Korea Year Abroad

This is one of the things that stressed me out the most about coming to Yonsei. In my home university, I studied to around TOPIK level 4 before coming to Korea but I was super nervous since I didn't know how the test would go and where they would put me.

If you put your Korean level as none, then you don't have to take the placement test and will immediately be put in level 1. If you don't, then you'll have to take the placement test if you intend to take Korean classes in KLI.

Everyone gets split into a bunch of classrooms to take the test. It's two parts: a written test and a short speaking test. The written test is a packet, composed of mainly multiple choice questions, that get harder and harder as they go on. There's no obligation to try and answer all of the questions and once you get to ones that you think you definitely can't answer, you can just stop there and hand in the paper. At the end of the packet there's an essay question you can answer, if you understand the prompt and feel comfortable with it. But again, you're not obligated to. The speaking test only takes a few minutes and is very relaxed. You go into a separate room with a teacher who asks you a few questions about yourself and what you know. For me, she just started asking about my name and where I was from, and then we moved on to slightly more complicated questions, a few of them asking if I'd studied certain grammar and if I could use it in sentences. I was really nervous about this part but it was much more relaxed and low-stress than I thought it would be.

A few days after you take the placement test, you find out your level and classroom assignment on the KLI website, and then about an hour or two later there's the KLI orientation. When classes start on the Monday after, you just make your way to your classroom and the teachers will explain how your class will work, the semester schedule, and some other things.

Honestly, I was a little embarrassed at first, but I got placed in level 3 following my placement test. I showed up in my classroom on the first day and I was just going to play it by ear because I wasn't entirely sure if it was an accurate placement or not. After the first day, I realized I already knew pretty much all of the grammar and vocab and definitely just messed up my test because I was stressed (lol), so I explained my situation to my teacher and asked if I could move up a level. Originally, they told me I would have to talk to the office but when I came to class the next day, they just moved me up into a level 4 classroom. I think sometimes they might make you talk to a couple of teacher and check if you can move up or not. But it was pretty smooth for me, luckily.

I'm so sorry for the late reply! I didn't think people would actually see this blog haha

I think the first thing to look into would be any scholarships or potential financial aid you could get, either from your country or Yonsei. I'm not super familiar with Yonsei financial things, since I currently pay (reduced) tuition to my home university for my year abroad here, but it's worth checking out their website. I know some people got support from the government/our home university to pay for some things like the flight over and tuition. I also know of some classmates who went to different universities in Korea on exchange that gave them free accommodation so that's definitely worth looking into!

As for not knowing Korea, I wouldn't worry too much about it! There's lots of places with English-speaking workers (or bare minimum enough English to make it through interactions) and I have lots of friends here who don't know any Korean who have been having a pretty fun time still. In fact, most of the time they'll default to speaking English if they can tell you're a foreigner. Most people also take language classes with the university and you would be surprised how much you can learn, even in a single semester! So I don't think there would be too many problems regarding that.

No one will judge you here for your financial background, I think. Everyone comes from so many different places with so many different backgrounds and are just excited to experience life. Honestly, I've found convenience store food a lot cheaper than I expected (but maybe that's just because food prices are kind of insane in the UK these days). I'm not entirely sure what your question is asking but I hope this helps, even a little.

You shouldn't feel ashamed at all! None of this is your fault and doesn't affect how incredible you are as a person and how smart you are/how hard you work. You deserve to experience good things and enjoy your university experience regardless of your background. It's natural to want to explore and chase after the things you enjoy! Don't feel bad for it at all.