As the program comes to an end I’ve compiled a series of advice and tips to spending the month in Seoul.
Upon arriving at Seoul, it’s really easy to get to Hanyang from the airport. Instead of paying 80,000+ won on a taxi, you can take the subway for about 2,000-3,000 won. The only time you have to take a taxi is if you arrive from midnight-5:30 in the morning.
I stayed at Habitat Hanyang, which is a self-serve accommodation (with breakfast!) but it tends to fill up quickly, so if this is your first choice of accommodation you should reach out to them as soon as you know when you’re getting there. It is a tad more expensive than the on campus dormitories, but it also doesn’t have a curfew, and it’s been quite a close community. From what I can tell, students living in the dorms and other accommodations do not interact with each other as much as those living in Habitat.
Classes are very intensive, so I would recommend taking maybe one or two classes, and finishing up your credits online so you can really enjoy Seoul. If you take three classes at Hanyang, you’re in class from 9am-7pm, with an hour for lunch, from Monday-Thursday. The only downside to taking online classes at Drexel is that you’d have to continue with them after Hanyang’s program is over. If you do all your credits at Hanyang, you have the rest of the summer to enjoy, and many students stay in Seoul for a while after the program or travel around Asia.
If you like snacks, you should consider bringing some salty snacks with you from home. While the food here in Korea is incredible and extremely affordable, almost everything is sweet, including the cheese and chips. If you come from a different cultural background, I would bring something with you from home as there aren’t many diverse foods here (I’ve been on the search for some middle eastern food)
Seoul is a wonderful city to make friends, not just from your program, but even just out and about we have made plenty of friends from around the world. Most importantly, I went on this study abroad without knowing anybody else. Going to a study abroad by yourself is one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences you can provide yourself, since you are so far out of your comfort zone with no friends from Drexel to lean on, and I would do it exactly the same way again.
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