“You’re going to North Korea, right?”
Close, but not quite. If I did, you might never see me again!
This is the story of me, a little French-Canadian crêpe, who decided that it would be a fantastic idea to venture off to the world of kimchi (South Korea, in case you didn’t catch that just yet!) for her exchange semester.
It started in January of 2017, when I submitted my top choices for universities at which I was interested in spending a semester abroad. You can probably guess that South Korea was at the top of my list. Why? The answer to that is in my first tip.
1. Get out of your comfort zone
Choosing South Korea as an exchange destination was a fairly easy decision. As a multilingual individual fluent in mainly European languages, I felt that choosing to go to a university in Europe would be too easy and too safe of a choice. Now, I don’t want to discredit anyone who chooses to study in Europe – it is an incredibly beautiful continent! For my personal situation, however, it would not have been an experience that would have completely challenged me.
But getting out of your comfort zone doesn’t end with your exchange destination! Quite the opposite, in fact: this will continue throughout the four or so months you spend abroad. Opportunities will present themselves to you, and it will be up to you to decide whether or not to participate in them. If you choose not to partake in these, will you regret it afterwards? Is it something that you won’t be able to do elsewhere? Learn to say yes to adventure and new experiences!
2. Keep an open mind
If you end up in a country with a culture that is vastly different from your own, remember to keep an open mind if you want to immerse yourself in the culture. There will be cultural aspects that you will enjoy, but there may also be others that you do not entirely appreciate.
In my time in South Korea, I’ve learned a number of things about Korean culture. For instance, it is considered inappropriate (even sexual) for a woman to wear clothing that reveals her shoulders or any amount of cleavage, but wearing very short shorts or miniskirts is entirely acceptable. If you don’t care about what others think of your clothes, more power to you. If you’re like me, however, and want to minimize being stared at, I had to learn this and adapt what I was wearing to societal norms here. Similarly, I had to get used to the stares I would receive. As a foreigner, I easily stand out and do receive many stares. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that there aren’t as many expats living in South Korea as there are in Canada where multiculturalism is the norm. And that’s okay! There are so many other cultural aspects that I appreciate here, like the importance of family and the traditional cuisine. I even caved and started to like some k-pop bands (whoops).
Your studies are not the only part of this experience that you’ll learn from.
3. Log your activities
Start a blog, write in a journal, or take lots of pictures! You’ll only be doing this once (twice, if you have that option), and you’re going to want to remember it. Personally, I write everything I do each day in a journal and carry over the most important parts to an online blog I shared with my close friends and family. You may think you’re too busy living to keep up with a journal or blog, but it’s worth spending time logging your experiences. You may not believe it now, but your memories will fade. A physical (or digital) copy of your time abroad will not.
4. Study
Okay, this one may seem obvious, but it’s important! You travelled all this way to study abroad. I chose classes that aren’t offered at Queen’s to get a more international and all-encompassing experience. While traveling is definitely a lot of fun, learning is too! Partner schools are top schools across the world; your new professors and classmates will have different insights and unique perspectives from their own personal experiences.
5. Put yourself out there
As an introvert, I absolutely dreaded the thought of having to make new friends and start over, but it is so so so important to push yourself to meet new people and to build relationships. Your time abroad will only be better if you surround yourself with new people! After all, you’re going to need people to take pictures of you to send to your mom.
Don’t forget to also befriend locals. The trend tends to be that foreigners stick with foreigners and locals with locals. While it’s great to make friends with people from around the world, wouldn’t you want to make friends from the country you’ll be studying in? Plus, they could show you some of the best joints around, invite you to cool events, and help you understand the culture a little bit more. You’ve already made one of the best decisions of your life to go abroad, and the above tips will only improve your experience! I wish you safe and happy travels!