As part of our new blog series, we have compiled some testimonials from students about their experiences studying abroad and with the Global Mobility Office. The testimonials are sorted by region and cover a wide range of subjects, departments, and universities in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania.

Yonsei University – South Korea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Student: Elena 

Subject: Physics and Philosophy

Many Physics students spend a summer working in a lab, gaining research and work experience. Elena followed this path—however, her lab experience took her all the way to Korea, where she spent 7 weeks as a summer exchange student at Yonsei University. She felt applying to Yonsei would be a great opportunity to mix her desire to both study and work abroad, and during her time there, she took advantage of every opportunity Yonsei had on offer. Elena’s day would start with classes in computational mathematics, which were followed with an hour working in a lab researching medical physics, and then Korean classes.

Each part of her experience at Yonsei was enriching in its own right. Her morning classes let her dive deeper into different parts of Physics with expert professors, whilst the Korean classes offered a great opportunity to study a language in an intense, formal setting with real-world practice opportunities just outside. In her lab research, she was the only undergrad among 7 PhD students , providing her with many mentorship opportunities and a unique experience of high-level research that few other students have.

However, these courses only took up 4 days each week. In her spare time, Elena took advantage of Yonsei’s central location to explore all of Seoul, travelling with friends to old imperial palaces, amusement parks, local hiking routes, mountains, famous restaurants, and even booked weekend trips to other parts of Korea, such as Busan.  

 

Overall, Yonsei presented a highly rewarding and enjoyable experience for Elena—even if she does remark that it was, at times, quite intense. She highly recommends Yonsei to anyone curious about Korean culture, and studying  abroad as a way of gaining unique work, academic, and cultural experience in a place of interest for you.