Hel­lo, my name is Lu­kas and I am a fourth-se­mes­ter ap­pli­ed com­pu­ter sci­ence stu­dent. Over the past four months, I had the uni­que op­por­tu­ni­ty to spend a se­mes­ter ab­road at Chung-Ang Uni­ver­si­ty in Seo­ul, the ca­pi­tal of South Korea. 

My jour­ney be­gan in Fe­bru­ary 2024. Thanks to an ac­ti­vi­ty-fil­led ori­en­ta­ti­on week, which in­cluded an of­fi­ci­al wel­co­me by the host uni­ver­si­ty, it was very easy for me to meet many new in­ter­na­tio­nal and na­tio­nal stu­dents. Du­ring this time, I was also able to gather my first im­pres­si­ons of the me­tro­po­lis whe­re I would be li­ving for the next four months.

The of­fi­ci­al start of the se­mes­ter was on March 4, 2024, and with it, my first lec­tures be­gan. The­se were ex­tre­me­ly in­te­res­t­ing and en­ri­ching. Bes­i­des stu­dy­ing, the­re was also ple­nty of time to ex­pe­ri­ence the life, cul­tu­re, and coun­try of South Korea. 

The di­ver­si­ty and dy­na­mism of Seo­ul fa­sci­na­ted me from the very be­gin­ning. Whe­ther mo­dern sky­scra­pers or tra­di­tio­nal pa­laces, the city of­fers a uni­que blend of old and new. Each dis­trict of Seo­ul has its own charm and cha­rac­ter, from the count­less ca­fes and bou­ti­ques in Hong­dae to the his­to­ri­cal sites in Ins­adong. Ho­we­ver, I par­ti­cu­lar­ly fondly re­mem­ber the evenings by the Han Ri­ver, whe­re I could ad­mi­re the ci­ty­’s sky­line with friends. 

Aca­de­mi­cal­ly, the se­mes­ter ab­road brought me a lot. The cour­ses at Chung-Ang Uni­ver­si­ty were de­man­ding but very in­te­res­t­ing. The ex­ch­an­ge with the pro­fes­sors and the op­por­tu­ni­ties to work on pro­jects with my in­ter­na­tio­nal fel­low stu­dents were in­spi­ring and a lot of fun. The op­por­tu­ni­ty to stu­dy in an in­ter­na­tio­nal en­vi­ron­ment not only deepe­ned my pro­fes­sio­nal skills but also streng­the­ned my in­ter­cul­tu­ral competencies. 

Over­all, my se­mes­ter ab­road in Seo­ul was an unfor­gettable ex­pe­ri­ence that I can only re­com­mend to ever­yo­ne. The com­bi­na­ti­on of stu­dy­ing and cul­tu­ral dis­co­veries made my se­mes­ter ab­road a high­light of my stu­dies. I am gra­teful for the count­less me­mo­ries and fri­end­ships I was able to for­ge du­ring this time. 

I look for­ward to per­haps re­tur­ning to South Ko­rea in the fu­ture to ex­plo­re more facets of this fa­sci­na­ting country.