2 months in South Korea
The scent of soju, yellowy dry winter days, kimchi flavour, 노레방 neon lights… South Korea hasn’t changed much since I first came here 2 years ago. Nothing has come to shock me, in the last 2 months I have effortless blended into the routines of an exchange student: compulsively planning the weekend ahead, keeping my liver busy and pretending life will never cease to be this way.
So with already enough ado, this is how things are around here.
The University
Ticking Yonsei University as my first choice couldn’t have been a better option. Not only is one of the 3 most prestigious universities, but in my opinion, it’s also the best in terms of location and student life. Still, nothing to be proud of as most Koreans see employers’ obsession for prestigiousness as the biggest burden to get a fair go in the over-qualified job market. Many around here “feel sorry” for their
Next stop: 한국
As you read this I’m on my way to my next port of call: Seoul, South Korea.
I will be spending almost 6 months in Seoul completing my last semester as an undergraduate on exchange at Yonsei University. In hindsight, 6 months packed with Korean language, society and history lessons, long nights warmed up with soju and new faces.
It’s a journey I have impatiently awaited since my first Korean lessons 2 years ago. If time allows, I will start posting my adventures, thoughts and experiences in this blog in the coming days. Stay tuned.
아자 아자 파이팅!!
Tinggal di Jakarta dan Bahasa Indonesia kelas
The idea of living in Jakarta had been dizzying since the day I found out I was coming to Indonesia. The “most populous city in Southeast Asia” is a title that evokes imagery of chaos, heat, people, polusi, humidity and more people.
It took me a couple of days to get my head around a map of Jakarta. Hint: most places are located along Sudirman Avenue, Central Jakarta’s main artery. Only a small portion of this colosal city, but probably the only expats like us will get to see.
It’s hard to understand how a city like Jakarta works -let alone how Jakartans survive it.- I like to think of cities as well-engineered urban planned environments. Trains and buses that fit around schedules, synchronised traffic mechanisms… Jakarta is nothing like that, is more like a living organism.
Food vendors sense your rumbling stomach before you. Macets (traffic jams) learn to unjam themselves. Ojeks (motorcycle taxis) spontaneously appear on any street corner if you are running late to offer their amazing space-time bending services.
Jakarta is also a culinary odyssey. Once I overcame my fixation for the words goreng, nasi, ayam and mie (fried, rice, chicken and noodles respectively) what was left was an endless array of padang delicacies. Jakarta days don’t go without finding a new dish in your palate. You are always spoilt with food.
Unless you live on or below the average Indonesian salary. Wealth disparity is one of the most striking things about Jakarta. On the streets, million-dollar cars drive past infant beggars. Well-off teenagers throw pompous birthday parties without even glancing at the five-year old girl outside selling tissue packages to pay for her meal.
Sebulan di Indonesia: 2 Weeks on the Move
I’ve been meaning to write this blogpost since the moment I set foot in Indonesia. Regrettably it’s been rather difficult to find spare time in my two weeks of travelling and the subsequent days exploring Jakarta, learning Bahasa Indonesia and immersing myself in the amazing program that ACICIS JPP has been so far.
Indonesia is a country of unimaginable beauty, of chaos mended with an innate dexterity, of vivid humanity and slow traffic, of polusi and delighting smells and of flaunty wealth foregrounded with extreme poverty. Whatever your expectations of Indonesia are, they will die out in a matter of days, this is a land of surprises and they all hit hard.
Here’s a quick recount of my whereabouts for the past 4 weeks.
