It’s over. My exchange at SNU is over, and I could not be more thankful for the connections I made along the way. An accomplishment I did not expect to achieve coming into this exchange program was creating a global network of intellectuals who all have immense potential. Through the courses I took, the events I attended, or even the restaurants I stumbled into, I made a connection with others. Once again, I will bring up the SNU buddy program as it contributed greatly to the number of individuals I encountered. (Shoutout Group 7!)
Though SNU Buddy strives to connect exchange students with full-time Korean students through events and activities, a side effect of that would be the incredible competitive spirit between each group within the program itself to be considered the “best”. Of course, competition brought groups together like a team in sports. Exchange students not only networked with Korean students but also amongst themselves. This is where I met so many people from all around the world. The expeditions I mentioned in “Tripping Across Korea” were well accompanied by friends I met at SNU… friends I did not know existed even just 4 months ago! On top of this, SNU Buddy also hosted a food festival in the middle of the term, where the buddies could form groups and feature foods from a specific culture or location. I was drawn in very quickly as I loved cooking, and there I was able to meet people from other groups, further expanding my network as I would meet them at other events like Volleyball or in class!
Aside from SNU buddy, during my classes like FEQA, and Tennis, I made friends through struggling together and sharing fun ideas! After every Financial Engineering & Quantitative Analysis class, I would have dinner with 2 classmates, Ana and Man-Joon(만준). The first time I met them, 만준 offered to treat us to drinks as we studied, as in Korean culture, the oldest will treat! It was a very interesting experience, hanging out with them as 만준 started his own business before studying at SNU, and came for higher education, and Ana was an international Master’s student from Romania.
In all honesty, I took a “Beginner’s Tennis” course just as a way to play some tennis. I played tennis in high school, so I had experience in the sport. The class was taught fully in Korean, so knowing the terms and techniques of playing Tennis beforehand helped me pass the class. However, it seemed as though I was not the only one who came to the class with prior skill, as I quickly found a peer that hit like me, possibly better. Throughout the class, I also encountered some other students new to Tennis whom the instructor strategically paired the more experienced students with. Our midterm exam was to keep the ball in play for at least 20 rallies so there was no way to brute force our way through the exam. As a result, I was able to make new friends and teach them a bit more about simple techniques like lobbing and forehands! After the final class of the semester, to my surprise, a couple of my classmates I interacted with asked to treat me out to 커피(get a drink). This instantly reminded me that the interactions I had in Korea were so much more than just me temporarily meeting people who I would never see again. It also made me so happy that even through their shyness they considered some random kid studying abroad from Drexel a “Friend”.
One thing I appreciated a lot was the friends and family from home who visited me in Korea. Both my childhood friends, Kiki, and Anthony came to visit me during this experience. Kiki came with one of my best friends, Tommy (Both Drexel Students) and we were able to go to places like Busan together with other friends! This helped immensely with homesickness as one thing I missed the most about Philly was hanging out with friends. After Kiki and Tommy had to return home for spring term, two weeks later, my sister, Jane, came to visit. This was exactly during mid-terms, which worked out perfectly as she was working, so we could study and work together. Anthony, one of my other childhood friends came during finals season, this however did not fare as well as I was stuck at study cafes for 12 hours at a time the week before my finals. Luckily, we were able to explore Seoul a lot more after the exams.
Regardless of where I am or the languages that are spoken around me, my experience at SNU made me realize that I was made to connect not just on LinkedIn like every other business student, but in every aspect possible. I’m very thankful for the opportunity that was presented to me by Drexel and Seoul National University to study abroad in Korea. I would not hesitate to click a reset button and experience it all over again a hundred-fold. Just a bonus to cap off the entire study abroad journey, here is the picture I promised from my previous blog “A Taste of Home”. I not only made friends with the auntie who owns the store… she also hosted my last dinner in Korea!
Bonus! Last Korean words to learn:
필요 (Pyeo Yo) = Need
친구 (Ching Gu) = Friend
우리 (woo ri) = We
우리는 친구가 필요해요 = We need Friends!
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