Arriving to Korea

Welcome to my first blog post! I am so excited to document my study abroad adventures and stories. To start off, my roommate Kylie and I had the pleasure of being selected as Freeman Foundation scholars which has been a tremendous help in financing our study abroad. Kylie and I are attending Yonsei University as business majors for the Spring 2025 semester. 

Prior to landing in Korea, we both went through student, dorm, and class registration which was a stressful process. Ensuring that we had a dorm was our upmost priority as we were told that Yonsei dorms were quite competitive. Luckily, we were accepted together and were placed as roommates! As for the class registration, Yonsei conducts this process quite differently from UH Manoa. When classes were available to register for, we had to carefully plan out which classes we wanted to take as well as how many miles we wanted to bid. When applying for classes, you are given "miles" which is a bidding currency that each student must determine for each of their classes. Although, it was complicated to get a hang of, I am happy to say that we both were able to register for the classes we wanted without any complications. 

Sorry for going off topic... Kylie and I had booked our flights from Oahu to Korea on February 18th. Our move in date for the dorms was February 23rd, however, we wanted to get accustomed with the environment priot to moving in. For the first couple of days, we explored Myeongdong and also met up with our other friends from UH. The first few days was definitely very different from back home especially the weather as we were in the middle of winter. Nevertheless, I had a great time exploring the different shops, restanratns, and navigating the public transit system. 

Kylie's parents flew in a few days after our arrival to assist us in moving into our dorm. With them, we visited Gangnam and Coscto!!! The Costco here is soooo different and they served bulgogi bake which was so good. After some shopping we immediately made our way to dorm room registration. I have never dormed anywhere in my life so this experience was intimidating and scary, however, once we got to our room it really wasn't that bad. Our room has a private shower and a bathroom which immediately eliminated my fear of communal bathrooms. We each also have our own desk, storage space, and a tiny lanai. 

For the next couple of days, Kylie stayed with her parents to spend some quality time together and I stayed in our dorm. It seemed scary to stay in the dorm by myself but I luckily had two of our freinds one floor above us!! Dorm life isn't as bad as I thought not just because my roommate and I had known each other prior. As long as I have my bed and a comfortable pillow I am happy!

To end off the week, Jamie, Christina, and I visited Seongsu and cute cafes around the Sinchon area. It was my first day after getting settled into my dorm so I was ready to explore. Overall, the day was jam packed with shopping, eating, and sightseeing. 

I had originally thought that the first week in Korea would have been filled with homesickness and constantly calling my family, but it was genuinely really fun and freeing. You can never get bored in this country, there are too many things to do!!