Welcome,First time in Korea?

Did you see my reference there? eh eh eh No? Nevermind. 

Anyways Korea, Seoul area in specific, has ALOT of food options anything from traditional Korean food to food from Nigeria. The following is food i REALLY and I mean really liked because I ate it quite frequently. Real note: I MISS THE FOOD SOOOO BAD!! 

If you are travelling to Korea or even studying there the following words are good ones to at least have in your vocabulary.  These are the basics-nothing too hard because aint nobody got time for that-

Thank you:  감사합니다        sorry: 죄송합니다     10,000 won{$10 usd}: 만원

bathroom: 화장실                 this thing: 이거

please: 주세요                       more:또

water:물                                exit: 출구

here:여기                          teacher: 선생님

If you need more words or just want to translate sentences a good source is naver translate. 

Yes you read that right -FREE-. 

During the month of May, a lot of Korean universities have festivals and have idols come and perform. 

To attend the concerts is very simple: Just find out what school has what artist

The information can easily be found online. 

During my time in South Korea, I saw DAY6,WINNER,BLACKPINK,BEWHY,ZION T, PSY, IU. For FREE may I add again. 

Just find out what school has what artist and go early to have front row seats. 

HOWEVER if you want to attend concerts held by YONSEI,SEOUL or KOREA university, they will charge you for a ticket and tickets will range in price. -THESE ARE VERY HARD TO OBTAIN AS WELL-

Since I was at Yonsei University, the video below I made has more information on how to obtain a ticket and how the concerts usually work if you are an international student at Yonsei. 

Im bad at updating this, jesus. im in my last month of study abroad( ends on June 22nd 2017) so when I am back in the U.S I will update more often about information with pictures and as well as more videos on my youtube channel. 

Now South Korea’s weather: in feb its cold, VERY cold if you are from southern cali, if you are from a state or place that snows Korea’s cold weather will be nothing to you. 

Spring/Summer: 

Ya’ll spring is only two weeks in Korea because after that its hot,humid and it rains. 

So here is my recommendation if you come to Korea and study abroad during Spring semester:

If you arrive in Feb in Korea it will be cold but don’t bring a whole bunch of winter clothes and no summer clothes. Bring few winter clothes and more summer clothes BUT do bring pants and proper shoes for when its cold. 

Did I mention it’s HUMID? Yes humid and it may rain here so do bring light clothes with you for the months between late April to June. 

“I only brought winter clothes, what should I do?” if you are small in size, you can most likely find clothes that fit you Korea. 

If you are not small, small as in frame and not below say a size 5 even, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING THAT WILL FIT YOU(properly that is...)

I'm officaially in korea and have been here for around a week and a half and let me tell you I went to hell and back with my bank after doing a wire transfer.

I have chase bank, and if you also have chase bank prepare for the hell of a ride to try and get help.

Now in korea I don't have a working phone because all my phones(yes phones I have two old ones I use as cameras) were locked. So I have no phone service and rely on Wi-Fi.

Now I was in communication with chase about my wire transfer two days before I did the actually wire transfer via secure messaging. They knew I was doing it right, well WRONG.

The day after I had but in the wire transfer to my bank account in Korea, I was no longer allowed to access my account and my funds were not transferred anywhere until I unsuspended my access to my own bank account.

I had no phone and couldn't call because of it so I contacted chase via my twitter and spoke via twitter dm. They insisted on me being on a phone, even though I said multiple times that I did not have one. They were no help.

I had to get a relative of mine to physically go to a chase location and have me on Facebook video call to solve my bank issue.

Luckily my dorm room at Yonsei University has phones that can receive calls from the outside. I was put on a three way call And that's how I ended up solving my bank issue and having my money transferred to my bank in Korea.

How many people does it take to unsuspend an account via Korea: 4 people.

You are probably thinking : "You could have just put a travel alert on your card."

I called two weeks before I left to put a travel alert on my card, I was told they couldn't put one for South Korea. I also tried to put an alert via computer but again I was not allowed to.

Conclusion: Try to bring an unlocked phone and get a sim card to make calls incase Chase or your own bank pulls B.S like this.

So you are planning of going/applying but here’s the huge question: How are you going to pay for said trip?

This is my situation: I have a part time job and make a bit above minimum wage since i got a raise. I have one working parent and he makes less than I do per hour hence he doesn’t pay for my college education. I have financial aid and my job that i depend on.

Sooooooooo How am i paying for study abroad? (Good question)

I saved money from my part time job about 100 dollars of each paycheck i received was put away towards my funds.

Since i live at home and i get a refund check from my school, a portion of it was also put away towards my trip.

I also saved EVERY PENNY from my summer job i had in the summer of 2016. (Warehouse work is humbling)

I also received two scholarships that i got (surprisingly). One through my school’s study abroad office and another from the UCEAP department itself.

I also took out 2 loans and those were ones with out interest.

“But…but… I’m not in the same situation as you” I get you. The only thing i can give you is tips on how to aquire enough funds.

When I was first applying to my program, I was applying kind of late into the school year and so this was my experience and what happened when applying. 

At my university I had to provide the following when applying to the program:

-passport: roughly around $190ish in the U.S, must bring photo with you and that can be taken at your local Walgreens or other places with those services($12-15 for 2-3 pictures)

-actual application through my university:included an essay + other paper work

-transcripts

-letter of recommendation

These are some of the things but it may vary by school and what they may want. My program is through my school and not through another organization. 

If one goes to a UC school in California like myself, the program you are doing is UCEAP and if you are not in UCEAP then you are in an OAP program.

Problems that you may run into: 

I never had a passport prior to this so I had to go apply for one. 

I got one eventually but if you are not from the city you are applying from and you only have a half sheet birth certificate and not a long version you may be in trouble because when I applied, they no longer accepted the half sheet. It may be different again from where you are and what rules they have placed there. 

Hello there! You may have found my blog because you are going to Korea to study abroad and may want to know more, Congrats! Or you are thinking about going abroad,(GOOD THINKING)!

Are you a first generation student? Low income background? In a minority? 

Well I got you covered. 

About Me: 

My name is Kaina and come from a family of five and a parent who makes around 34,000 per year.(edit for 2016 said parent made 26,000). I am lower middle class. I’m also Hispanic and am the oldest out of three girls. 

I’m a third year in college(this is 2017 writing) and my program is studying abroad at Yonsei University for a semester. 

If you have questions about my program, ASK AWAY! There are no stupid questions!!