My year as an exchange student in Korea is over! I have learned a lot during the time I spent at Kyung Hee's GIP campus, and met so many great people during this year. Although I have spent a lot of my time in the GIP (perhaps too much time) studying by myself I have still been fortunate to make some great friends along the way, and I believe that the best thing about our school might be the chance to meet such talented and kind people from all over the world.

I am really thankful for all the experiences I have made at the school. There have been both good times and hard times, but all in all I believe that my stay in the GIP has helped me improve myself as a person and inspired me to pursuit a career where I also can be of inspiration to others. The knowledge I have gained at the GIP will definitely be used to the fullest so that I can become a better person in the future. Kyung Hee has taught me a lot about our society, and inspired me to work for global peace and prosperity through whatever path I might find myself walking on in the future.

Thanks to all of you who have been supporting me throughout this year! I really appreciate each one of you a lot :)

This blogpost is dedicated to my friend and roommate during the past semester, the intelligent and warm-hearted Nazzina from Bangladesh! Although the GIP has a general rule that foreigners should share room with Koreans I ended up loosing my Korean roommate due to some unfortunate complications with her undergraduate school, and in the end the office let me and Nazzina share room instead.

A fair trade pencil case from Bangladesh

Kyung Hee is actually quite well-known in the field of taekwondo, and their taekwondo union can boost of schools in various other countries such as for instance the US, Canada and Singapore. At the main campus in Seoul we even have a Taekwondo Department for those who really want to take this sport to the next level.

Our taekwondo-club

화이팅!

Practicing kicks with our taekwondo-teacher (사범님)

Here at the GIP all students are offered 2 classes of taekwondo per week free of charge, so it is a great opportunity for those interested in learning martial arts while staying at the campus. Our two taekwondo teachers are two brothers, and they take turns to teach here and at a taekwondo school in India every second semester. They are in charge of one of the local Kyung Hee Taekwondo schools, and we have also had the chance to visit their school to practice with their other students. The school even lends us the uniforms (dobok - 도복), so unless you want to buy your own there is really no expenditures involved in joining the club. Some of our students do however decide to take the black belt test, as this is offered at the end of each semester. The test costs 30.000, and is also arranged by Kyung Hee's Taekwondo Union. In order to be able to take this test the main thing you have to know is the 8 first poomsae (폼새 - taekwondo patterns composed of central taekwondo techniques). In general it is not that hard to pass the test, so it is a great opportunity for those who want to achieve the black belt within the 2 years of studying at Kyung Hee.

Practicing Poomsae

...And sparring

Hiya!

In my case I have had some previous experience with martial arts before, which really helped me achieve black belt last month. I practiced Shotokan karate for 5 years while I was living in Norway, but after I moved to Japan I haven't had the chance to practice any sports regularly.. Still, I ended up winning a prize for best poomsae at the black belt test in May.. Lucky!

Won a prize for best poomsae at the black belt test

My new black belt with my name in hangul

This week we had our last taekwondo class.. I'm gonna miss our practices, it has been really nice learning taekwondo at the GIP. There is not that much to do at the campus besides studying, so the taekwondo has really been one of the heights of my week for the last year. Next semester I'll be living in Tokyo, so we'll see what kind of sport I end up doing.!

The last taekwondo practice we ended the day with a cake :)

Anyway, the GIP offers classes in taekwondo on Mondays and Wednesdays, and kendo-classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to participate in the kendo-classes, but they are also quite popular. Apparently the kendo-classes are easier than the taekwondo-classes, so it might be a good alternative for those who don't want to memorize the poomsae.

If you plan to study at the GIP I definitively recommend joining the taekwondo or kendo club! ^^

Taekwondo-friends^^

Other blog posts about taekwondo:
Muju Taekwondowon Promotion Tour

All my posts about Kyung Hee

The GIP peace dove

A little while ago all the GIP students participated in the annually Homecoming Day at school for both current and graduated GIP students. This year the event was held in the main campus in Seoul, where we had an evening of speeches, entertainment and good food.

Ace, the GIP sing-star performing a ballade:)

All of the students (except for the forth semester batch) had to take part in planning for an making the entertainment. However, eventually the speeches of the professors took longer time than planned for, and we had to cut down on the entertainment section with a couple of numbers.

Our youngest batch performing quite a show using cups!

In my batch we ended up with just 2 individual performances. Tanya played the traditional Korean flute, and I participated with a short dance. When I was in high school I was enrolled in a school where we had dance as a part of the curriculum, and back then I was dancing almost every day. It has been many years since I danced regularly though!! This one is just a mix that I created by using some of my old dances^^


The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the delicious buffet, and not to mention 1 1/2 hours of metro and bus to get back to the GIP campus. The trip back to the GIP is always so long and tiring.. Oh well, 어쩔 수 없어..

Anyway, as always, thank you for taking your time to read my blog:) I hope you enjoy the pictures and the short video! (^_^)／

All my posts about Kyung Hee

In Korea May 15th represent the day of the teacher (스승의 날), and here at school we have also been introduced to this tradition through our Korean classmates who have been preparing for the event. But since we don't have classes with all our teachers on the 15th we are celebrating the event on different days this week. So today we surprised our professor with a cake and a song. Quite cute! I think it is the first time ever that I have participated in surprising my teacher like that. We often tend to take our teachers for granted in Western countries... Considering all the time and effort teachers put into the development of their students I think that teachers deserve more respect than they often get. This tradition would have been nice to have in my own country as well(^_^)..! Happy teacher's day!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the cherry blossom season has finally come to KyungHee's main campus in Seoul.

This is the main statue on campus, a symbol of the GIP

Here in the GIP it took another week until the sakura started blooming, but nonetheless we were blessed with beautiful flowers all over our campus. My friend Tanya and I went up to the roof of the main building, and got some nice pictures I thought I could share with those of you who are interested in seeing how our campus looks like in spring. Please enjoy ;)

Some fellow students coming out of the GIP dorm

The GIP library to the left

Tanya and the GIP statue

You know you've been too long in Korea when you start making this pose ;P

A couple of GIPan friends

View from one of our classrooms

The peace dove of GIP

The peace dove again..!

All my posts about Kyung Hee

It seems that spring finally has reached Seoul, and the sakura has started blooming all over Seoul. The Kyunghee Campus in Seoul must be one of the best places for pretty pictures of sakura, as the campus is full of them. Yesterday I took the trip to Seoul with some of my friends from GIP, and we stopped by Kyunghee and also the amusement park Lotte World to enjoy the nice weather take pictures.

KyungHee: Towards Global Eminence

The KyungHee campus in Seoul is probably one of the most beautiful places in Seoul with its old European architecture that looks like it has been taken out of the Harry Potter universe or something. I have been here a couple of times already, but seeing all the blooming sakura (cherry blossom) makes the whole place even more amazing than usual! I went there with my friend Tanya who really loves to take photos, and so we spent quite a lot of time just walking around taking pictures.

Did you know that it is possible to go up to the roof of one of the buildings to the left of the main building? I don't remember the name of the building, but considering all the people who goes there it shouldn't be hard to find. You just take the elevator to the sixth floor (unless you prefer to walk of course), and from there you take the first turn to the left where there is a staircase going up to the roof. From this place you have a perfect view of the campus, which you can see in a couple of the pictures below.

Overview of Kyunghee's main campus with the beautiful sakura in full bloom

Tanya's best shot of the day. I really like this picture^^

Just enjoying the beautiful flowers!

The main campus has really beautiful architecture, which you can see in the background.

The main building.. So popular.. Haha..

너무 예쁘다~^^

Kyunghee campus + sakura = 最高.

On the roof

After having roamed around campus for a couple of hours we went south to Jamshil where there also were supposed to be some good spots for sakura.
The area around Lotte World is especially a nice spot for pictures, but the amusement park seemed rather small and perhaps more suitable for families with kids. Not that I can say for certain, as four of us decided to go back to the GIP instead of checking out the park..

A temple-style building inside Lotte World

Group picture!

Other blogposts:
South Korea
Seoul
Kyung Hee University
                                 
Hotels in South Korea

These days I'm pretty much stuck in my room preparing for my comprehensive exam (only 3 weeks to go now!! ><). So I haven't really had that much time to do anything besides studying lately..

Instead I've decided to share some questions I received about the DMDP (Double Master Degree Program) program from a possible future participator of the program:)

As some of you might now, Ritsumeikan is giving the opportunity for students to take two master degrees in two years through the exchange programs they have with other schools. The countries you can choose from are Korea, Spain, America, England and the Netherlands.
My choice eventually fell upon the Korean school Kyunghee, and I'm now in my second (and last) semester here.

Anyway, here are the questions about Kyunghee and the DMDP program:

1. As a DMDP student you have to do two theses. What is the work load like? What is the expected length of one thesis? (It seems this always varies from school to school I've seen from 10,000-40,000 words)

• The thesis for Ritsumeikan is up to 20,000 words. It is possible to make it a little bit longer too, but then you need to apply for it. For KyungHee the requirement is around 65 pages.

2. Do you have access to the academic materials you need or do you find it lacking?

• For KyungHee you get the books used in the classes you have registered for (including auditing) for free. They have a library here, but for a wider selection of books you better utilize the main campus library instead, as the number of books here isn't that great.

3. Is there readily available internet access in your room, or is it limited to public areas? (I like to use Skype in private with my family and friends)

• We have internet here, both in the rooms and on campus in general. In the rooms we use normal cables, but you can get free wifi for the rest of the campus through registering online with your student id.

4. I heard the accommodation fee is 3,000,000 won. What other additional fees did you have to pay?

• There is a minor student body council fee of 30.000 won which covers student activities, but that is it. (Unless you miss more than 3 morning meditations, that is..)

5.Are you satisfied with the quality of the instruction?

• I'm generally quite satisfied. We had some problems with one of the classes last semester due to some problems with the professor, but a lot of the students complained about it so hopefully the administration will improve the situation for the upcoming fall semester. Besides that I think the school offer interesting classes, and in general I think the standard of the classes is good as well.

6.Do you have any advice about the program?

• Start preparing early! In order to graduate Kyunghee's program you'll have to pass a comprehensive exam which is supposed to be quite hard (I'll be taking it in April). Normally students take this exam during their second semester, but as a DMDP student you have to take it during the second semester. There are two exams spanding over two days; one for required courses and one for major courses. You have to take 3 major classes to be eligible for the exam, but only two of the subjects actually are included in the test.. 
• Also, you should be aware that Kyunghee is a bit conservative regarding rules; as I mentioned in my blog you have to pay a punishment fee if you fail to participate in 3 morning meditations.

My first week as a second semester student here at the GIP campus is over, and I have decided to write a short introduction of the Samjeongseoheon dorm where all students are obliged to stay during at least three of their semesters for the master degree programs the school has to offer.

Our Samjeongseoheon Dorm

Entrance to the dorm

The building is situated right behind the gym, and is a rather large 3-floor building with enough space for more than 50 students. Despite this the limit of students accepted to the school is rather small: they only accept approximately 10 students each semester so the total number of students here is around 40.

The dorm entrance

An old poster written with both hanja and hangul by the entrance

One of the common rooms in the building

While all the guy's rooms are on the first floor, girls rooms are on the second, and every student have to share a room with another student (with the exception of the student GDs and the President of the Student Council). Foreigners usually have to share room with a Korean student in order to better adapt to the Korean society. Unfortunately my Korean roommate had an urgent problem to attend to which forced her to delay her entrance to the GIP, so for a while I was quite uncertain of how things would turn out in regards to rooms this semester. But in the end I was very fortunate, as the office accepted the proposal of letting me share room with my Bangladeshi batch-mate Nazzina.
So this shows that there are exceptions to this rule, although I think this situation was a bit extraordinary.

My bedroom for the semester

Other facilities includes a large cafeteria in the basement, where we get three free meals a day. Breakfast usually consist of Western food such as bread, bacon, cornflakes etc etc, while the other two meals tend to be Korean style food. And the quality of the food is impressively good, especially considering that full-time students get the food here for free. Of course, if you have problems with spicy food that kind of limits your range of choice as there usually are quite a selection of just that... But in general there is always something edible on the menu.

Choosing lunch

Lunch time!

The school has also done some investments in our bathrooms during the vacation, and we now have a complete set of new toilets. The shower-room is also really nice, and probably relatively new too. Although we don't have any equipment besides a microwave (which we also got after this vacation) and a refrigerator I think we have all the necessary things to lead a rather comfortable life here.

We have gotten new toilets and sinks during the holiday, so the bathroom looks very nice.

Changing room for the showers

Shower room

Laundry room

Of course, the biggest disadvantages of living here are:
1. Distance to civilization (1 1/2 hour to Seoul by bus)
2. Mandatory morning meditation every weekday at 7 am
...But if you can survive those two factors you can basically lead a rather good life at the GIP. ^^


Address to the dorm:
Samjeongseoheon Dormitory
195 Gwangneun Sumokwon-ro
Jinjeob-eup
Namyangju-shi
Gyeonggi-do 472-464
Korea

All my posts about Kyung Hee