Trips to Itaewon

Hi guys! I know I've blogged a lot about administration stuff with regards to uni.. And I figured it's time to switch gears and start blogging about the fun stuff. Sooooo from now on, for most of my blog posts, I'm gonna start posting all my random sightseeing.

First off on the list is..... Itaewon!!! Itaewon is an area where you'd see a lot of foreigners hanging around. That's because there are a lot of businesses here that have been established by international residents living in Korea. You can find a lot of stuff imported from overseas here..... which of course, includes foooood!!!!!

I knew I had to visit Itaewon even before I arrived in Seoul. Due to the fact that there are a lot of Halal food in this area, particularly in the area where the Seoul Central Mosque is located. I've been to Itaewon a number of times since I arrived in Seoul, so here's just a recount of my experience so far.

Halal food

When I first arrived in Seoul, I had to firstly find a place where I could buy my groceries. In Itaewon, there are a few shops that sells imported Halal food products and local Halal food products. The only downside to it is that some of the products might be a little expensive (well, for me it is because I'm on a student budget lol)... but I guess you'll have to deal with it. Also... some of the shops don't have clearly stated price tags to it... which kinda sucks when you're trying to compare prices with other shops.

This is Foreign Food Mart, which is where I buy most of my groceries from.

After finding different grocery markets, I had to find a butcher that sells Halal meat. Again, there are a few butcher shops available in Itaewon, but all of them that I've been to only sells imported Halal meat, which also means that it's on the pricey side. If I remember correctly, 500g of mince meat costs 6,000 won, which is about AUD$7. Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of the butcher shop that I usually buy my meat from... will probably update this post again with a picture next time.

If you're trying to find a Halal restaurant in Itaewon, there are A LOT of them around here.. to the point where I can say you are spoiled for choice. And depending on what you order, some of the food may also be on the pricey side. Anyway I've only been to two restaurants:
1. Itaewon Halal Pizza, a small cosy fast food restaurant which sells burgers, chips, and of course, pizza.
2. Makan Halal Korean Restaurant, which sells super delicious Korean food.

I've been to the Makan restaurant twice now and oh my god their food are so delicious I cannot even describe it in words. My favourites on their menu are the 떡갈비 (tteok-galbi), which is a beef dish, and this squid dish, which I totally forgot its Korean name. Also, their 반찬 (banchan), which are side dishes that are served with every meal, are TO-DIE-FOR. I seriously love all of their side dishes T_T

I'm already drooling just by looking at this picture.... 

Seoul Central Mosque
The mosque is located on a hill, so you'd have to walk up in order to get to the mosque. Anyway, to enter the mosque area, you'd have to be dressed appropriately (i.e your legs, arms need to be covered and not exposed). Even if you're not, the mosque provides clothing that you can wear temporarily while you are within the mosque area. I've seen some Koreans who were keen to learn about Islam and were talking to a person who was working at the mosque. It's a pleasant feeling seeing that people are still interested to know about Islam, despite all the hate that is happening around the world.

Anyway, I've been to the mosque a number of times, of which one of the occasion was for Eid ul Adha. It was a refreshing experience because I've never been away from my family for Eid before. And even though I was far away from home, being at the mosque for Eid prayers was truly a nice feeling. Cool fact - the sermon after the Eid prayers were conducted in English and Korean. How awesome is that????!!! Anywayyyyyy after the Eid prayers ended, there were a bunch of Indonesians crowding around this lady and taking pictures with her. Turns out, she's the wife of the ex-president of Indonesia (Yudhoyono) LOL. Both Yudhoyono and his wife were present at the Eid prayers. I thought that was cool lol.

The view from the top of the hill where the mosque is located.

Seoul Central Mosque in the day

Seoul Central Mosque at night

Other stuff about Itaewon
Itaewon is a really happening town at night... and that's because Itaewon is also home to a lot of  nightclubs. Quite a number of people from my dorm love going to Itaewon because of the nightlife. If you have any questions about the nightlife in Itaewon, I'm sorry to say that I'm the wrong person to ask about this matter LOLLLLLLL.

Itaewon can get kinda dodgy at night, so it's best that you always have someone with you at all times..... Actually this applies for everywhere you go in Seoul... so yup.

A street in Itaewon.

... And that concludes my post about Itaewon! I will be blogging about more places very soon :)

Course registration drama. Ugh.

Hi everyone!!!! I didn't think I'd be posting about my course registration drama here, but I just needed to rant out every single thought that I had about this SUPER FRUSTRATING PROCESS. As mentioned in my previous post, these are the units that I was originally supposed to take..

However, after being in Korea for about 2 weeks, I realised that my Korean speaking skills is extremely limited. Even though I've done Korean Intermediate I back at Monash, I still feel communicating with other people in Korean is a huge challenge. Understanding Korean is one thing, but speaking Korean is a whole new level. 

I talked with one of my buddies in my KUBA group, and she mentioned that some terms (especially if you're in the Biomed/Life Sciences field) can get very technical.... However she did advise me to talk to the professor and see if he is able to accommodate me by providing resources in English...

I emailed my professor for the Microbiology II unit. The good thing about KU email is that you can see if the professor's opened your email or not. Even though I can see that he's read my message, he still hasn't replied to my email.... up until this day LOL. And as much as I tried to stay positive about it, I decided to look for other alternatives....

Firstly, I had to look through my study plan, and see if there were any English courses that I have gotten approval from my faculty. Unfortunately, there wasn't any options left from my study plan, because it was either going to be taught in Korean, or it clashed with my current timetable.

That's when I went into..... PANIC MODE!!!!!!!!

I decided to change my Microbiology unit a week before uni started.. howeverrrrr the period for me to change my units was the week after uni started.... And I was already panicking because I wasn't sure if I can get units approved on time....

Anyway, I remembered the pre-departure presentation that Monash gave.. They mentioned the steps that I needed to take in order to change my unit.
1. Inform the faculty adviser ASAP.
2. Email them the unit syllabus to the faculty adviser and get it approved
3. Obtain an updated study plan from the faculty
4. Inform Monash Abroad about these changes
5. Make sure unit enrolment is correct

So I started looking up for other units that I can take and managed to find two really interesting units, which are Healthcare Strategic Management and Stem Cell Biotechnology. The first one sounds appealing as it was related to public health, while the latter was all about stem cells, which is a topic that I have always found interesting ever since first year of uni.

Informing the faculty adviser
After that, I started emailing my faculty adviser and seeked advice about my unit enrolment. I was worried about two things: the effect on my HECS, and whether the units will be approved on time. Just to fill in the gaps, HECS is a loan scheme that seeks to help Australian students with their university fees.

Anyway, there are certain deadlines that you need to meet with HECS. For example, if you withdraw the unit after the deadline, you will incur a HECS debt, and in addition to that, you'd also have to incur academic and financial penalties from the university. And since I was planning to change the unit, I was scared that I will incur a debt and have to pay the penalties. BUT THANKFULLLLLLY, changing a unit doesn't affect my HECS according to my faculty adviser, so that's one worry down.

Emailing unit syllabus to faculty adviser
Next, I had to get approval for the two new units. The reason why I had two options was because last year, when I was compiling my study plan, there were some units that wasn't approved. In addition, it took foreveeerrrr for my faculty adviser to approve my units last year.

However this year, we have a new faculty adviser and a completely new system for Biomed students to communicate with the faculty. In a way, it's a much efficient system because I always get a quick response from my faculty, usually within one business day. Anyway, I emailed my faculty adviser on Wednesday aaaanddd the next day........ BOTH MY UNITS WERE APPROVED!!! I was really pleased about that, because one, they replied me within the timeframe that I wanted and two, both units were approved!!!!!

Anyway, I had to request for my study plan to be updated so that I can forward it to Monash Abroad, and once again, they replied me within a business day.

Thank. You. Biomed. Faculty.

Add/Drop Period at KU
After getting unit approvals for two units, it was time for me drop my Microbiology II unit and add either Healthcare Strategic Management or Stem Cell Biotechnology unit. And since the first week of uni was orientation week, I was able go to the first class and test the waters. I managed to go to the first Healthcare Strategic Management class. And amazingly enough, the professor was super kind and accommodating to the only foreigner in that class.... aka me. Also the unit sounded so interesting, because it involved management (which I have never done in my life) and public health. That was when I decided to sign up for the class.

For exchange/visiting students, add/drop period started on Tuesday, 6th September at 6.30pm. AND THANKFULLYYYYYY I managed to get into the Healthcare Strategic Management class!!!! For most of my friends, however, it was a complete nightmare. They couldn't get into the classes they wanted, and I think it was mainly due to the popularity of the class I guess. They had to fill in an additional form, just so that they can get into the classes that they wanted. :-(

Anyway, this is my OFFICIAL timetable! (I have Wednesdays off, which is a weird break in the middle of the week, but I'll be fine lol.)

Emailing faculty adviser and Monash Abroad
After confirming my units at KU, it was time to advise my faculty adviser on the unit that I was taking, which was Healthcare Strategic Management. They emailed me back within one business day, and my unit enrolment with Monash was confirmed.

Last but not least, I had to inform Monash Abroad about my unit change and I had to email them the updated study plan. And that was the end of the course registration drama.

I didn't think this post would take up so much space... but it did lol. Anyway, this is probably the last admin-related stuff that I'll talk about soooo more sightseeing posts coming your way very soon! Until next time :)

My dorm | CJ International House

Hey guys! One week of uni has passed and it's been a rollercoaster. So many things have happened from the time I last blogged... buuuut as I've promised, I'll blog about my dorm, which is CJ International House!

All the on-campus accommodation at Korea University are all within the same area, so I'd always see Korean and international students roaming around. There are separate accommodation for local Korean students and international students. For international students (including those on exchange/visiting program), they offer two dormitories - CJ International House and Anam Global House. And lucky enough for me, I got my first option, which is a single room at CJ International House.

So before coming to Korea, I researched how the dorm was going to be like, and everyone was saying how there is a huge hill before you climb up to CJ International House...... well here's a video from the entrance of the on-campus accommodation area to the lobby of my dorm.... it's self-explanatory I reckon. I apologise in advance if the video is a bit shaky.... I have shaky hands...

A convenience store just down the hill from CJ International House

CJ International House

The entrance of CJ International House

At CJ International House, there are three different suite types. There is a 2 bedroom suite, 3 bedroom suite and a 4 bedroom suite. I was assigned into a 3 bedroom suite, and I share this suite with 4 other people. All of them are put into double rooms, while I'm the only one in a single room. Photo spam coming up!!

Lift to the suites

Info on all the facilities available

Walkway to my suite

My suite! 601 :)

When you first enter the suite, there is a sink
on the left and the bathroom on the right

Walkway to the rooms (My room is on the very far right)

Bathroom - shower and sink

Bathroom - toilet bowl (Do you notice something? #muslimproblems) 

When you first enter my roooom!!
Bed on the left, wardrobe and study table

The study table in my room (which I doubt I will use for study purposes)

Facilities
CJ International House has a range of facilities available, of which it includes:

Shared kitchens
There are two kitchens per floor; Kitchen A and Kitchen B. In each kitchen, there are two refrigerators, cooking stove, an oven, a microwave and cupboards for storage. The only difference between the two kitchens is that Kitchen A has a water purifier dispenser, while Kitchen B doesn't. For me, Kitchen A was the closest one to me and it was the most crowded one. The fridge is always filled with food and it's a pain to store food in there.

Lucky for me though, I met Atirah and we both decided to cook our dinners together. It's a win-win situation for us because we both have the same palate for food (Melayu food 4evaaaaa) and our expenditure for our groceries is shared. Anyway, Atirah lives on the 4th floor and her suite is opposite Kitchen B, which is SUPERRRR empty. I think we conquered most of the space in one of the fridges LOL.

Kitchen B on the 4th floor

Kitchen B on the 4th floor

Laundry room
The laundry room is located on the basement floor, and it is equipped with washing machines, dryers and ironing board.

In order to use the washing machine/dryer, you need 2 x 500 won and your own detergent/softener. Or if you prefer, you can buy a little sachet of the detergent/softener for 500 won from this little machine in the laundry room.

For me, I bought my own detergent from Daiso because it's way cheaper than buying a small sachet every week. I spend 2,000 won weekly for my laundry, which isn't too bad I guess.

I've never tried the ironing board before but all you have to do is press a button and the iron will be on for 10 minutes.

Laundry room

Music Halls/Seminar rooms/Conference rooms
All these rooms are located on the basement floor. I've never entered these rooms, because you need to book the room and obtain a key to get in. And if I'm not mistaken, you'd need to pay for the seminar and conference rooms.

Prayer Room
There's a prayer room!!! It's also in the basement floor. I've never entered the room though, because you'd need to inform the reception desk and get a key. But apparently, one of my friends tried to get a key but the reception desk lost it.... oh well.....

Gym
There's a gym located on the 2nd floor, and it's only open at designated periods (not too sure on the actual timings, but it's open for a few hours in the morning and night). Again, I've never entered here because climbing up the hill is already a workout for me lol. Probably when it gets colder.... I'll enter and take pictures.

Study Rooms/Lounges
There's a study room on each of the residences floor, and it's open to only residents. Againnnn, I've never entered here becuase I haven't actually studied any of my lecture notes yet LOL. But yeah, I will take pictures next time I enter the study room.

On each floor, there's also huge lounge room on each of the residences floor, but no one uses it really. The only lounge room that I see people use is the lounge room on the 1st floor, where guests are also allowed to hang around. There's also another small lounge room somewhere between the suites. Don't really see people hanging around there either. Oh there's also a mini alfresco area at the balcony.. which I have no photos of at the moment. I usually see people sitting at the balcony during breakfast time.

Lounge room on the 1st floor

International Cafe
There's also an international cafe, located on the 1st floor, near to the reception area. When you first check into your dorm, you'll receive like a meal plan for the whole semester. If you plan to sign up for it, you'd have to go to the cafe during the designated times (i.e breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Printing/scanning facilities
There's a few computers and a huge printer/scanner machine on the 1st floor, near the reception desk. Not too sure on how it works, but you can use your student card/T-Money card to pay for it.

Random stuff about CJ
- There is no curfew! You just need to remember to bring your card to enter the building.
- Smoking inside and outside the building is strictly not allowed.
- Alcohol is strictly not allowed.
- Visitors can only enter the lounge room on the 1st floor. Penalties apply if they catch visitors in your suite.
- There are two lifts for each gender. Right one is for females, and the left one is for males.
- Males are not allowed on the females' floor and vice versa. Males are on 2nd and 3rd floors, while the females have the 4th - 6th floors. They take this rule very seriously...
- The gym is also open for people living at Anam Global House.
- Cleaning ladies will clean the bathroom once a week.
- Wifi connection is pretty good anywhere in the building.
- You can't control the temperature of your air-conditioner unfortunately!!! :-(
- Bedsheets and pillow can be rented out for 20,000won.
- I think they will inspect the rooms during the semester... but I'm not too sure when.

My personal review of the dorm
Honestly, the dorm is actually pretty amazing. It's equipped with so many facilities and there's always a security guard at the reception desk. Although the security guard speaks minimal English, there's always a person who can speak English at the reception desk, usually at the night. I paid 2,000,000 won for a single room, and I reckon it was worth it.

The only cons for the dorm is the location... Since most of my courses are down at the Science campus, it sucks having to walk for a good 15 mins to get to my classes. And not to forget, the mighty hill that everyone dreads. Just to make it clear, the hill to go to my dorm is VERY steep. You'd need some kind of stamina to walk uphill. And especially during summer time, I get tired easily because of the heat. Buuuut on a positive note.... I don't need to go gym because this is a good enough workout for me LOL.

And that's about it for my dorm! I'm really sorry I don't have the images for all the areas that I've mentioned above, but I'll definitely update this post if I have pictures!

Seoul City Tour

HI GUYS!! It's finally 1st of September aka AUTUMNNNNN aka MY FAVOURITE SEASON OF THE YEAR!!!!! It also means that the Fall semester has started. I just had my first class at 9 this morning and since it was an intro class, it went for only 20 minutes. My next class will be at 5pm.... I know.... 5... in the evening....... so I'll probably kill some time by blogging about the Seoul City Tour!

Korea University organised a Seoul City Tour for exchange/visiting students on Thursday, 25th August. It costs 40,000won, which is about AUD$47?? This includes lunch, transport, and tickets for the NANTA performance. The itinerary was as follows:

9am: Meeting point at Nokji Stadium
9.45am - 11.45am: National Folk Museum of Korea, Blue House, Gyeongbokgung Palace
11.55am - 12.25am: Leave for Insadong
12.30am - 1.45pm: Lunch at Insadong
1.50pm - 2.10pm: Leave for NANTA theatre
2.30pm - 4.10pm: NANTA performance
4.30pm: Return back to campus

Meeting up at Nokji Stadium was a breeze, because it was only 2 minutes walk up hill from my dorms. I met new friends, of whom some of them are in my KUBA group :D I met April, who was from China, and also Miwa and Yuri, who were both from Japan. I also got to know that Miwa studied an Islamic Law unit back at her home university in Japan, which is sooooo cool! I didn't know Japan had those kind of courses. Anyway, afterwards we headed off to our first destination - Cheongwadae Sarangchae.

Cheongwadae Sarangchae / Blue House / Gyeongbokgung Palace / National Folk Museum of Korea 
First up, was the 청와대 사랑채 (Cheongwadae Sarangchae), which is an exhibition hall that promotes Korean culture (located on the first floor) and history of former Korean presidents (located on the second floor). We only had like 15 minutes for this place, so we only looked around the first floor. On the first floor, there were facts about different historical places in Korea, of which btw, some of them are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. There was also an exhibition on Korean food. I was trying sooo hard not to drool because the food looked so good, even though they're not real LOL. They also provided kimchi recipes that you can take home!!!! Oh.. and did I tell you it's free admission for this place!

Back then, there were no refrigerators, so Koreans
used to store their fermented kimchi/soybean in the snow.

Can't remember the name of this kimchi, but it looks goooooood.

This is a typical Korean meal that is served, with main dishes and banchan.

Next was the 청와대 (Blue House), which is where the president lives. We didn't enter the place, so we just looked at the place.... from afar... with all the security guards..... at the gate....

Blue House, with the beautiful backdrop <333333

Afterwards, we headed into the grounds of the 경복궁 (Gyeongbokgung Palace). Gyeongbokgung is the largest palace that still stands today. And oh my god, even though it was really hot that day, I couldn't help but admire how beautiful this place was. I still can't believe how the palace grounds is preserved up until this day. Picture spam coming up!!

One of the buildings that has a library at Gyeongbokgung Palace

The ceiling of the library <333333

Library part one

Library part two

I just love this photo.
Lotus petals in the water, the building and the backdrop <3

Another photo that made it onto my instagram lol

  

  

The main hall of the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
This shot is from my GoPro, which is why the photo looks kinda odd.

I think we walked around for about an hour or so, and then we headed off to the National Folk Museum of Korea. We were so tight on time, we only had 10 minutes to look around. It was pretty much historical artefacts that Korean people used in their everyday lives. I remembered one exhibit that really reminded me of Deokseon's house. (Note: Deokseon is a character from a Korean drama called 응답하라 1988, or Reply 1988. If you haven't watched this drama pleaseeeeee watch it!!! It's one of my faves because the plot is all about families/friendships, and not necessarily your typical love story.)

Insadong / NANTA
We headed off to Insadong next for LUNCH!!!!! The food was soooo good oh my god. I can't remember what the restaurant name was, but it was a little cosy restaurant tucked away from the main street. And since I can't eat their meat, I opted for a vegetarian option. They gave me a bowl of leafy vegetables with soy sauce and gochujang (Korean red sauce). Anyway, the vege bowl wasn't the one that got me drooling, but it was the grilled fish, the banchan (side dishes, which included fishcakes, kimchi and ddeokbokki), and fluffy steamed egg pot. It doesn't sound like much, but it definitely made me so full until I almost fell asleep in the bus LOL. Sorry I don't have pictures though, but if you have me on snapchat, you would've seen the spread of food!

After the filling lunch, we went to the NANTA performance. NANTA is a comedy perfomance that uses rhythm and sound. I think all NANTA performances have the same back story, so I'll just tell you briefly.

Three cooks have to prepare food for a wedding banquet. Meanwhile, their manager puts his nephew on the kitchen staff, and he's not exactly the best person to be working in the kitchen. They have to work against the clock, and within this preparation time, a lot of incidents occur.

NANTA stage :D

I cannot recommend you enough to go and watch this show when you're in Korea, because it's suitable for people of all ages. And you don't have to worry about the language barrier, because they barely speak! And when they do speak, they speak in English! It's a super hilarious perfomance, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, I only had one photo for this because no photos/videos were allowed during the performance.

And that concludes the Seoul City Tour! It was a fun day, but I reckon it'd be better if we had an actual tour guide who could explain to us about the different historical places that we went to. For me, I managed to get some bits and pieces of information about these places through a Korean buddy, who was so very nice to explain about Korean history.

I'll blog about my dorm in the next post!!! :D

melb-sg-seoul and orientation

Can you believe it - it's been ONE WEEK since I touched down in Seoul???????????? Actually, to be honest, it feels like I've already been here for more than a week LOL. I think it's because I was always out doing something every day. But anyway!! Time to blog in full detail about o-week in Seoul.

21/08 - Flying off :( :( :(
Man, I reckon this would be the toughest part of this entire journey. Not being able to see my family and friends for five months... It's a tough gig. I felt so homesick when I was in the plane....

Idk why GoPro switches to fish-eye effect in camera mode??????

Anyway, touched down in Singapore at around 12.15am local time and checked into Aerotel. Aerotel is one of the two transit hotels available at Changi Airport. Even though it was only for a few hours, I had a good experience - quick check-in, extremely comfortable and cosy room, shared bathroom was in perfect condition. And apparently they have a swimming pool too!!!! I didn't check it out because all I wanted to do was to crash into a comfy bed and sleep LOL.

22/08 - On route to Seoul
My flight from Singapore to Seoul was at 7am local time, and it took roughly 6 hours to get to Seoul. At this point, the homesickness went away and I was super excited for what's to come. Reached Seoul at around 3.50pm and headed straight to KU's airport pick-up service. I was originally supposed to catch the 4pm bus, buuuuut was held up at baggage pick-up because it legit took 30 minutes for my luggages to come out >:(

The KU airport pick-up service was pretty easy to find, because there was literally a huge group of exchange/visiting students from different universities across Korea... and all I had to do was to find the KU group. While waiting for the bus, I met a few people from all over the world at the airport - Canada, China, Singapore, US.

Bus ride from the airport to my dorm took roughly two hours (inclusive of traffic). Reached my dorm at about 8.40pm, and all I wanted to do was to sleeeeeep. Skipped dinner and off to snoozeland I went.

23/08 - ORIENTATION DAY ONE!
All exchange/visiting students to Korea University had to gather at Inchon Memorial Hall at 9am for orientation. From my dorm, it was a 10 min walk (downhill) to the hall.

Pretty cool, huh?

They covered a lot of things during the orientation talk - from academics to safety. It took about an hour and a half for all the speakers to finish their speeches. One of the speeches, in particular, was about KUBA (Korea University Buddy Assistants). KUBA is a group of dedicated individuals who will be helping exchange/visiting students to adjust to Korea. In addition, KUBA holds events for all exchange/visiting students throughout the semester. For my batch (i.e Fall 2016 students), there are eight KUBA groups in total, and within each group, there are several buddies. And every exchange student will be assigned to a buddy.

Soooo after the orientation talk was over, I finally met my KUBA buddy!!! Her name is Yena, and I found out afterwards that she's actually younger than me. I feel so old :'(((((( I also met Jacelin, who was from Singapore, and she also has the same buddy as me :D Anywaaaayyy, after everyone met up with their buddies, my group went to have lunch at the cafeteria....... and honestly...... the food was meh. :\

After lunch, we went to a computer lab to get our KU portal ID sorted. The portal ID is for students to communicate with the university and staff via email/announcements/resources etc. Thankfully, for me, I've already sorted it out before arriving in Seoul, so this session was a breeze.

Following the KU portal ID session, we all went into an empty room and all the buddies in my group introduced themselves. One of the buddies studied in Australia for exchange, which I found pretty cool, considering that all the other buddies either studied in the US or have never studied anywhere else. It was also pretty cool to know that two of the buddies are majoring in Spanish. Like duuuude how cool?!!!????

Anyway, after the introduction session, I headed off to Dongwon Leadership Hall where I paid my ticket for the Seoul City Tour that KU organised. I also met a bunch of Singaporeans there as well. It was a nice feeling... Knowing that there are people who you're familiar with, even though you've never met them. I don't know if I made any sense LOL but anyway moving on....

Afterwards, I went out to Daiso to get my daily essentials and had dinner with my two new friends - Atirah, of whom I met via Li Ying, a friend I made at the hall, and Kelvin, of whom I met at the airport. We found a halal Indian place nearby my dorm. Do you know how happy I was??????? Like finally, meat???? After what seems like a long time?????? T_________T (Actually I lied, it's only been 2 days)

Finally, a halal outlet near my dorm. Couldn't contain my happiness. ^_^

Anyway, the food was okay-ish. The curry didn't taste like a real, genuine Indian curry, but managed to finish all the food because I was that hungry LOL.....

24/08 - ORIENTATION DAY TWO!
Day two of orientation arrived, and it was a reaaalllly long morning. We had to fill in pages and pages of forms for our student ID card/bank card, which will only arrive in four weeks' time zzzzzzzzz. So for the meantime, we'll have to use a temporary ID card, which I must say, is verrrrryyy flimsy.

After that meh experience at the cafeteria yesterday, I decided to join Jacelin for lunch to have.... SASHIMI!!!!!! We had like a plate of 24 salmon pieces for 9,000 won. 9,000 WON OKAYYYY. HOW CHEAP CAN SASHIMI GET??????? And in addition, we had a tuna sashimi bibimbap, which was also super delicious. Sorry, forgot to take photos :((((((((

After lunch, we headed off to Dongwon Leadership Hall againnnn to get our temporary student ID. This hall is the worst place to be, because it's always filled with people. I actually felt like I was in a moshpit for a concert lol. Anyway, after getting my temporary student ID, I bought my certificate of enrollment, which is a document needed for my Alien Registration Card application.

Lastlyyyyy, I went to a workshop about "Life in Seoul". It was meh, because they pretty much outlined what to expect with the Korean culture, which I've already established from Korean dramas ehehehehehehe. I met Atirah and Li Ying here as well, so it was nice to see familiar faces.

In the evening, all the KUBA groups went out to have 치맥 (read: chimaek stands for chicken + maekju. Maekju is beer in Korean) for dinner. Due to the fact I was super tired/can't eat the chicken/don't drink, I decided not to go to the dinner. Buuuut it's okay, at least I managed to catch up on sleep and finally unpack my luggages.

And that concludes the two-day orientation!!!!! I'll blog more about the Seoul City Tour and my dorm very soon ^______^

Planning process: finally the last part!!!!!

Hi everyone! Can you believe it - I leave for Seoul tomorrow????!!!!!! Pretty exciting yet nerve-wrecking!!!!! I've packed most of my stuff and most of them consisted of foooooood hehe. Anyway, I'll finish off blogging my planning process. I realised that my previous blog posts were really toooo lengthy, so I'll try and keep it in easier-to-read paragraphs. I've also edited my previous blog posts, so that it's easier to read.

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

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 :((((((

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!

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. :)

Planning process: part two!

Hey guys!
I'll be flying off to Seoul very soon and I think I've gotten all of my admin stuff done, to the point where I can begin packing! It still feels so surreal to me that I'm actually going to Seoul very soon....

Anyway, I will be blogging about my long and ardeous process in applying for the student exchange program. I promise, this post (and the next one) won't be as long as the first one. Sooooo I finished my story off when I completed and handed my application to my university's abroad team. This was in December 2015, and the abroad team told me that it takes about six to eight weeks to get a nomination letter.

... In reality, it took 4 months for me to get it. I even went to the pre-departure session for exchange students, even before knowing that I was nominated. So anyway, the letter just pretty much outlines what I have to do, which was basically applying to the partner university directly. Also worth mentioning is that my university advised that nothing is confirmed until you receive the acceptance letter from the host university, so booking for accommodation/flights at this point is not recommended.

For Korea University, I had to provide them with the basic required documents: academic transcript (which costs me 30 freaking dollars!!!!!), personal statement, copy of a valid passport, certificate of health and health insurance. And also, you needed a GPA of at least 2.5. The personal statement is pretty much the statement of purpose, as mentioned in my first post. The certificate of health and health insurance wasn't required at the time of application so I didn't really think about it until after my acceptance.

Aside from those documents, I needed to provide them a list of my proposed units that I plan to do while at Korea University (KU). Initially I thought it was for my course registration period, but turns out it was for visa purposes, which I will mention in the last post for this planning process. Also another thing was that I had to print and sign off a form called the oath of good conduct. As the name describes, it was a form where I had to sign my life away so that I will be a good student who represents KU well.

That's it for my KU application process! It was way easier than my university's application process, and maybe this was because I've already had most of the documents prepared. I sent off my application to KU and waited for about 6 weeks until my acceptance letter arrived, which was in June 2016, just before I headed off for my holiday in Singapore.

...... And that concludes my second post for the planning process!

Until next time!