As of November 19^th, I now only have one month left of my semester abroad in Sevilla, Spain, where I am currently attending the Universidad Pablo De Olavide. Looking back on my time so far, I can easily say that it has been the most amazing experience of my life. Over the past two months, I have done so many things that I never imagined would be doing one year ago while sitting in the College of Business contemplating my future at the University of Louisville.

In only two and a half months abroad, I have visited three countries. I have gone to Paris, France twice, where I was able to take in the Eiffel Tower at night, and explore the largest art museum in the world, the Louvre. In Lagos, Portugal, I watched the sunset from what was once thought to be the “End of the World,” at the southernmost tip of Europe, and swam in the Mediterranean Sea. To top it all off, I have been able to do all of these things with my girlfriend, Meg Ryan, another U of L student, who is studying in France this semester. While it has been fun jet-setting across Europe, it is only natural that I have spent the majority of my time in Spain.

Sevilla is located in the south of Spain in the province of Andalusia. The location has been perfect, allowing me to take numerous day or weekend trips all over the province. I have gone to Cadiz, where I went to the beach for a day, and Granada, where I spent the weekend discovering the famed Palace-Fortress known as the Alhambra. What’s more, is that I have done all of this while living within a stone’s throw of both the third largest cathedral in the world, and the Royal Alcazar, a palace still used to this day by the King of Spain.

Even though Spain is an industrialized country much like the United States, there are still plenty of differences between the two nations, outside of the language barrier, that make life in Sevilla quite the adventure. For example, there is no such thing as a 24 hour Wal-Mart, or grabbing a late night snack from Taco Bell. Almost every shop is closed by 12AM, except for the bars, where you can find Spaniards out until the early hours of the morning- everyday of the week! What about a McDonald’s breakfast? Forget about it. The grading system is also very different, relying on a 10 point scale, with 9-10 being an A, 8-9 being a B, 5-8 being a C, and 0-5 being a failing grade. Internet access is also severely limited, forcing me to rely on cafes, and making it difficult to keep in touch with friends and family back home. Not only this, but the entire city shuts down for 2.5 hours during peak business times for an afternoon, “Siesta!’ While it is sometimes inconvenient that many of the amenities that I have grown used to in the States aren’t available, they are all things that I can do without. In the end, discovering the many nuances of Spanish culture are what keeps life interesting, teaching me to react on the fly and to expect the unexpected.

Other than my family and friends, what I have missed most about being home is the food. My Senora takes really good care of me, making me three course meals two times each day, but as tasty as Spanish food is, there is nothing quite like some good old-fashioned home cooking. I am really looking forward to coming home and having some of my mom’s lasagna, and any type of breakfast food, since I have not had breakfast since I have been here. Not only that, but if any of you have ever been to Northern Kentucky, you should know that we love our skyline chili, and my favorite pizza, LaRosa’s.

Despite all of the things that I’ve already been able to accomplish, I am excited to see what else study abroad has in store for me. In December, I have a big eight day trip planned to London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. I cannot wait to have that week off of school and to explore some of the most amazing cities in the world. I have loved my time here in Spain, and cannot believe that in just a few weeks it will all be over and I will be heading back to Kentucky. As sad as it will be to leave, I look forward to being back at U of L for the spring semester. See you all soon!

Hasta luego,

Christopher Groeschen

My name is DeSean Jackson and along with a couple of other UofL students (Eric Tandrian & Matthew Schulz) we are currently studying in the Netherlands at De Haagse Hogeschool (The Hague University).

It has been a little more than two months since I have come to the Netherlands to study abroad. So I apologize for posting so late to the blog.

The first two weeks were the hardest to get used to and very hectic. This happened to be my first time traveling outside of the U.S. so it was pretty overwhelming for me in the beginning. I was very homesick and could not adjust to the 6 hour time difference.

When I arrived at The Hague University things did not run as smooth as I had hoped. By the time I had arrived all the offices were closed so I had to stay in a hotel for the first night. The following morning when I figured out my housing situation, my apartment was 3.5 km (approx. 2.2 miles) away from the school. The cultural shock had begun! It was difficult just being in a city where English wasn’t the main language. Everything is in Dutch so I almost felt disconnected from the world. I couldn’t read the newspaper or even watch TV. Fortunately almost everyone speaks English so that made things more comforting.

TRANSPORTATION
I have always stayed very close to campus at UofL and could easily get around with my car. Here in the Netherlands transportation is quite different. Here in the Hague You can travel by a number of ways like train or tram, many people ride bicycles. The first couple of weeks I walked everywhere but that was just an inconvenience. More people here in The Hague ride bikes then drive cars and there are bike routes throughout the city. I did the Dutch thing and bought a bicycle at a second-hand shop. It’s good exercise and environmentally friendly!

FOOD & DINING
I am a very picky eater and have lived off fast food and frozen products since I have been at UofL. Things changed once I got here in the Netherlands. The first time I went to the grocery store and I did not consider that everything would be in Dutch. I did the best I could and bought whatever looked familiar. So far I have tried some common Dutch foods. The worst has to have been raw herring and onions and the best has to be Dutch apple pie. I must admit I still eat McDonalds or Burger King four to five times a week. Some little differences here that I find funny is that at the grocery store you have to either bring your own grocery bags or buy grocery bags and its normal NOT to tip when eating out.

CLASSES/THE UNIVERSITY
The lectures and teaching are a different style compared to UofL. Each class meets only once a week and the majority of work is outside of the classroom and is almost always a group project or assignment. The hardest class I’m in now is a Survival Dutch class and is just a crash course learning the Dutch language.
Even though The Hague University has just as many students as UofL, the school is located in just one big building, so there isn’t much of a campus type of feel.

TRAVELING
My favorite thing to do over here in Europe is to travel. We invested in the Eurorail so we travel by train quite a bit. We have traveled almost every weekend since we have been here. So far we have been to 8 countries (Germany, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Greece, and the Czech Republic). Every country has its own culture and is so interesting and has so much history. Just having the chance to meet so many people and experiencing so many different cultures is hard to put in words.

Hello everyone my name is Eric Tandrian. I am 4th year student in the college of business. I chose to study abroad in the Netherlands at a school call the Hague. The process to study abroad through the COB was sooo smooth that I didn’t even realize I was actually going until I landed in Amsterdam. It seemed like I just signed some papers, got a passport, wrote a couple checks, and I was there on august 24th. When I first arrived in the Netherlands I was shocked. I couldn’t read anything, I didn’t know where to go, I was hauling around all my luggage and getting frustrated. I was a little scared to be honest. When we checked into school they were a little confused about where we were suppose to go because we were late. So we decided to get our dorm room settled first, then catch up with the group later. But it seemed that everyone was on different pages so that did not work out. That night I couldn’t sleep at all. I thought, what did I get myself into? Leaving my friends and family behind to go to a school where I was the new guy. i hated the uncertainties of the situation I was in. I have never been known to be shy or homesick but I wanted to return home after day one.

Now two months into the program I love it. Once I got settled in, learned how the school system worked, wondered around the city, and made new friends I could live here for good. The school here is definitely more aimed toward giving presentations and applying what your lectures teach you. Sometimes its really tough because you may be in a class that is based on classes before it, which you might not have taken. But there is also some positives, the tachesr are really eager to help students if they need it. And also we only have class 5 times a week!

My favorite part of studying abroad is the ability to travel. We invested in the eurorail pass which enables us to use the train systems throughout Europe. Its halfway through the semester and ive already been to Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Sweden and more. Not to mention Amsterdam is less then an hour away. In my opinion this is where you learn the most, not in the classroom. When you go to different palces and talk with locals and see different cultures, this makes you a better, more open minded person. Ive been to places that ive only seen on TV and in magazines. Now I can tell people ive been there and little facts about them as well. Its hard to believe that ive been to the Vatican in rome and the beautiful churches in spain all in a week. My time here is flying by and I hate that. Im tryin to get as much as I can out of it. i am no longer uncertain about why im here in the Netherlands. The homesick side of me was left at the bus station after our first trip to Amsterdam.

During a Fall Break that provided several unexpected obstacles (thanks in large to the French strike), Eric, DeSean, and I were forced to turn to the American Embassy for help and guidance. I am not referring to the U.S. Embassy you are probably thinking of (although we did go there once in Milan and was offered little help), but of the one with over 60 locations in Louisville the last time I checked. That’s right, McDonald’s. They greeted us with a smile, fed us, and most importantly, provided free wi-fi connection. In times of uncertainty, whether we needed to book an emergency flight home, skype a family member, or book a hostel the McDonald’s wi-fi always came through for us. In the 12 day trip, I can honestly say we probably visited a McDonald’s at least 15 times. This is about the amount of times I would visit during a 6-month period at home. But, more valuable than the one euro cheeseburgers was the unlimited wi-fi that we always took advantage of. Our fall break trip saw us travel through four countries, not including the Netherlands in which we are studying in, and provided us with many countless memories some of which I will share with you! I will highlight each city we visited.

The start of the trip really set the tone for our week long adventure for the 2010 Fall Break. Living just like true backpackers, we spent the night on the floor of the Brussels International Airport because we had to catch an 8 am flight in the morning! Eric found comfort under the tables in Pizza Hut, DeSean slept on them, and I chose the cold tiled floor as my mattress selection. Considering the circumstances, we actually caught some very valuable ZZZs as a long day laid ahead of us. The next morning our flight landed in Milan roughly around 10 am. From there we had to take a bus to the central train station and a train from there to Rome. After a few delays, we arrived at our Hostel around 4.

———-ITALY———–

ROME—-Friday-Sunday Morning—-(5 STARS out of 5)
Hostel: Yellow Hostel (5 STARS)

The Eternal City was a great visit and one of our favorites of the semester so far. After eating some delicious Italian pizza and hitting the town, we called it an early night for so much needed sleep on Friday. We started Saturday morning with a tour of the Vatican City. What an amazing tour it was! To be able to see the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Pieta among other things was incredible. While in the Basilica, we were even lucky enough to witness one of the Cardinals entering a Saturday night mass. As a Catholic, this tour was especially neat to go on, but no matter what your religion is the Vatican City is a must while in Rome! After this, we hopped on the tram to visit some of the other hotspots in Rome. Eric and DeSean took pleasure in the local markets buying plenty of fake Burberry and Louis Vouton items! We saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi’s Tower, and the Panthenon most notably. By nightfall, we had arrived at the Colliseum and what a sight it was! As you can imagine, we got our fair share of sightseeing Saturday and only witnessed just a few of Rome’s many treasures. Sunday morning we were up bright and early to hop on a train to Florence!

FLORENCE—-Sunday Afternoon—-(4 STARS)
First off, let me say that my rating of Florence is a little skewed because we were only able to spend such little time there. Because of the train schedules, to make it to our hostel in Milan by nighttime we were forced to cut our Florence adventure trip short. Nonetheless, in the short time we were there, we experienced a true European market and witnessed one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen!
I certainly wish we had more time to spend there.

MILAN—-Sunday Night-Monday Night—-(2 STARS)
Hostel: Hotel Emmy (4 STARS)
While there is one spectacular church (Il Duomo) in Milan worth seeing, there is not much else there! If you are in to shopping there is plenty of that to go around as we saw first hand why they are one of the “fashion capitals of the world.” Everything was extremely expensive (if you wanted to get a coke at a restaurant it costs 6 euros) which certainly didn’t help our impression. One funny experience happened at the plaza in front of the Il Duomo. A guy walked up to DeSean and told him to hold out his hand. As DeSean did this the man immediately poured bird seed in his hand and told DeSean he would take a picture of the pigeons eating the seed out of his hand with the church in the background. While this did produce a wonderful picture, the man demanded 5 euros from DeSean (something he didn’t mention before)! There are many con artists like this near the Il Duomo so watch out.

It was on Monday morning that we hit our first speed bump of the trip. We arrived nice and early to catch an 11 o’clock train to Nice, France where we would stay the night. It was at the station that we learned of the strike in France. For those of you who hadn’t heard of it, the French government was debating raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 years old causing many French Unions and Youth to rebel. The majority of trains, gas stations, and even some planes were delayed or canceled because of it. Our train happened to be one of them! Thus, we made our first (business) trip to McDonald’s! We couldn’t find any cheap flights there but next door was a travel agency, which was where we would eventually book our 16-hour bus trip to Barcelona. While waiting for its departure, we visited a small Italian village and played soccer with a local kid and his father. A nice woman even offered to give us a ride to a nearby McDonald’s so we could stock up for the trip! (As you can see, I was not lying about the number of Mickey D’s visits!) At 9 pm we boarded the bus and were happy to be on our way to Barcelona, even though there was a long trip ahead!

———-SPAIN———–

BARCELONA—-Tuesday-Thursday Morning—-(5 STARS)
Hostel: Mambo Tango Hostel (5 STARS)
There was so much to see in Barcelona! We arrived at our hostel around 4 after our long bus trip and made the trip to Camp Nou, Barcelona’s Soccer Stadium. Here I visited the team’s musuem and fan shop. It was disappointing not to be able to tour the stadium but, I would soon find out I would get another chance! Next we made a stop at KFC to test out its taste overseas. It was surprisingly not that bad, but they had no macaroni and cheese which was a disappointment! The next day was spent sightseeing and we saw many incredible sights such as the Segrada Familia and the Cathedral. There were a lot of people on the streets in support of FC Barcelona and their opponent (because there was a game that night) Copenhagen. Chants and songs were routinely heard throughout the day. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a hold of a ticket and watched the soccer game. It was definitely my favorite part of my study abroad experience and a perfect way to cap off a great trip in Barcelona.

MADRID—-Thursday-Monday—-(3 STARS)
Hostel: Albergue Juvenil (5 STARS)
We arrived at our hostel in Madrid pleasantly surprised. The staff was wonderful and the facilities were incredible for the price! They had a pool table and HDTV among other things. We spent the first night with another UofL student, Lucy Paez, who studies in Madrid. She showed us some of the local hot spots that many tourists miss. There we enjoyed the famous Spanish dishes known as Tapas, which are the equivalent to finger foods/appetizers. The next day we walked all over Madrid, literally, enjoying the many sights. I could say that had we left when we were supposed to (Saturday) I would have a better impression of Madrid. But, unfortunately, when it came time to board our overnight train to Paris on Saturday night, we learned it was canceled due to the French strike. This left us with a difficult situation as travel agencies were closed until Monday and we had no internet to figure out a way home. So, where did we go? That’s right. McDonald’s. We considered taking boat, buses, and even renting a car! After countless, stressing hours of surfing the web and visiting the airport we finally got a plane ticket home for Monday morning (we did not get this ticket until Sunday morning around 5 am).

As you can tell, our Fall Break trip was a memorable one. We met many nice people, experienced several different cultures, and even improved our problem solving skills! Fall Break 2010 was a trip I would not have had any other way….Well, except for the strike!

Until next time,
Mateo

I have been in Oestrich-Winkel for nearly a month now, and during this time I have learned much about the land of the Germans. It is here that pork is more bountiful then water, everything can be made into a potato product (including noodles), and the cheese sauce flows abundantly over all of these delicacies. It was only a few days into my residency here when I discovered the little german gem known as “Brotchen”! Since then my cabinet has been bountiful with these little round breads that resemble miniature french baguettes.
I have embraced every aspect of my cultural immersion here in Germany, even down to the food. I have gone out of my way to only eat things that would be part of a typical german diet. At the grocery store (where food prices are incredibly cheap!) I always try to buy something completely different. My food exploration has lead me to try some really interesting things! So far I have had a traditional raw pork/garlic spread on a “Brotchen” for breakfast!
While it may appear that I have only been enamored with german food, I have been equally captivated by the breathtaking countryside. Oestrich-Winkel is situated in the middle of wine country, and on a sunny day the illuminated hills rival the Tuscan terrain.
My life here in Oestrich feels like a stripped down version of my life in the US. It’s back to the basics here, in this little quaint town, where I don’t own a phone or car, and I haven’t had to work for the first time time since high school. It feels good to be just a student. I look forward to each day here because it feels like I’m acquiring a lifetime of memories and experiences.

First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Matthew Schulz and I am currently studying abroad at The Hague University in the Netherlands with Eric Tandrian and DeSean Jackson. It has been a stressful first week here with many ups and downs. But, I think we are finally starting to get the hang of things around here (and catch up on our sleep)! Transportation was our biggest hurdle starting off. We walk almost everywhere but when we do take a train or tram, it is difficult figuring out how to get from point a to point b. We picked up on it pretty fast though. Walking here is MUCH more dangerous than in the states. What’s so weird is that when crossing the street the cars will stop when you walk out in front of them but the bikes won’t…and bikes are everywhere! We have almost been hit by a biker several times already. The class schedules are pretty confusing to figure out as well. They don’t have a self-explanatory registration like we are fortunate enough to have at UofL so don’t take it for granted! But, thankfully, after many exchanged emails with Ms. Goatley (sorry for pestering you!) our schedules should be complete.

One of my biggest concerns coming here was the food situation. I am a very picky eater so I was afraid that if I didn’t like the food I would starve! It has actually turned out to be quite the opposite. The food is AMAZING. We have already tried dutch pancakes, boterballs (meatballs), and the most amazing apple pie I have ever had den-haag-1-089.JPG! Our favorite food so far though is turkish food. They make a kip doner, which is kind of like pita bread stuffed with chicken and whatever else you want with it. They serve it with french fries and a special dipping sauce that they call mayonnaise (not the same mayonnaise as the in the US) and it is sooooo good. Plus, it is very cheap! We also had a fun time trying to figure out what we were buying at the grocery store because everything was in dutch. When we cooked tonight, we almost poured a sauce that we thought was Alfredo on our spaghetti. Thankfully, our neighbor stopped by and told us that it was actually Buttermilk..That would have been interesting!

We have already bought plane tickets to London, Milan, and Sweden and plan on travelling a lot by train. We traveled to Amsterdam this past weekend and were fortunate enough to meet a local that showed us around the city. It was nice not having to look at a map every five minutes! We visited the Anne Frank House, which was amazing as you could probably imagine. It was neat seeing the actual diaries as well as many of the other artifacts she wrote about. This weekend we are going to visit somewhere but have absolutely no plans as to where that might be. I guess we will decide where to go at the train station!

That is it for now! It is time to hit the sack!

-Mateo

To be continued….

The trip was a whirlwind, I’m glad I have pictures to remind me of the fun times and amazing sites.

I travelled to Taiwan and spent a week visiting Taroko National Park and exploring the city of Taipei. After seven days I hopped on a plane and headed to Beijing. There I also spent a week brushing up on all of the history and running around the city.

In just two short weeks I have done things that I never thought I could do such as hiking to the top of a mountain that was over 10000 feet above sea level. Several of my favorite moments from the trip included going to a butterfly farm, visiting some of the local elementary schools and meeting the kids, hiking the Great Wall, and eating Peking duck at one of the nicest restaurants in Beijing.

This trip was so much fun.  I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything but I was ready to eat with a fork again!

Well, my days in Mainz are really winding down – just a week left before I return home, and I have to say, it is certainly unbelievable how quickly a year has flown by! Well, not a year, two weeks shy to be exact, but that’s not the point! Either way, my semester ended about 2 or 3 weeks ago and i am still in the process of collecting all of my grades and taking care of some university affairs. After a heartfelt going away party for a bunch of my friends, as I am the 2nd to last of all my international friends to leave the city (my friends who live here are obviously excluded ), only being outlasted my my friend Megan from Memphis, my friend Lukas and I flew to Ireland for 9 days.

Now, Lukas and I both had a particularly stressful exam period, so we did virtually no planning for our trip – we just bumped into each other at work, as we work in the same office on campus, and decided to go after everything was finished! As we are on a budget, particularly limited, might I add, we had some interesting sleeping arrangements during our stay: a van for 3 days, a farmhouse for a night, and a barn loft for a night – we were woken up by rats in the morning after that night… just so you know what kind of a barn this was. One of the greatest things that you will find studying abroad is that you will make great friends all over the world, and this was the case in Ireland! My friend Julie is Irish, and when I told her that we would be there, she and her friend, Emma, drove down to where we were – Galway – where there was an arts and music festival taking place for the weekend. We traveled around with them for 3 days, and all slept in her conversion van! Now, this van was absolutely perfect for the four of us – except that we had to ‘put’ one person on the front bench seat each night. Now, I am by no means a tall guy, but the front bench seat was just about 5 inches too short for me, and about the same for Lukas when it was his turn – leaving us very grumpy in the morning, respectively. Either way, we had a great time visiting with them!

Then we were off for more adventures, stopping off for two days with Lukas’s brother – who is doing volunteer work this year with adults with mental disabilities on a farm out in the beautiful countryside. Now, the first night we could stay in the extra room in the farmhouse, but the second night a new volunteer arrived, and we were moved to the barn – let me clarify, barn loft used for storage, right about above the pigs… Anyway, mattresses were being stored there, so we pulled a few down and crashed for the night, but hey, it was way better than paying for a hostel!! And I was really great to spend a little time in the countryside! Nonetheless, Ireland was absolutely beautiful – we were hiking copious amount everywhere we could – just on our last day we hiked somewhere around 25 or 30 k. which is no small feat! It was absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the joy to see!

We returned to Mainz and prepared to drive to the Saarland, a very small German state on the French border, where Lukas’s parents were having a Sommerfest (summer festival). The Saarland is known for having a very difficult dialect – a dialect most Germans have a difficult time understanding – I was absolutely lost, to say the least! I was able to recognize some of the traits typical of German dialects from that general part of Germany (i.e. d->t, ch->sch, pf->pp, s->t etc etc etc) which was incredibly helpful, I even picked up a few words and phrases so Lukas could laugh at an American exchange student trying to speak Saarländlisch. I absolutely love hearing different German dialects, and this really made my day! I do have to say, though, that this was one definitely the most difficult dialect I have ever heard and attempted to understand!

After getting back to Mainz I immediately began working as an assistant for the 62nd international German Summer Course here at the university. It is a month long program designed to help people from all over the world learn German! And we have learners of all levels, from not-a-word to German teachers. Every day is something new for me and all of the people with whom I work. On Monday my friend Laura and I are scheduled to hold a Stammtisch (a usually regular meeting for people to get out and discuss the matters of the world over a drink at their regular table) for all of the participants who are interested, getting them out to explore the city of Mainz at a few local places. Last week we worked to move all of the students into their dorms, brought them to their first day of classes, gave them a city tour and tried to help them with all of the other odds and ends that they needed to make this as productive as it could be! I am working for this program, by the way, because one of my bosses from the last two semesters, Frau Küper, is the director of the program, and asked me to be an assistant. Oh yeah, a friend of mine who is doing an internship with an online editorial even wrote an article about us and interviewed a few students, Frau Küper, and myself!

http://mainz.eins.de/articles/849902-lokales-62-internationaler-sommerkurs-an-der-jgu

Otherwise I have been maintaining a relatively high level of stress/business preparing to go back home, i.e. doing all of the thing you have to do before you move out of a country: canceling my health insurance and bank account, moving all of my stuff out, registering with the city, returning all of the (many many many) things I have borrowed over the year, and of course, loads of goodbyes! I will be flying back to the States on the 14th and trying to take care of everything before classes start again – but I have to say, after how stressful this semester has been – like, Russian exams written in German stressful – I am looking forward to being home for a few days of relaxation, though honestly I don’t know if I will have any!! After all, I have to move back to Louisville (a BIG thanks to my wonderful sister Corinne for finding me an apartment!), get a cell phone, insurance, and a slew of other banal minutiae that will consume my life for a few weeks haha.

I am, however, very excited that my friend Thorsten will be studying in Louisville next year! And I really hope that he will have as good and rewarding a time as I did!! I can’t say how thankful I am for having been given this opportunity to study and live here! Betty and David Jones, Herr and Frau Boel, the Sister Cities Organization, Allie Goatley, Dr. Joy Carew, Virginia Honoso, Dr. Hutcheson, Dr. Pat Condon, my family and EVeRYONE else in Louisville who have helped make this possible, without whom we never could have revived this wonderful exchange program (I am the first UofL student to do it in 5 years)!!! I owe you all my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude! Not to mention all of those in Mainz who have helped make this the most successful year possible: Herr Henkel-von Klass, Frau Küper, Dr. Britta Feyerabend, Frau Ursula Bell-Köhler and her husband, Herr Bell, Frau Karst with the whole Freundschaftskreis Mainz-Louisville, all of my ‘path-finders’ and everyone else!

I owe you all so much, THANK YOU! And I look forward to seeing you again!

justin

After 5-weeks of exciting adventures, I am finally heading back home. I have learned so much more about my own culture and the friendship that exists among Koreans despite the “busy-ness” of city life. In one of my classes, “Globalization & Multicultural Studies,” we studied and analyzed different countries’ cultures based on Hofstede’s dimensions. The one dimension that I felt deeply in Korea was the Individualism & Collectivism. It should catch none of us in surprise to find that US ranked no. 1 in individualism; Korea was on the other spectrum near collectivism. Friendships – no, rather “oojung” (which does not have an english equivalent) – I have made in Korea are bound to last beyond the incredible distances. The four-day Japan trip was an excursion of its own in midst of the heat & ridiculously expensive items. The temples and the gardens were beautiful, but the reflection on the Japanese way of life and the importance of language were more profound.

All in all, among many things I have learned, I have learned few major lessons:
1) Study – both the academics & the culture (which includes language!).
2) Create friendships that will last (be yourself as you do so).
3) Travel more (this includes studying abroad!)- the more you see the world, the higher you’ll go and achieve bigger things.

For anyone in doubt, study through the International Summer School at the University of Seoul. The initial application process may be tedious, but every minute of that grudging work is definitely worth it.

– Esther S. Kim

There are many cool things about Seoul, Korea. Of course, the city-life is vibrant & the traditions are beautiful. There are so many people & just so many things to do. (Please check out the pictures!)

Besides that point, this University of Seoul International Summer School (UOS ISS) allowed me to meet students from all over the world – Sweden, Germany, Canada, China, Japan, Portugal, and so many more. The thing that struck me the most was the linguistic capabilities of the Europeans. They know their native countries’ language, English, and one,two, or even three other European languages near their home country.