Certificate of Health
This is one of the important documents that I needed to hand in. The application process was in late April-early May (if I'm not mistaken), and this certificate is due in July, so I had ample time to get it done. I had to check my immunisation history (MMR, chicken pox) as well as my tuberculosis (TB) history. Since the prevalence of TB is quite high in Asian countries, I understand why they needed TB results.
Anyway, I thought obtaining this certificate was easy, because I figured that all I had to do was to do the TB test, and getting my GP to certify everything. Fast forward a week before the due date, I realised that I had no history of a chicken pox shot. Siiiiiighhhhh. I was really worried, because as far as I know, me and my siblings didn't have chicken pox when we were little....
Anyway, I had to do an extra test, just to check whether there was any chicken pox antibody in my body. And thankfully!! Results came back and I have the antibody in my body. Honestly, I was sooooo worried because if I didn't have the antibody, I would need to get a chicken pox shot in Melbourne as well as in Seoul. But thank the lord because I didn't have to go through that procedure.
Health insurance
Anyway, I thought obtaining this certificate was easy, because I figured that all I had to do was to do the TB test, and getting my GP to certify everything. Fast forward a week before the due date, I realised that I had no history of a chicken pox shot. Siiiiiighhhhh. I was really worried, because as far as I know, me and my siblings didn't have chicken pox when we were little....
Anyway, I had to do an extra test, just to check whether there was any chicken pox antibody in my body. And thankfully!! Results came back and I have the antibody in my body. Honestly, I was sooooo worried because if I didn't have the antibody, I would need to get a chicken pox shot in Melbourne as well as in Seoul. But thank the lord because I didn't have to go through that procedure.
Health insurance
Thankfully, Monash provides ALL exchange students with free travel insurance, which of course, includes unlimited medical expenses. The only flaw for this insurance is that it doesn't cover all my electronic items, which sucks big time. To play it safe, I bought an extra travel insurance from STA Travel at a very reasonable price to cover for my electronic items.
Visa application
For Australian citizens, if you are staying in South Korea for more than 90 days, you have to apply for a visa. And in my case, since I am an exchange student, I have to apply for the D2 visa. The process was pretty simple. All I had to do was to fill up the form, pay for the visa and hand it in directly to the Korean consulate/embassy in your city, and for my case, it was in Melbourne. Unfortunately, the D2 visa that they offer in Australia is a single-entry visa, so no travel outside of South Korea for me during the semester :((((((
For Australian citizens, if you are staying in South Korea for more than 90 days, you have to apply for a visa. And in my case, since I am an exchange student, I have to apply for the D2 visa. The process was pretty simple. All I had to do was to fill up the form, pay for the visa and hand it in directly to the Korean consulate/embassy in your city, and for my case, it was in Melbourne. Unfortunately, the D2 visa that they offer in Australia is a single-entry visa, so no travel outside of South Korea for me during the semester :((((((
Flights
Getting your flights sorted is a simple and straight forward process. I'd recommend going to a travel agency to get your flights sorted, especially if you want to do extensive travel after your exchange! They'll really help you out plan your itinerary and what not. I was really contemplating on going to Japan after my exchange buuuut with much thought, I realised that my bank account would be weeping if I went to Japan.
I went to STA Travel at Werribee Plaza to sort out my flight details. Nikki helped me organise my flight details and explained every fine detail to me regarding my flights. She was honestly the best person to talk to - she was super pleasant and extremely helpful. I'll definitely seek assistance from her again in the future!
I went to STA Travel at Werribee Plaza to sort out my flight details. Nikki helped me organise my flight details and explained every fine detail to me regarding my flights. She was honestly the best person to talk to - she was super pleasant and extremely helpful. I'll definitely seek assistance from her again in the future!
Accommodation
This process was simple yet the one of the most nerve-wrecking experience during this planning process. The application process was during my exam period, but thaaaankfulllyyy I didn't have an exam on the day the application opened.
Before the application opened, I read up some blogs/reddit posts from past exchange students from KU. They mentioned how competitive it is to get into the on-campus accommodation, especially CJ International House. So being the very kanchiong (read: Singlish for panicky/worried) person I am, I was on the website the minute the application opened. I got my choices sorted and handed the application in.
Mind you, I had to wait A MONTH for the accommodation results. Now you know why it was a nerve-wrecking process. Aaaand when the results came through, I managed to get the room that I wanted, which was a single room!! I was thrilled when I got the accommodation, because that's one less thing to worry about on my list.
After getting the results, I had to upload my TB results and pay for my housing fees. We only had a week to do so, or else our rooms will be up for grabs. Once that was sorted, I could finally rest for a week.... before the madness begun. And that madness was course registration. Aka THE most frustrating process everrrrrrr.
Course registration
Probably the most nerve-wrecking experience in the planning process. Course registration was hands down, extremely competitive. It felt like The Hunger Games..... without all the killing, of course. Originally, I had planned to do 6 courses while at KU, as it was equivalent to my full-time study load at Monash.
Two weeks before the actual course registration, I had already put at least eight courses on my preferred course list. The preferred course list speeds up the registration process on the day of course registration, because all you have to do is to click the register button and you'll be registered.
Anyway, I managed to successfully register into four courses, and I was put onto the waiting list for the other two courses. I was, of course, very frustrated because I had to wait for another two weeks, just to check if I made it onto the registered list. >:(
Two weeks later, and I didn't make the cut :( :( :( But luckily for me, the four courses I had registered earlier was still considered a full-time load according to Monash. (Just a heads up: It was a requirement for me to be studying a full-time load while abroad. The requirements may be different for other universities, so it's best to check with your university.)
So these are the courses I will be studying at KU!!!!
1. Bioinformatics (English)
2. Bioinformatics (English)
3. Microbiology II
4. Introduction to Korean History and Culture (English)
So why am I doing two Bioinformatics courses, you ask???? Well apparently, both courses have different content, and I have to do both according to my faculty lol. And as you can see, for Microbiology II, there's no English next to it, which means the course will be taught in Korean. I don't know how I'll manage that, but hopefully, it'll help me improve on my Korean listening and reading skills. And I reeeaallly hope that the professor is going to be lenient on me and give me assessments in English....
So that's about it! That ends my three-part series of my preparation for Korea!!!
I shall blog again when I'm in Seoul. :)
This process was simple yet the one of the most nerve-wrecking experience during this planning process. The application process was during my exam period, but thaaaankfulllyyy I didn't have an exam on the day the application opened.
Before the application opened, I read up some blogs/reddit posts from past exchange students from KU. They mentioned how competitive it is to get into the on-campus accommodation, especially CJ International House. So being the very kanchiong (read: Singlish for panicky/worried) person I am, I was on the website the minute the application opened. I got my choices sorted and handed the application in.
Mind you, I had to wait A MONTH for the accommodation results. Now you know why it was a nerve-wrecking process. Aaaand when the results came through, I managed to get the room that I wanted, which was a single room!! I was thrilled when I got the accommodation, because that's one less thing to worry about on my list.
After getting the results, I had to upload my TB results and pay for my housing fees. We only had a week to do so, or else our rooms will be up for grabs. Once that was sorted, I could finally rest for a week.... before the madness begun. And that madness was course registration. Aka THE most frustrating process everrrrrrr.
Course registration
Probably the most nerve-wrecking experience in the planning process. Course registration was hands down, extremely competitive. It felt like The Hunger Games..... without all the killing, of course. Originally, I had planned to do 6 courses while at KU, as it was equivalent to my full-time study load at Monash.
Two weeks before the actual course registration, I had already put at least eight courses on my preferred course list. The preferred course list speeds up the registration process on the day of course registration, because all you have to do is to click the register button and you'll be registered.
Anyway, I managed to successfully register into four courses, and I was put onto the waiting list for the other two courses. I was, of course, very frustrated because I had to wait for another two weeks, just to check if I made it onto the registered list. >:(
Two weeks later, and I didn't make the cut :( :( :( But luckily for me, the four courses I had registered earlier was still considered a full-time load according to Monash. (Just a heads up: It was a requirement for me to be studying a full-time load while abroad. The requirements may be different for other universities, so it's best to check with your university.)
So these are the courses I will be studying at KU!!!!
1. Bioinformatics (English)
2. Bioinformatics (English)
3. Microbiology II
4. Introduction to Korean History and Culture (English)
So why am I doing two Bioinformatics courses, you ask???? Well apparently, both courses have different content, and I have to do both according to my faculty lol. And as you can see, for Microbiology II, there's no English next to it, which means the course will be taught in Korean. I don't know how I'll manage that, but hopefully, it'll help me improve on my Korean listening and reading skills. And I reeeaallly hope that the professor is going to be lenient on me and give me assessments in English....
So that's about it! That ends my three-part series of my preparation for Korea!!!
I shall blog again when I'm in Seoul. :)
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