  • I never iron my clothes. Try to buy clothes that do not need to be ironed

Here’s a video of my room in gositel B

How to search for a gositel!

Now that I’ve outlined the facilities in a gositel, it’s time to talk about how to search for one. Gositels are abundant, especially near university areas and they are usually the better ones (I think). There are bound to be popular / unpopular ones and it’s good to check out reviews while you are searching. However, most reviews (in English) are not detailed and perhaps the better ones may be in Korean.

Each university usually have a few gositels that they recommend but doesn’t mean they are the best. Never trust what you didn’t see. That’s a good starting point to begin your search though.

Type in 고려대 고시텔 / 리빙텔 and you should see an array of results. Each gositel has their own site and never believe what you see in their photos. You can use that as a guide, but seriously, nothing looks that nice unless you happen to choose a newly opened gositel.

Gositels are priced at around 300,000 to 650,000won and of course, you get what you pay. A decent room in a decent gositel costs around 480,000won, so take that as a guide.

Each gositel website has a notice board where you can enquire about the room prices / availability, move in date etc. You typically type in a message, input a password (anything) and submit. The ajusshis in the gositel typically knows some English and will reply you within a day or so. If you know Korean, just type in Korean. Reservations are made this way and some places require you to wire a deposit to them.

These places fill up very fast (especially the ones located near schools and in convenient places), so most people won’t have a choice but to choose based on what they see online. However, it would be awesome if you arrive earlier, stay in a backpackers hotel, go see the gositels in person to check out the places before deciding. But hardly possible in reality.

Useful tips / info (moving in):

  • Most gositels require to stay for at least 3 months. Some levy a penalty fee if you move out early, others are more lenient and just require a 2 weeks notice or so
  • You may have to sign a contract. BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING. I can’t stress that enough. Verbal agreement is one thing, a contract is another. Make sure you know exactly what you are signing. Read every single clause.
  • They usually require a deposit of 100,000won (which is part of your first month rental fee)
  • Keys require a deposit of 10,000 – 20,000won
  • Know your contract. Some places cheat by counting a month as in 30 days while others count a month as in 20 nov to 19 dec.

If possible, please visit the gositel before you hand in any money. The surrounding matters too. Gositel A was located in a badly lighted building on the 4th floor and I didn’t like to pass the noraebang and pc bang located downstairs. You always meet random people smoking at the stairways and I hate it. Gositel B has it’s own building and everything is well lit with an elevator. The stairs are nicely tiled and the whole place well ventilated. The front door is locked after 10pm and you have to use an electric key to open it. Adds safety.

Other Tips:

  • location of the neighborhood is important. All gositels may be located near the university, but neighboring streets may have very very different atmosphere/culture/noise level
  • ASK AROUND. There isn’t a wealth of information readily available, but I’m sure you can find someone who said they use to attend that university as an exchange student etc. Just email the person and ask. I’m sure most of them will be willing to help. (If you want to know about KU, email me. But be nice)
  • Choose a gositel near the subway station and on the main street. You won’t want to walk home in the wee hours in the alleyways. It doesn’t matter if the gositel is a little far from school, you will probably be coming home more often from a subway station / bus stop

I might do a review of Gositel B if I have time. But if you want to know the name of Gositel A, send me an email. I won’t entertain questions about it on the comment section.

Posted in: Korea University, Seoul Life 2011, Useful tips \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

[REVIEW] Korea University’s Korean Lessons

2 January, 2012 11:14 AM \ 21 Comments \

Disclaimer: I’m writing this based on my personal experience, and it may / may not be accurate. Feel free to disagree but be polite.

Disclaimer 2: The experience may be the same or not if you are attending Korean lessons in summer school or the real Korean Language Program.

Disclaimer 3: If I make comparison to the Yonsei lessons, it’s the international summer school that I’m talking about, which may or not may be the same with other programs.

Disclaimer 4: Korea University offers Korean lessons, Korean Writing, Korean Reading, Korean Speaking modules for the exchange / regular students. I am reviewing the ‘basic’ Korean modules.

Facts: I’m taking Korean lessons which are offered to regular exchange students in the afternoon. We share the same textbooks, the same teachers but perhaps less intensive than the Korean language program lessons.

This is going to be a long review as I am *ahem* not writing very nice things and I want to emphasize that this is my own personal experience and a few factors may have led to how I felt about the lessons. (sorry I don’t want to attract anti-fans)

——-

Placement Test

I have blogged about this before, but let me go through it again. Basically, we were asked to register for the appropriate level of class together with the rest of the modules during course registration. Which I think is ridiculous.

First, course registration is a high stress period where you are trying to coordinate your timetable, making sure that there are vacancies in the classes etc. There was a vacancy limit placed on each Korean class level and they didn’t tell us if they would open more classes should the numbers exceed the limit.

This creates a lot of stress. It’s difficult to pinpoint your own level, particularly for those who have never taken TOPIK, who has never taken formal Korean classes. But the levels in our home countries usually don’t correspond to that in Korea, so nobody actually knows where they stand (unless for the real beginners and the real advanced…) This means that you have to be very careful of which level you choose, and if you end up being in another level, you have to de-register your course, and re-register the correct module, which is a pain in the ass when everything is done offline.

(bah i wrote alot more and due to an error, everything was gone… now I have to re-write again.. in a more concise manner)

Okay, so I went for that horrifying placement test and my confidence got shattered when the teacher pointedly told me that I clearly belong to level 3.. maybe a level 4 at best and she obviously thinks that I’m crazy to register for Level 6 in the first place. So ridiculous. I know I still have loads more to learn, but I definitely don’t belong to level 3. But I thought KU’s lessons were really THAT INTENSIVE and that the teacher should know best… so I re-registered for level 4.

The next day, interviews and placement tests were still on-going and technically you have to report to your new class and take the placement test again if necessary (I forgot the details). I met another girl in the same situation as me and we decided to go for the Level 5 placement test.

The level 5 teacher was busy conducting interviews etc and we told her of our situation and that we already have the TOPIK 4 certification and would like to try for the level 5 class instead. The teacher looked at us, and in an exasperated voice, told us that TOPIK level 4 doesn’t necessary means that you are qualified to be in the level 5 class. If the level 6 teacher tells you that you are in level 4, you should go there. *shrug* but if you want to try for level 5, you all can take the interview after I’m done with the rest. Her attitude wasn’t the most encouraging. We were suffering from shattered confidence then and after looking at the level 4 book, we decided that perhaps we can still learn something in the classes since we weren’t that familiar with the vocabulary and perhaps it would do us good if we can learn how to use the grammar points more appropriately.

So I decided to stay in the level 4 class.

The class / the textbook

Let me put this straight. I liked my Korean teacher. I think she’s nice and a relatively good teacher and she puts in effort in her teaching. But I’m sorry to say that class is horribly boring and ineffective and draining. I attribute that to the textbook, the teaching system in KU and perhaps that fact that the class is clearly below my level.

First, the textbook. I seriously haven’t seen a worse university textbook series. Yonsei Level 6 was awesome, sogang is pretty good, kyunghee is a little dry but still covers good ground. I’ve seen quite a number of textbooks and usually I have something good to say about each. But I clearly have got nothing nice to say about the KU textbook.

Each chapter comes with an opening dialogue / passage, which I think is super simple for a level 4 textbook. (I may think so because it’s below my level.. but I still think it’s easy for a level 4). Then you get additional notes/exercies (very minimal) and then LOADS OF DRILLS. Seriously, the whole textbook is about drills. Each example comes with at least 5-6 practice erm drills to ermm solidify the grammar point and learn new vocabulary at the same time. Horrifying. And the drills aren’t exactly the smoothest sentences or the most useful.

Followed by grammar explanations. Very minimal explanations and a few example sentences. And the textbook is mostly in English.. Seriously, I would think a Level 4 textbook should be completely in Korean. -.-

Our lessons are supposedly less intensive than the Korean Language Program in the mornings. So we cover a chapter every 2 weeks (8 lessons, 1hr 15 min each) and by the end of the class, we should complete about half the book. And we skip alot of each chapter, so basically we are just doing the drills and the grammar points (so interesting…)

I spend every lesson being bored, unmotivated and downright sleepy. Which is a stark contrast to my attitude in Yonsei. I would pay 100% attention throughout the lessons, prepare for classses in advance everyday, be very motivated to learn and enjoying each moment in the class. Korean is my favorite subject and I love learning it. But I can say that I didn’t study at all for any of my tests (I just flipped through the chapter and be done in 15 min or so) and I still managed to get an A+ for my final grade and a perfect score for my presentation.

These Korean classes are supposedly aim at improving SPEAKING and haha i don’t think any of us improved. Seriously. I don’t even think doing drills is helping much to improve our speaking. We did have several exercises where we are supposed to prepare for a topic (using formal language) and then go up to present it in front of the class the next lesson. I would appreciate it if such excercies are given more weightage and importance in the classes.

Oh, did I mention the level 6 teacher told me that students in Level 5 are already fluent and well-articulate and able to express their opinions on several high-level issues such as economy, politics, culture etc. Most of the exchange students stay for a year, meaning that my classmates will probably be in Level 5 next semester. Let’s just say that I doubt any of us are able to fit that criteria. -.-

I’m not saying that I’m too good or anything. I clearly know that my Korean is still very limited and I have a long way more to study. My goal this semester was to really improve my Korean (especially speaking and listening) and I’m really disappointed to say that the Korean lessons did nothing at all to help. I love challenging lessons and would rather struggle a little in a high level class and learn loads than simply getting excellent grades in a class clearly below my level.

I did improve, but I attribute that to my Korean friends who would speak to me in Korean and treat me as any normal Korean. I’m really grateful to them.

————

For all its claims on ‘how intensive the lessons are’, KU’s Korean classes are such a disappointment. All in all, the lessons left me unmotivated, and reduced the beauty and fun of languag learning to drills and grammar points. I can safely say that I learn loads more self-studying. Definitely not comparable to Yonsei.

In case you wonder why there aren’t any photos of the textbook etc, I threw it away straight after the exam. People who know me knows that my Korean textbooks/books are my treasures and I am very very particular about keeping them nice and neat. I simply tear KU’s textbok apart (since the whole book is too annoying to carry around) and threw it away after the classes. I didn’t even open up the CDs -.- whereas I listened to Yonsei’s CDs every single day.

All in all, I’m disappointed in the lessons. Not sure if it was due to the fact that it’s below my level, or the lessons themselves are horrible or a combination of both. But it’s not my fault that I’m being placed into this level.

I did think for very long whether I should write this post, but being honest and sharing my experiences is how I have been running this blog. ^^

I welcome all feedback, and feel free to share your experiences with Korean lessons that you have taken. I would also love to hear something nice about KU, so feel free to disagree. But be nice. ^^

Posted in: Korea University, Korean learning journey (:, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Pros and Cons of Korean classes

14 September, 2011 3:18 PM \ 2 Comments \

I know I still haven’t blogged in detail about my Korean classes, but all you need to know is that I feel super sleepy every lesson – the kind where I totally switch off for the most part of the lesson D:

I’ll be talking about it next time (i keep delaying i knowww) but I have an upcoming quiz on Monday. As I’m studying for it now, I strongly feel the cons of having Korean classes and exams.

I realised that I’m kinda ‘studying smart’ and only looking at the words that the teacher have gone through or pointed out that it will be in the test. AND. I. HATE. IT.

I don’t even do that when I studied for TOPIK 2 years ago.

Yes, I’m sure I’m learning some things from the classes. But no, I hate it that I feel restricted to just study from the syllabus.

Sorry, this is kinda half-hearted blogging. xD

Posted in: Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged:

Day #34 Drinking~! :D

9 September, 2011 9:09 PM \ 2 Comments \

Had an awesome day!^^

I have nothing to say about my morning lessons, but I can say that Korean lessons have been a disappointment so far. D: I just couldn’t accumulate enough motivation to blog about it. It’s not good, but not too horrible that I’ll start going on a tirade about its flaws. It’s just.. lackluster. Maybe I’ll blog about it when I have nothing else to blog about.

Today’s Korean lesson was slightly more fun though. We were asked to prepared a formal self introduction (격식적인 자기소개서) the day before and we were randomly put into groups of 4. We took turns in reading/reciting our own speech and we were supposed to pick one representative to do it in front of the class. I was picked (-.-) for my group and I went first too~!

It was FUN. hahaha. I’m not a fan of standing in front of crowds to give speeches or anything, but I really enjoy it if it has something to do with Korean. O.o

Enough about lackluster lessons.

Went to 신사동 to meet with two Korean friends and their American friend, Jeff! :D We had awesome bbq-ed pork for dinner but we didn’t eat much. There wasn’t anything to do after dinner, so we walked to 압구정. Jeff knew a few good bars and he was eager to bring us to 3 of them!

So the drinking party starts~! LOL I’m not a horrible drinker but I don’t know my limit. I HATE the idea of getting drunk, so I’ll always stop wayy before I even feel dizzy. hahaha.

Jeff has been visiting Korea once every year for the past idunnohowmany years and he’s friendly with the bartenders/owners! I’m sorry, but I don’t remember any of the bars that we went to. xD

The first bar was my favorite, as they serve both food and drinks. It has a comfortable atmosphere, and it was a great place to hang out with friends to talk. It’s pretty spacious and the lighting is low and the music soft. We sat at the bar counter started off with a bottle of Cass each.

I was hungry and decided to order tomato pasta! It was AWESOME :D

The guys decided to go for tequila shots and I was too apprehensive of going for the pure shots because I never had them before. The nice bartender made me a a slightly watered down version but there was still quite a lot of tequila in there. (He mixed it something and slammed the thing on the table) It’s actually slightly taller than the normal shot glasses the photo is misleading xD

It was super nice!! :D :D

The guys had 2 pure shots while I had 2 of these. xD

Moved on to the next bar. A very different atmosphere. More modern and clean cut and the lighting was more urm colorful. They use iPads as menus and my friend was so tempted to take one home xD

Had a bottle of Budweiser here.

The last place was more typical pub. Loud music, people smoking, no atmosphere. hahaha. Had another bottle of Cass.

Total alcoholic intake: 2 bottles of Cass, 1 bottle of Budweiser and 2 weaker shots of Tequila!

hahaha I felt perfectly fine. Just that I had to go to the toilet a lot. Too much liquid.

Walked past LILSEAN, the clothing stored own by YG’s Sean!

During our bar-hopping, I coincidentally met an 언니 outside a building , who was on duty/work, and she told me that this *ahem* very famous young female solo singer is having her photoshoot downstairs in the building. I’ll leave it up to you guys to guess who she is. ^^

I’m not interested in that singer and I wouldn’t want to give my 언니 any inconvenience by asking if I could take a peep. xD I might do otherwise if it was big bang or kang dongwon or Han Ye Seul.

hehe my friend sent me her quick sketch of my most favorite guy in the world. :D

Today I experienced how drinking does help bond people together really fast!! xD

 

Posted in: Daily life updates, Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: , , ,

Day #27 Settling down in school :D

1 September, 2011 11:55 PM \ 4 Comments \

I had a pretty enjoyable day!! although marred by something right at the end of the day -.-

Classes were pretty alright today and I already have an assignment D: Went for the first official Korean class (intermediate 2). I don’t know what to make of it, frankly speaking.

I did learn some new vocabulary, but … I don’t know. I think my problem lies with knowing the grammar but unable to apply the ‘difficult ones’ in my writing, so that’s why I am considered lousy? But I’m still miffed at the weird interview questions – told my Korean friend about it and he was like URMMMM O.o too.

It’s good to relax in a class I guess. Can’t really judge now, but I think the intermediate 2 class has quite a range of proficiency. The teacher is pretty nice though.

(It’s nearly 1am now, which explains my lack of enthusiasm in blogging xD)

The media building in KU is newly constructed and due to open soon, but some levels are already accessible! I went up to the 12th floor (the sky lounge) with my friend and we had a really nice view! The place is empty right now and few people came up while we were there.

I’m glad I went up before things get added to the place! We chatted about a lot of stuff and I had a really nice time :D

A sneak preview of the KU Library!

hahaha sorry I’m not in the right frame of mind now to blog O.o

Shall go zzzzzzz ^^

 

Posted in: Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: ,

Day #26 Day out with a Singaporean :D

31 August, 2011 10:18 PM \ 12 Comments \

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement and advice for the previous two posts. This means so much to me and I really felt happier after reading every single comment ^^ My problems are still there but I am learning to focus on happier things!

and I’ll like to stress this again: my worries have NOTHING to do with failing the korean placement test LOL

Today I had a sociology class and frankly, I don’t know what to make of it yet. It’s in English and the lecturer is Korean and I’m soo sorry but the glaring mistakes on the powerpoint jumped out at me and I think I was focusing on that rather than the lesson itself. O.o

Went to get my alien card and yep, it was a breeze. Presented the receipt and tada I’m an official alien now :D

Guess where I took the photo?

You will never guess it.

.

.

It’s the female toilet!! To be exact, it’s in the cubicle itself and it’s a toilet in the liberal arts building in KU. O.o It’s a super strange place to have such a thing and I wonder about its purpose. I was reading it and they have comments like KU’s fees are too expensive. And someone replied Agreed!! LOL

and the funnier part? This sign was on the urm cubicle wall opposite the writing paper

Look at point 1: Please do not write and vandalise the toilet walls

Ironic. Aren’t you providing the tool (the pen) to allow scribbling?!! I doubt many sane people will actually take a pen out to scribble, but if you have a pen there…..

This is not a good photo. But it’s a dog soft toy that urm moves and barks and urm ya. xD You see people selling all kinds of stuff on the subway train and this one is pretty funny. Basically he will put around 3 dogs in every compartment and everyone will be staring at the dogs moving and barking. And trying to avoid stepping on them. After awhile, if the guy sees no interested buyers, he will collect the dogs and move on to the other compartment. hahahaha it’s a hilarious sight.

Another not good photo. This is THE PLACE TO BE SEEN IN cafe that I was talking about in my previous post. LOL. Well, it’s a horrible photo but you see all the socialites wannabe in the first floor open area.

Went to meet a fellow Singaporean in Hyehwa for dinner! She’s a reader of my blog and after corresponding via email for a few times, we finally got to meet up for the first time in Korea!! :D We hit it off right away and we were laughing and behaving like two crazy Singaporeans on the streets. I’m sure a lot of people stared at us. :D

Went to eat 삼겹살 and it was really funny cos it became apparent to the owners that we were two idiots who don’t know how to cook the meat. We were wondering what to do with the huge stack of onion (you are supposed to put it in the sesame oil sauce) and also the ham and mushrooms. In the end, the people decided to serve us hahahaha. Sigh, I’m still not Koreanised yet xD keke

The meal was good and we had a lot of laughter. xD Went to take photo stickers again and it was super fun!!! Usually I won’t suggest such activities when I meet people for the first time (in case it’s awkward) but we had sooo much fun :D

Ended the day at a cafe and it was so good to be able to talk and chat and relax :D Life’s good that way!

I’m having a packed weekend. So many meetups and engagements that I’m really scared I will miss out on one of them >,< Need to jot them down tomorrow morning!

Will be meeting some people for the first time and I’m really excited! :D

p.s. I had so much fun I forgot to take photos >,<

 

 


Posted in: Daily life updates, Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: , ,

Day #24 The most horrible day in Korea

29 August, 2011 5:38 PM \ 20 Comments \

I think I’ll forever remember today as the day I actually feel like returning to Singapore really badly and that I suffer such a huge hit to my confidence that I feel really upset. D:

The day started well enough, when I had my first class (Life Sciences) in Korean. I was REALLY nervous but it turns out that I understood around 95% of what the teacher is saying. Well, she didn’t go into a lot of details, but it’s a good start. I bought the textbook and plan to study ahead so I can catch up with the rest.

All good until the afternoon. The korean placement test. I wanted to sign up for Advanced 1 classes (level 5) but it was full when I had to register my courses, so I went to register for for Advanced 2 instead. I know it’s probably beyond my level but I felt a little hopeful since I took that in Yonsei and the textbook was alright.

So.. We started off with the writing component and we were supposed to write a response to a question in 20 minutes. I chose something like 면접을 잘 보는 방법에 대한 글을 써라. Something like that.

I wrote something, but I know it was in rather simple terms but that was probably something I’ll write in English too.

And then it was time for the oral component. Went in, and I was nervous. She started asking ‘여기 처음이에요?’ and I was a little stumped as to whether she was talking about KU or Korea. So I started stumbling a little and I think she totally ruled me out that instant.

Then she started the questioning. I can’t remember the exact phrases of the questions, but I failed at every single one of them.

1. Describe the internal organs in the body (you can choose 1 or a few to talk about). Talk about their functions and then if the organ malfunction, what kind of diseases will you get? State and elaborate.

(urm okay, I don’t think I can answer that in English. I’ll tell you the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body and er if it malfunction, you get heart attack. END)

2. Describe a sports that is frequently played in Singapore. Describe the details of such a match and the rules of the game.

(urm, I don’t play sports)

3. Describe the culture, religion, ethnicity and regional differences in Singapore.

(urm, there’s no regional differences. Am I supposed to say that Singaporeans are very Kiasu? There’s all sorts of religions here – but I’m a free thinker, so I barely know anything. Urm there are 4 ethnic groups. How do you say Indians in Korean? D: )

4. Describe the food that is usually eaten in Singapore. What kind of ingredients go into them and their nutritional content.

(urm.. we eat rice and noodles? urmmm. rice has protein… no wait, is that even right?!)

haha by the way that’s my internal thought. You won’t want to know what I actually said, not that I said a lot anyway.

I feel so frustrated. I know my speaking skills are totally not on par, but I feel so annoyed that these are topics that I’ll barely have anything to say about even in English. D:

So I totally just admitted that my skills are not on par and she readily told me that I’m totally not Level 6 material (which I know…) and that Level 5 is too difficult for me. So she declared that Level 3 will be the right place for me and level 4 might~~ be okay.

My confidence shattered.

So, besides having to deal with the fact that I need to retake the bloody placement test for the new classes, I have to re-register them. Sorry to compare with Yonsei, but I much prefer Yonsei’s system of having a single placement test for everywhere and then grouping people from then on. Now it makes me wonder, if everyone’s a beginner or lower intermediate, won’t they have too many people in the lower levels and like.. very few in the upper levels? I don’t know.

But yeah, I feel so utterly shattered now. I’m super paranoid that they will do the same thing to me in Japanese tomorrow (I signed up for intermediate but I’m actually in-between the levels – another long story there). That’s gonna screw my timetable real bad. And I’m thinking whether I did the right thing in signing up for that Life Sciences class. I really enjoyed it today but… I don’t want to fail. D:

———

Okay I just saw the textbook for Korean level 4. Looks okay, I think I have no problems reading, just that I have to work on my speaking skills.

I actually feel more stressed in Korea compared to Singapore. Even being in the hostel makes me feel annoyed and stressed because of certain things.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but right now, I can’t wait for this semester to end and to get back to Singapore asap. D:

 

Posted in: Daily life updates, Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: , ,

Day # 18 KU Orientation

23 August, 2011 4:34 PM \ 15 Comments \

It’s orientation day at KU today and unfortunately (besides seeing my buddy and meeting new people) I’m just tired, annoyed and sleepy.

I’ve been running on lack of sleep for the past few days and orientation started at 930am. Apparently there were close to 600 exchange/visiting students this year, significantly more than last year.

The orientation is simply sitting in the auditorium for 2 hours, listening to various announcements and speeches. It began with a very epic and dramatic video extolling the virtues of KU, it’s alumni and frankly, it was a little overdone so in the end, instead of being impressed, I ended up laughing and raising my eyebrows.

We were divided into 10 different groups and after the orientation, we went for lunch (staggered timings). We were given a 5,000won food coupon where we could go to the cafeteria and pick whatever we wanted. It’s actually all Korean food, so you queue in a line, take a tray and take whatever you want (bowls of plain rice, side dishes etc). Everything is divided into portions and put on plates, so it’s not the buffet style. There’s a sign indicating the cost of each plate of food, so you have to make sure you don’t exceed 5,000won.

Went to do offline course registration and I think that’s the part where my patience and good mood ran out. The weather was horribly hot today and I was already trying not to lapse into that ‘shut up and leave me alone’ mood that I’m prone to have when I’m tired. xD

We couldn’t check whether the courses were full or not prior to today and this caused alot of timetable headache for many people. I’m lucky that I chose all the urm classes that are non-popular and I managed to get it done in 2 visits to the place. I actually wanted Advanced Korean 1 but the person told me it was full so I decided to sign up for Advanced Korean 2 instead (suicidal). A little surprising, unless all the Korean-Americans (of various degree of authenticity) decides to take Korean too.

And it will be so fun for me. I can see the Yonsei situation being repeated here. O.o sigh, a bunch of native Koreans, a few Kor-Am and me in a class. I hope that there’s a least another foreigner student with me D:

And talking about being suicidal, let me share with you the classes I’m taking this semester.

1. Advanced Korean 2 (if I actually get in)

2. Advanced Korean writing

3. Intermediate Japanese (taught in Korean)

4. Life Science elective (taught in Korean)

5. A high-level linguistic course on syntax (my weakest link in Linguistics) (thankfully taught in English)

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
1 0900-1015 X X X X X
2 1030-1145 X
3 1200-1250 X X
4 1300-1350
5 1400-1515 X X X X
6 1530-1645 X X
7 1700-1750
8 1800-1850

Oh, I think I’m going to have loads of fun this semester O.o Sorry for sounding so sarcastic, I’m tired. So far, I’m the only foreigner with er.. Friday classes. I can say goodbye to weekend trips~! D:

And what’s with having 9am classes every day?! I wonder if I am on exchange or .. I don’t know. I have a much nicer timetable back in my own university. -.-

Depending on how tired I am or not, I may be posting my little trip to Yonsei and Edae (loads of photos and videos) later or tomorrow.

It’s 5.30pm right now and all I want to do is wait for my laundry, eat dinner, bathe and SLEEP.

 

Posted in: Daily life updates, Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: ,

Day #05 Exploring KU~! ^^

10 August, 2011 12:59 PM \ 22 Comments \

Today’s blog post is out earlier because I’ll be going out in the evening to hongdae!

The main aim today was to save money and explore Korea University, where I’ll be studying two weeks later!

KU is really mountainous and huge. I lost count of the number of stairs and slopes I have to climb up and down. I got a good exercise for the 1.5 hours I was there. Having lived in Singapore for my entire life, I’m pampered by flat, leveled, well maintained and graveled roads. Seriously, the Singapore government is forever maintaining roads and once the roads get a little older and less even, you will see road works going on. Therefore, I’m still alittle not used to needing to keep my eyes open on where I step. xD

All in all, KU has a very beautiful campus! I’ll let the photos do most of the talking!

The Tiger Plaza

I teleported to Europe. keke I kid.

Here’s a short video! But be forewarned, I have a shaky hand D:The insects are real loud!

I was staring and stoning at this map for so long, two very nice girls approached me! :D They offered to bring me to where I wanted to go and we chatted along the way. Turns out that one of them learns pansoori!!! :D I’m so awed. Going to meet one of them again on Monday!

I came to the conclusion that most universities have the nicest buildings for the business school D:

I’ll never go down this voluntarily. It’s steeper than it looks D:

Posted in: Daily life updates, Korea University, Seoul Life 2011 \ Tagged: ,