Well into my first semester at Korea University and here I am, resurfacing after a half a year of silence. Apologies. In fact, my midterm exam week starts on Monday and even looking at my phone triggers an excessive amount of guilt to swallow me like a tsunami. I worked my ass off to come here and I am not about to throw it all away for some short-term procrastination-induced satisfaction. The technique I have adopted to cope with my stern conscience is the following. We no longer procrastinate by lazing around. Instead, we procrastinate by doing something productive, like writing a blog post or studying for a class you hate a bit less than that one. So here we are.
The first half of my first semester at Korea University has been treating me well and every day feels like another reason why I never should have doubted coming here. And I’m not just saying that. Every time the time difference doesn’t manage to ruin my plans of video chatting with my family, they comment on how happy I look. And I am. I have no reason not to be. The people I have had the privilege to meet and some of whom I now call my friends are kind and interesting, I feel independent and free and the classes I’m taking are ~mostly~ interesting. Jokes aside, I love learning and going to lectures doesn’t feel like a punishment. In fact, though I will complain about it for a couple of days, spending time on an assignment and finishing it so that I’m proud of what I’m turning in actually gives me a sense of academic fulfillment that motivates me to keep investing my time and energy into my studies. So far, the only thing I have to say to uni haters on social media is: #notrelatable.
That is, however, somewhat what I was expecting to encounter at university. I’ve heard countless “university will be the best years of your life”, so the bar was high from the very beginning. What surprised me, though, a sworn my-culture-is-whatever-yay-English-and-globalization enthusiast, was how much I miss home now that I am living on the other side of the world. Now, of course I miss my family and friends and, frankly, nothing (and I mean nothing) beats a nice home-cooked meal. But the one aspect of my culture and the way in which I have nostalgically been thinking about it lately really floored me. My language. I miss my mother tongue. So much so that I have accidentally started using literally translated expressions and idioms, at some point even turning to my international friends and going on for a whole sentence before realizing that, to them, I may as well have been speaking gibberish. Actively seeking out opportunities to use it has shown to be easier in theory than in practice – spoken communication with my species still remains infrequent, be it face to face or with the help of technology. Writing letters helps but it’s not a very economical solution for a broke student. I have become so desperate to indulge in my culture, that I have consciously and willingly changed my award-winning playlist (it is now full of content I used to scoff at and I regret nothing) and the language of my phone settings. I will not go into how much this has changed me as a person, but good luck recognizing me if you haven’t talked to me in more than a month. But then the weirdest thing happened.
The sky opened and Zeus himself sauntered down to Earth in his classic nonchalant manner, opening my eyes to a world of possibilities. I discovered the ultimate combination of useful and useless, comforting and dumb, nostalgic yet modern. Podcasts. Killing this many birds with one stone should be illegal. Listening to a humorous conversation in my language about a topic I could not care less about is now what I’m doing pretty much during every activity that requires my hands but not my brain. Keep this in mind if you see me chuckling to myself in the middle of the street for no apparent reason and don’t look at me weirdly if I look too happy to be cooking lunch.
Ironically enough, I wrote this blog post right after I finished the first part of my first ever Korean language exam. The university thinks they’re forcing me to learn the language, but jokes on them, I actually came here to attend a free Korean course. Regardless, it feels as though the more languages I speak, the more I enjoy expressing myself in my first one.
I’ll end it here for now and discuss some other surprising aspects of studying in Korea in the following blog posts. I’ll try my best to post one before February, but don’t hold me for my word. If you know, you know. I really should wrap up, though, as my inner overachiever is nagging me to get back to work. A linguistics paper due in less than 60 hours.
KU Tigress 
Very interesting read, although I haven’t had much experience with studying abroad in a place like Korea, I had struggles, just like you, in finding what I would like to study in college. My question is: What motivates you to keep studying such a newfound passion like Architecture? Do you have specific goals you want to achieve within this field or are you still trying to find the motivation to continue?
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Thank you so much for your comment, I love having a dialogue on my blog. I’m very happy to hear you found my experiences interesting and somewhat relatable. I’m also eager to hear about your side of the story. How happy are you with your final choice? Is it everything you were hoping it to be? What are your career goals?
As for your question, due to a restriction by my university, I unfortunately cannot enroll into many architecture courses yet. I’m studying hard to improve my Korean skills first. I am, however, still pretty certain that architecture is what I want to pursue. Every experience I have had with it so far has left me a bit frustrated, wanting to learn more and, ultimately, proud of what I managed to achieve. I’d say my goal is to keep learning and improving and enjoying it, I don’t really want to put too much pressure on myself. As long as it makes me happy, that’s what I’ll continue to work on. I think what keeps me interested and motivated is the little perfectionist in me. Many assignments I have had so far could be done in two or twenty hours, depending on how much you were willing to invest and how quickly you were satisfied. Many sleepless nights are in store for me 🙂
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That’s great to hear, happy you found something you can do for such long periods of time without being left feeling like you could be doing something else. I’ll also keep your time-spending approach in mind when it comes to things that I would like to pursue in my life as well.
My issues were very similar to yours: I struggled finding something to pursue post-IB, but I think what helped me most was see what would my align best with the type of character I am. At first I took medicine as a potential destination for my career but helping people just isn’t what I would love to dedicate my career too – this along with having to deal with the stress of literally having someone’s life in your hands, was a deal-breaker. After many many many hours spent trying to find the right thing to pursue, I stumbled upon business as a career path – the potential to work with others, cooperate and achieve greater goals left me intrigued. Conveniently there was a university in my current city that is quite highly ranked in this aspect, that also happens to have an international program. A few weeks in and safe to say I think I made the right choice, I can finally balance things that I enjoy doing, such as group work and debates with other subjects that I wish to be a lot better at, like mathematics.
As for career goals are concerned, I do not have any in relation to what I’m studying just yet, but I’m sure at some point I’ll figure it out.
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Well, I already fell in love with your blog. I was listening to podcast Opazovalnica and couldn’t believe what I was hearing: Korea? Architecture? Combined? AND I can read about it? My reaction was very close to that moment of “God is that you?”. I’m big enthusiast of Korean pop culture and of course anytime I either see or hear this country being mentioned I get all excited. And what felt even more unreal is the architecture. I was actually thinking this is what I’ll pursue, though as of lately I scratched the idea, but I still feel odly attached to it and thus I found myself on this blog in a second.
Keep up the work and I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
P.S I coulnd’t agree more with you – I really hope noone is watching me as I’m trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably, just walking down the street listening to this hilarious podcast.
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Dear Lara, I’m so glad you found my blog! It is in fact for reaching people like you that I started writing it (admittedly, it also serves as a bit of a creative outlet :)).
What did you end up choosing and how did you decide? Was it a good decision? I feel like I’m missing out on a big part of my friends’ lives since I can’t relate to their college experiences!
Also, if there is anything in particular you’d like to read about – let me know and I’ll gladly dedicate a post to you 🙂
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I noticed my original reply didn’t make it through, so I’m writing again (and very late at that! I didn’t even noticed so much time has passed).
I’m in the last year of high school and I still have a bit of time in case I want to change my mind what I want to study – dates for application were extended that’s why. I chose media communications, but I have to admit, I’m not to jumping from excitment. I’m quite unsure about my choice.
Thank you for the chance of choosing a topic for your post. I feel honoured! There’s nothing particular I can think of right now and really, anything you write about, I’m excited to read🙂
Hope you’re doing well!
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Hey, Lara~
Sorry I’m getting back to your comment so late! I didn’t want to rush with my answer so I waited until I finished my final exams. I have to admit that I am still a bit clumsy with the website and just noticed your last comment after you wrote this one, I am super embarrassed.. But you’re right, time has just flown by, it’s crazy! It feels as though it is only June but also already June?
I hope you finished high school in style, despite this unprecedented situation. I’m sure you’re going to have a blast in uni no matter what, it all comes down to what you make from it yourself 🙂 You will get a chance to meet a ton of different people, which I’m sure you’ll enjoy. And it’s also the perfect time to explore all of your interests, have lots of fun and get to know yourself better. I know I felt myself grow immensely during my freshman year. Besides, I firmly believe in my ‘do what makes you happy now’ philosphy. The future is far too unpredictable. I’d rather see you make the wrong choice now and later discover what it is you want to pursue than spend your best years planning and sacrificing for something that turns out to be disappointing. It’s never too late to change your mind and time spent putting yourself out there is never wasted. So I hope you’ll start this new chapter full of curiosity and excitement and let it take you where you’re meant to go!
Meanwhile, I’ll try to come up with something interesting for you to read, now that I actually have some free time 🙂 but please feel free to ask anytime if something comes up!
Warmest thanks for your comment and I hope you’ll make the most of the summer~
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