Mariia Ponomareva about her internship at Seoul National University

2nd year student of the master's program “Socio-economic and political development of modern Asia” Mariia Ponomareva talks about the exchange semester at Seoul National University, South Korea.

I studied Korean for 6 years and all this time I dreamed of visiting South Korea. My undergraduate major was Chinese, so I had previously gone to China for a language programme, but there was no opportunity to go to Korea.

I will start with organizational moments. I really hoped to go to Korea as part of my master's program, but due to the pandemic, it seemed almost impossible. There were no Korean universities on the international mobility web-page. However, the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics had signed inter-faculty agreements with several Korean universities. Under one of the agreements, I applied for an exchange program with Seoul National University (SNU), where the quota was limited to two students. The application process was simple and not that many documents were required.

The process of obtaining a visa and documents from the SNU was quick and clear. However, the host university did not guarantee accommodation in a dormitory, the right to live in a dorm could only be obtained through a lottery. Its results were announced quite late, plus if you don't get a place in the dorm, the university has no responsibility to help the students with alternative housing.

The demand for a place in the dorm was very high and as a result, I had to look for an apartment on my own. By this time, international sanctions against Russian banks had already been introduced, so I faced the problem of not being able to pay rent by bank transfer. Still I was very lucky and managed to find an apartment even before arriving in Seoul. Therefore I recommend thinking about housing a few months before the start of the semester.

Next, it is very important not to spend all your free time on entertainment, but also to find something that can bring you unique value and experience from your trip. In order to get the most out of my time in Korea, I found a way to significantly improve the quality of my dissertation. I managed to hold several meetings with the directors of Korean companies in the city of Pyeongtaek, near Seoul. I conducted three interviews, through which I received exclusive information for my dissertation on small and medium-sized businesses in South Korea.

Now let's move on to my impressions of the university, the city and the country as a whole. My impressions of the SNU campus are extremely positive! It takes an hour to go through the entire campus, so a free shuttle bus runs around the campus. On this vast territory there are buildings of all faculties, a 7-story library with an open roof garden, a museum with ancient artifacts, a museum of modern art, dance practice halls, etc. There are many cafes, restaurants, small shops 24/7 and canteens scattered throughout the territory. The most popular eatery is the one where you can eat for as little as 1,000 won (about 50 rubles).

I advise you to definitely visit the student club fair at the beginning of the semester, where you can meet students from other faculties, get a lot of souvenirs and join one of the clubs. For example, I signed up for a contemporary dance club. I had never danced in a group before, especially with a teacher, but it was amazing.

Regarding the learning process, all the teachers were very kind and prioritized the well-being of students. As a part of one course, we even had a trip to KDI (Korea Development Institute) and participated in a marathon in the demilitarized zone on the border with North Korea, where meals and transportation were fully covered by the university.

I already mentioned that I didn’t manage to get housing on campus, so I lived in Gangnam, the one that PSY sang about in his hit song. And so, in comparison to other areas of Seoul, Gangnam ended up being my favorite. Offices of large companies, high-end residential complexes and hotels, and successful and stylish residents of Gangnam inspired me a lot.

In addition, just taking the Seoul subway, you can get to the suburbs of Seoul. I highly recommend going to Pangyo to the south of Seoul. This place is striking in its novelty and it is even cleaner and more advanced than Gangnam. This is the newest tech city that was built for the offices of IT giants, and it doesn't take long to get there, so it's a very interesting non-touristy place.

Of course, when you go to study on an exchange, you want to travel around the country. Korea is a small country, so in your free time you can go to another city for 2-3 days. In order to save on accommodation and transportation, it is better to plan everything in advance, especially for tourist destinations such as Jeju and Busan. During the semester, I managed to visit Gangneung, Jeju, Gwangju, and Busan.