DUO-KOREA STUDENT FELLOW ESSAY FORM 1. DUO-Korea Identification Number: 2. Originating Institution (Country): Radboud University, the Netherlands 3. Destination Institution (Country): University of Seoul 4. Exchange Period: Fall 2017 5. Major: Business Administration 6. Name: Ruben Klein 7. Language used for Lectures in Destination Institution: English (If it was mixed with English and Vernacular, please specify percentage of each language.) Topics to include but not limited to the following in minimum A4 3 pages (font size 12, single spaced); 1. Classes taken in host institution, progress and accomplishment (result) 2. Off-Campus Activities (e.g. extracurricular or community activities) 3. Things learned from exchange experience (with anecdote) 4. Advice to future exchange student fellows CCEPTANCE OF RELEASE OF INFORMATION I authorize ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme to publish my name and all persons or entities acting pursuant to ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme's permission or authority, all rights to use my name. I understand that my name may be used for educational, advertising, and promotionalpurposes in all conventional and electronic media, and any future media. I also authorize the use of any printed material in connection therewith. Signature: Date: Q 3 -01 -201 My Name is Ruben Klein and I am a third-year bachelor student in International Business Administration at Radboud University in Nijmegen. One of the obligatory parts of the International Business Administration program at Radboud University is that during the first semester of the third year you go abroad. When the time came for me to choose a university somewhere abroad the choice for one in Seoul was not a very hard one. I wanted to go to Korea because the country was one I did not know much about. The first things that came to mind when someone would talk about Korea is the division of the country with on the one hand the Democratic People’s Republic Korea and on the other hand the Republic of Korea. Of course, (South) Korea is much more than this. The University that I have attended in Seoul is the University of Seoul. This public university is one of the few partner universities of Radboud University in Seoul. This brief essay will contain the following topics: My experiences at the University of Seoul, my experiences outside university life, things I have learned during my semester abroad and my stay in Seoul, and my advice to future exchange students. On 22 August 2017 I boarded flights AY0842 and AY0041 from respectively Amsterdam to Helsinki and Helsinki to Seoul. On the 23rd of August I arrived at Incheon airport at 8:20 Korean Standard Time. I had planned my stay so that I would have a week to explore Seoul before my orientation at the University of Seoul started on August 30th. During the first week I felt how enormous Seoul is as a city. Too much to explore in a week, and with not many connections in the city at times one can feel alone while being surrounded by millions of others. The days went by and I visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Changdeokgung Palace, the National Hangul Museum and I went cycling along the Han river at Yeouido Park. All by all, not a bad start at seeing Seoul for the first time. On August 30rd I went to the orientation of the University of Seoul and I met my fellow exchange students for the first time. A few of these students were Dutch as well, which made first contact a lot easier. Of course, I did not primarily go to Seoul to meet Dutch people, but being able to speak your own language with others does make things easier at the start. During the orientation we got some basic information about the university, our schedules, and about things we had to do for our immigration in Korea, like the Alien Registration Card. Before the semester in Seoul started we were already able to enroll for our courses. The courses that I chose were: Korean Politics and Society, Korean Economy and Business, Economic Development in East Asia, Urban Economics and Policy, and Production and Operations Management. I will now briefly explain the progress and results of each course. Korean Politics and Society: During this course we discussed the history of Korean Politics from 1910 onwards. It contained the Korean war and the democratization process that South Korea has undergone as well as the political process that has occurred in the North. We watched the movie Ode to my Father about South Korea as well as the documentary A State of Mind about the North. The course ended with a look into the Korean wave, which included the Korean Popular culture. The Course had a midterm and a final, which I passed with an A+. Korean Economy and Business: During this course we looked into the economic development during the 20th century in South Korea, during the democratization process and afterwards. This part was included in the midterm exam. The second part of the course was a look into some of the Chaebols in Korea and into the Korean pop culture. My final grade for this course was a B0. Economic Development in East Asia: During this course we looked into different ways of measuring economic development and in what way countries can be helped or hindered in their economic development. The course had a midterm and a final. My final grade for this course was an A0. Urban Economics and Policy: with this course we first discussed some basic economic principles before diving into urban planning and looking at the way cities are build up. This course consisted of a midterm and a final. My final grade for this course was an A0. Production and Operations Management: The main themes of this course were operational planning and inventory management theories. This course was a business administration course that I wanted to take because this is not a course that I could take at my home university. The course had a midterm and a final exam and my grade for this course was a B+. Outside my university life in Seoul I have been able to do many things. I was presented most of these opportunities of seeing Korea due to my landlord. I lived in an international house in Hongdae. My landlord called this house “Kim’s Community House”. A place to meet other internationals. Next to having three houses, my landlord also organized trips throughout the whole of South Korea. One of the nice things about these trips was that they were almost free because of the subsidies Kim received from local governments. I was able to join three of Kim’s trips to Wando-gun, Jecheon, and Donghae-si. During the Chuseok national holiday I joined a trip to the south, to Namhae-gun. During this trip we also visited Imsil-gun and Miryang. All in all these trips have allowed me to see much more of the country Korea than just its massive capital city that Seoul is. One of the things I learned during my time in Korea is to appreciate the educational opportunities that I have in the Netherlands and that I should also take these opportunities to make the most of my education. What I saw in Korea was how a lot of their society and people’s lives evolved around education. This started with sending children to private institutions in the Gangnam area in Seoul to allow theses children to get a head start to get into the best universities, with as a goal one of the SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University). The chances we get in the Netherlands are more equal to some extent and we have freedom of choice in what university we want to go to, or what major we want to choose. The pressure to get enrolled in one of the best Universities and to get the highest grades in general on Korean students is also what I witnessed myself. I have seen multiple Korean students fall asleep during a class that started at 10 ‘o clock in the morning, with professors not making a deal out of it and other students seemingly accepting this as normal. I want to conclude this essay with some advice for future exchange students. My advice mainly is: step outside of your comfort zone, meet new people, go to new places and try to experience your stay abroad in the best way possible. An exchange is probably something that will happen only once in your lifetime and not making the most of it is something you might regret. Seize chances that you might otherwise never do. I, for example, went to a club in Seoul in the Janghanpyeong area. This club was mainly for Ajusshi and Ahjuma (middle-aged Korean Men and Women). Before going here, I was hesitant whether this would be any fun, but the experience itself turned out to be a very entertaining and fun one! .