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Hey guys, for those of you who plan to visit Korea or already in Korea for your studies or exchange program, here’s a great tip to stay connected with your friends. (AND avoid wasting your time and energy on Korea’s complicated cell phone registration requirements for foreigners!)
http://www.ktexpatblog.com/?page_id=32
Above is KT’s website (in ENGLISH), Korea’s largest cell phone provider. Use the link above and have a look under the ‘Prepaid Rate Plans’ section. Basically it’s a prepaid SIM card plan, and you can choose the amount of credit to be loaded to your phone starting from 3,000KRW to maximum 50,000KRW. (They even let you talk for 100 minutes FREE if the person you’re calling is using KT) AND most importantly… there are NO ENROLMMENT FEES, NO CANCELLATION FEES AND NO MANDATORY REGISTRATION!! Oooh yes. Saves you so much hassle. 
Visit your nearest KT store, (There are literally hundreds of them on the streets…Even if you’re not in Seoul…you’ll find it!) and ask for ‘KT SIMple SIM card’. Guys there will set up your phone in less than 5 minutes. Plus, the card is free if you top up more than 10,000KRW for the first time. 
Hopefully this helps you guys settling down in Korea. Enjoy your stay!!

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 :)

Today was my last day in Korea, and while taking the 3 hour long trip from my campus to the center of Seoul I was thinking that there could impossibly be anything worth experiencing on this trip that I have gone through so many times. But I couldn't have been more mistaken. When I got onto the blue line at Hoegi station I quickly realized that the interior looked quite different from what I had seen before in Korea. The usual row of seats had been placed, and instead there were a section where travelers could get a medical checkup and health advices from a doctor.

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 end of the semester is drawing near, and things have become pretty busy lately. However, as this is my last semester in Korea I decided to join my Indonesian friend Maya for a short daytrip to Seoul this week to get a bit of a changed in my environment from the usual days at school.

We had decided to go to a place called Naksan park, and ironically this park can be found in the Hyehwa area where I also stayed during my first weeks in Korea. It was strange to be back there again!

Anyway, Naksan is in fact also the name of the mountain where the park is situated (the -san comes of course from the Chinese character 山), and the Nak-part is apparently abbreviated from the Korean word for camel (nakta - 낙타). I guess the mountain might resemble the hump of a camel..?

The park is famous for its street-art, and I have added some of the pictures we took there!

Street-art: A man walking his dog

View from the top of the Naksan Park/Mountain

View from the top of the Naksan Park/Mountain

A pavilion on Mt. Naksan

Street-art: A korean (?) boy playing with toys and an African boy carrying stones. I really like the societal critic in this one..

Street-art: Maya posing in front of an imaginary city

Street-art: Discover your secret angel wings at Naksan.. :p

Street-art: A painting man

Street-art: Thumb's up!

Street-art: Flower stairs

Construction work and street-art

Street-art: 안녕!

Street-art: shhh..

Street-art: A cute frog

Street-art: puppies! <3

Street-art that utilize some electric boxes

Street-art: dog in the window

Street-art: 이제 정말 만나야 할때!

Creative street-art..!

Street-art: A guy painting a rainbow.. Love Maya's expression :p

colorful street-art

Street-art: Mother and child

Street-art: More colors!!

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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

Although most of the Korean citizens have a Christian background they still celebrate Buddha's birthday (부처님 오신 날) as a national holiday. This day is actually a big event in Korea, and temples all over the country has been decorated for the occasion. This year the celebration was held on the 17th May, which also happens to be Norway's Constitutional Day.

Celebrating Buddha's birthday at Bongsunsa Temple

The closest neighbor to our GIP-campus is the Buddhist temple Bongsunsa, and today it seems like a lot of visitors are taking the trip here to celebrate Buddha's birthday. As the temple is the head temple of the Jogye order it does attract quite a number of visitors regularly, and today they even had to utilize our campus to get enough parking space. Living in the middle of the forest it is kind of interesting having so many people taking the trip out here to visit our dear neighbor.. ^^

Anyway, it was quite nice to have this small celebration today as my family members and friends are celebrating Norway's constitutional day back home. Last year I celebrated the constitutional day at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo, but since I left my bunad (Norwegian folk costume) in Japan I don't really had the chance to dress up for the national day this year.

Buddha-paintings for sale outside the Bongsunsa temple

Candles

A family enjoying the show at the temple

One of the main temple buildings

Bongsunsa's monks parading

The temple and the forest

One of the statues in the temple

Lanterns

Pretty Buddha statues in the background

Soo many colorful lanterns..

Lanterns and the main temple building

Buddha

The main temple and lanterns