Andira Putri Chairuni
Hello everyone,
It’s been a year since I went to Seoul, South Korea for Binus Student Exchange Program in Fall Semester 2014. Why I am joining student exchange? It’s because I want to challenge myself out of my comfort zone. Living in another country with foreign language and foreign people sounds interesting to me. As for South Korea, well I am interested with the culture. I like to watch Korean dramas and listen to Korean music, so it kind of gives me a glimpse of what the country looks like.
I remember that I was quite nervous in the beginning because I was the first student in Communication major to join exchange program and also, the only one Communication student. Would I fit in? Could I live there? That kind of questions often popped up in my mind. However, I always kept this kind of thinking that I just go to college and study like usual, but it has a different setting. And it helps me a lot to relieve my worries.
I enjoyed staying in Seoul. It’s such a beautiful city. It has good atmosphere, so I like to take a walk and sight seeing. I also love how everything is organized there like for example, the public transportation. In Seoul, I continued my Communication study in Sungkyunkwan University. It’s a beautiful campus with all those hills and trees. I remembered when the fall season came, I like to see the leaf changed colors. The study period was exciting too because I took some new subjects that I have never learned before such as Popular Culture and Korean language. Speaking of Korean language, it was also one of the things that I like the most during my stay there. I found it fascinating to learn foreign language and practice it directly with other people.
Moreover, Korean people are nice and helpful from the university students to people on the street. If I didn’t understand something or didn’t know the direction, they would always find a way to help me. Interacting with various kinds of people was also another thing that I like the most from my student exchange period. Meeting with the locals helped me to understand more about Korean culture. Besides that, I also like to interact with other exchange students. Through them, I learned the culture and habit of different countries. Furhtermore, I also am excited to meet other Indonesian people. When you were so far away from your hometown and you met people from your hometown, it gave you the sense of familiarity. I have several close friends from Indonesia that I just met there. During our time there, we often traveled together and shared our problems. We’re still keeping in touch until now even though we’re not coming from same universities.
