First Day of School and My First Ski Trip

In this weekly segment of my blog, I will be covering lots of my firsts in South Korea! From my first day of classes at Yonsei University to my first-ever trip with friends in South Korea and finally experiencing skiing for the first time, it’s safe to say that my study abroad experience is pushing me outside of my comfort zone and helping me broaden my cultural and personal horizons! So, without further ado let’s get started!

As a study abroad student in the MIX Program and a Freeman Scholar I am required to be a full-time student, which equates to about 4 classes here at Yonsei University. Before I get started, I would like to mention that when you register for your classes at your abroad university, it is imperative that you check the Shidler pre-approved course equivalencies which can be found here to ensure that the courses you are taking abroad will be able to transfer back home and fulfill your degree requirements. If the classes you need to take are not already listed on the pre-approved course list, you can always submit a course petition form which requisitions that a class offered abroad fulfills a class offered here at home. Finally, the way the credit transfer procedure works, you are only allowed to transfer back a maximum of 2 courses per major that you are studying. With all that in mind, I wish you luck in not only finding the classes you are looking for but also forming a favorable class schedule that’ll allow you to make the most of your study abroad experience! This semester, I am taking 4 classes, Korean 1, Money, Banking and Finance, Organizational Behavior and Korean Popular Culture and Korean Wave. All my classes fulfill major requirements in either Finance or International Business except my Korean 1 class which I enrolled in to help me gain a better understanding of Korean language which I believe will be invaluable to enhancing my time here. As the first day of classes rolled around, I was filled with both the anticipation of starting a new semester full of possibilities and hope and also the anxiety of attending classes at a completely new university where I was unfamiliar with the class structure, teaching styles, and academic rigor. Let me give you a quick breakdown of the similarities and differences between UH Manoa and Yonsei that I have noticed during my first few classes. Similarly, as is the norm in today's day and age, all classes are via Zoom, attendance of classes remain mandatory, class rigor tends to be relatively similar (this is only the case for study abroad classes which are completely separate from classes attended by home Yonsei University students) and assessment styles including midterms, finals and projects are all still relevant. Conversely there are stark differences that I have already noticed in my short time attending classes here in Korea. Firstly, lots of my professors here only lecture during one of the class-blocks every week and instead upload pre-recorded lectures online for students to self-teach and watch at their own discretion, while back at home the option for cameras to be turned on during Zoom lectures were left to student choice, at Yonsei students are required to have cameras on at all times and failure to comply results in an "absence" for attendance. Another big difference is the way grades are weighted, as grades are almost fully determined by exams and projects with classwork and homework being almost nonexistent. Finally, I would say the university/study culture bears quite a stark contrast with Korean students being extremely studios and serious, cramming in libraries and cafes at all hours of the day whereas back home being quite laidback and relaxed in comparison. All in all I'd say it will definitely take a little time for me to get accustomed to university life and here at Yonsei but I am looking forward to the challenge of pushing my boundaries of comfort and really immersing myself in the student culture here in Korea. I am positive that the new challenges and experiences I will face here will only make me stronger as a student and more adaptable as a person in whole.

With the first week of class behind me I set my eyes on another new challenge ahead of me...my first ever trip here in Korea which also happened to be my first time trying my hand at skiing! When booking a trip in Korea or anywhere abroad there are definitely a lot of factors to consider so I definitely recommend making an itinerary of your travels which will help you to not only organize yourself but will allow you the most control over all the unexpected variables you are sure to encounter. As this was my first trip you guessed it, I definitely made a few novice mistakes that you can learn from to ensure everything is smooth sailing when you decide to take your first trip. But first a little background, my trip was with friends to a ski resort in the famed Pyeongchang county which hosted non other than the 2018 winter Olympics! I was so excited as I've never been skiing before but there was so much to do before we could all hit the slopes and enjoy ourselves. From booking a hotel, train tickets, ski equipment and a lift ticket all while translating everything from Korean to English on top of planning out an itinerary to ensure everything ran smoothly and no time was wasted, it wasn't a stretch to say that I've had to do less work studying for some midterms than the effort I put in to panning our trip haha (jkjk I take all my studies very seriously). And then the day of our trip arrived and boy when I say our trip could have ended before it started I am the furthest from exaggerating. So if you didn't know in Korea and most of all east Asia when public transportation is scheduled to leave at a certain time it arrives and departs exactly on schedule and doesn't wait for anyone regardless of any extenuating circumstances. So you can imagine my fear when the bus I was taking to the train station was not only stuck in traffic but would arrive with only 5 minutes to spare before my train was set to depart. Coupled with the fact that all the rest of the trains to Pyeongchang were sold out for the day and that I was holding on to everyones tickets and the hotel reservation was under my name the situation I found myself in was the closest thing to dire and extreme I've been caught in in what seemed like forever. So praying to every god in existence and sweating so much it gave me the chills I ran from my bus stop to the train platform with what I'm not kidding you was seconds to spare! *phew* one crisis averted. The stress ended up taking a bigger mental toll on me than I thought as I proceeded to promptly pass out in my seat for the entirety of our 3 hour train ride haha. Luckily everything else proceeded as planned and bright and early the following morning it was finally time to ski! As someone who's played sports their whole life and regularly works out at the gym I figured picking up skiing would be relatively easy but oh boy was I wrong. If you were ever wondering how snow feels as you slide butt or face first at about 20 mph I can actually answer that question for you because I spent most of my time sprawled on the snow than upright lmfao. I have never felt more un-athletic and clumsy in my whole life and struggling while children half your age ski effortlessly past you was one of the quickest and most humbling experiences I've experienced to this day. I swear they tell you "pizza" and "french fries" as a simple way to teach you how to slow down and speed up but when you're zooming down the slopes and fighting for your life I chose tumbling and wiping out as the most effective way to stop my momentum, not the most skillful way but definitely the easiest for someone as challenged as myself. Putting all the self depreciation aside, skiing was a blast even for an amateur like me and I would like to think that by the end of our vacation I was at least a centimeter better than I was previously (which isn't saying much). All in all I would definitely love to try skiing again and my immediate goals for the future are to spend more time upright than on the snow and to keep more of the skin on my hand then on the slopes! >.< To give you the sparknotes version of everything I learned, 1) plan out the details of your trip to the best of your abilities to help mitigate any obstacles you're bound to face, 2) leave 30 minutes earlier than you were initially planning to and don't be late because there are no do-overs when it comes to public transportation 3) don't forget to have lots of fun and take lots of pictures!! 4) maybe watch a few Youtube videos on how to ski beforehand if you've never been before to save yourself lots of bruises both physically and to your ego. And that's that! I hope you learned a lot from this blog entry and hopefully you can take away a few helpful pointers for your time in Korea! For my next blog entry I will see you from Jeju and grrrr my first mid-term season here at Yonsei! :'( I'll probably be extra anxious, stressed and tired than usual so if you could say a prayer for me in advance I would appreciate it!

<3

Derren