Hel­lo, I’m Leon and I’m curr­ent­ly stu­dy­ing ap­pli­ed com­pu­ter sci­ence in the fourth se­mes­ter. This spring I had the uni­que op­por­tu­ni­ty to spend a se­mes­ter at Ajou Uni­ver­si­ty in Su­won, South Ko­rea. In Fe­bru­ary 2024, four other DHBW stu­dents and I went on an ex­ci­ting trip to Su­won, which is about 50 ki­lo­me­ters south of Seo­ul, the ca­pi­tal of South Ko­rea. When we ar­ri­ved at the uni­ver­si­ty, we were warm­ly wel­co­med by Ko­re­an stu­dents. They gave us va­luable tips for ever­y­day life in Ko­rea, hel­ped us check into the dor­mi­t­ory and gave us a com­pre­hen­si­ve tour of the campus.

Af­ter a week of on­boar­ding, our re­gu­lar class sche­du­le be­gan. Alt­hough the­re were some no­ta­ble dif­fe­ren­ces in tea­ching styl­es and tasks, we quick­ly ad­jus­ted to our new aca­de­mic en­vi­ron­ment and soon felt comfortable.

In ad­di­ti­on to our stu­dies, we had am­p­le op­por­tu­ni­ty to ex­plo­re the breath­ta­king land­scapes and vi­brant cul­tu­re of South Ko­rea. The con­trast bet­ween an­ci­ent temp­les and ul­tra-mo­dern sky­scra­pers was par­ti­cu­lar­ly fa­sci­na­ting. We of­ten ex­plo­red the­se sights not only alo­ne, but also in the com­pa­ny of new fri­ends – both ex­ch­an­ge stu­dents and lo­cal Ko­re­ans. Her gui­dance en­ab­led us to dis­co­ver les­ser-known sights that we might have other­wi­se overlooked.

As the se­mes­ter came to an end, I can con­fi­dent­ly say that this ex­pe­ri­ence was one of the high­lights of my aca­de­mic jour­ney. Not only have I gai­ned ex­ten­si­ve know­ledge, but I have also made fri­end­ships that I hope will last a life­time. This time ab­road broa­den­ed my ho­ri­zons and gave me inva­luable in­sights into a dif­fe­rent cul­tu­re and way of life that I will che­rish forever.