FUTURISTIC GROOVES

Annyong haseyo! Where can I start? Cause so much happened during the first official week at school. The courses I had chosen didn’t disappoint me at all, they all met or even exceeded my expectations. Although Korean language is really demanding since it is everyday and I lack any linguistic talent. Alright, enough about the academic part of my stay here!

The last couple of days and next week is all booked with random and kick-off parties. The kick-off are organised on behalf of the Yonsei Graduate School for International Studies (GSIS) which runs several programmes.

One of the benefits as Yonsei exchange student is that you can take graduate courses in all different programmes including the MBA programme. As I am taking courses in three different programmes I hung out this week with future diplomats, politician and business leaders of both the international management programme (IMP) and programme for international cooperation (PIC). Next week I will hang out with future finance geeks of the international trade and finance (ITF) programme. The aim of these kick-off parties is to get to know your fellow classmates and professors in an informal way.

The people at the GSIS are all very international orientated, from a wide variety of countries including many Koreans! Because the majority of people in my classes are Korean I got a nice jumble of people around me at the moment. Plenty of Koreans and many other nationalities and I am still meeting new people everyday. Yah! BTW I just came back from M2 which is a European style (progressive house music) nightclub! I had a blast and apparently there were many famous Korean models and actresses. lol

Last Wednesday I went to Korea - Taiwan, they were playing qualifications for the Asian Cup which is similar to the qualifications for the European Championship. It was awesome to be at the stadium, although for next time I have to learn the songs by heart. BTW Korea won easily with 8-0. See the videos below!

This week I also met my Korean mentor, as exchange student you can sign up for a buddy (mentor). It’s a similar system as at ISN-Amsterdam the Netherlands. The privileges of being a mentor is that you get invited to all the interesting parties in town and the exchange student is given the opportunity to mingle with the locals.

Is there more in store? Yup, but I can’t tell you the big news right now since it is not official yet but hopefully I can inform you next week!