School @ Yonsei
- Ashleigh Tarkington
- Aug 20, 2017
- 2 min read
It's officially ended. No more school until September. No more school life in Korea.
With that being said I am going to breakdown what international school life is like in Korea. It's important to distinguish the difference between a exchange program & international program. If I were an exchange student going to university in Korea, life would be a lot more challenging.
Yonsei International Summer School (YISS)
This is the program I completed. It was a program dedicated to bringing in foreigners to Korea. This means the program is designed with us in mind. Majority of the classes are in English, professors can be Korean or foreign, no relative grading, and easy transferable courses.
A program designed for us in mind means I didn't have to endure the pressures of an average elite Yonsei intellectual. I had class Monday through Thursday with a 3 day weekend full of partying, tourism, and relaxing (unless testing week). My professors, for the most part, understood it was our summer in a foreign country creating a laid back environment.
I enjoyed my classes and I believe my grades reflected that. I got to learn the literal modern history of Korea which gave me background knowledge to my other courses. Contemporary Korean culture allowed to be understand the root of why Korea is the way it is. It transcended into my Korean American course by lifting the veil of why my boyfriends family is the way they are & the communities I immersed in years ago. I have a fuller understanding of identity, culture, diaspora, and nationalism. I can say the knowledge I gained at Yonsei was well worth it.
At times I asked myself, "Why am I taking the max amount of courses? Why am I doing this to myself? I just want to relax." I had to remember this is apart of my bigger degree plan that I set up for myself. A lot of kids didn't care if they passed/failed thus they didn't study or care. I needed to pass for my senior year to be my actual senior year this fall. I have been on my game year round. I have only had a break from school for a couple weeks at a time. Consider this before attending a summer abroad program.
Do you want pressure during your summer adventure?
In my case, yes, and Yonsei was perfect for it.
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