Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Process: A Hop, Skip, and a Jump

So I'm still here....

And I don't leave for another month....... *sigh*

But that doesn't mean I haven't been super busy getting everything ready for my trip! In fact, I thought I'd spend some time talking about the process leading up to going abroad. I feel like it's a subject most people leave out (cause its kinda boring), but everyone always has questions or problems with it. So here's how it went for me.....

First off I want to say your academic advisor and your study abroad advisor are going to be your best friends and greatest assets. So always be extra nice! Students don't always realize the immense amount of time, paperwork, and effort each study abroad requires behind the scenes. Also, most of the time, your assigned advisor is handling several different students all at once so be patient if they don't respond right away to your "emergency" that is most likely due to your poor planning.

As an International Business major, the timeline of the study abroad application process runs from April till your departure early the following year. In April, 2015, I completed the placement application with the IB department, which included researching potential partner schools and ranking 10 of them according to my preference. There were a few essay questions to answer on each of my top 4 schools. My top choice was Yonsei University, in Seoul, while all my other top choices were in China. A committee within the IB department then goes through all the applications and places all the IB students accordingly. The placement notification letters are sent out in early August and I was super lucky to get my top choice! (probs cause nobody really applied for Yonsei, but whatever, shhh)

The next step for me was to renew my passport, since my old one had expired. If you are applying for a passport expect it to take at least 6-8 weeks. And make your appointment with the post office WAY in advance. The post office requires you to present several documents such as two forms of identification, a passport photo, the fee, and the application which must be signed at the appointment (not beforehand). These appointment slots can fill up quickly, so do try to plan accordingly. I also needed to get my passport done really early because I needed it to apply to Yonsei.

In September I met with my academic advisor to discuss the course possibilities to look for while abroad and ensure I was in line to graduate on time. I researched potential classes on Yonsei's website and turned in the other few documents required by the Study Abroad Office. These few documents are extremely important because without them, the SAO cannot send in their nomination for me to Yonsei.

Now comes the fun stuff.....dealing with Yonsei University. I have discovered that Yonsei will only send out what it expects you to do and the information it believes to be sufficient. If you have any problems or questions its up to you to figure them out, with very minor guidance from Yonsei. They definitely have a "you're on your own" mentality. If I do need any help I try to email them a very specific question and have grown to always expect a vague referral type response. I learned very quickly to always be overly prepared and early for everything, just in case anything goes wrong. In October, I applied to Yonsei officially which meant completing their extensive online application and submitting hardcopies of my official transcript and copies of my passport page to the SAO to be mailed to Yonsei directly. The Monday before Thanksgiving, I was emailed by Yonsei saying they had not yet received my documents and if they weren't received by the end of the week my application would be cancelled. Now given the 14 hour time difference, they're business hours and our business hours are completely opposite. So luckily I happened to be awake at 2am when they emailed me. I responded saying the next morning I would contact my advisor. Thankfully a few days later my documents arrived and it turned out they had just been held up in customs longer than expected. This would be my first Yonsei induced heart attack. And probably not my last. A month later, in early December, I received my admission packet in the mail from Yonsei and everything became official!

The next major step was applying for housing. Yonsei offers two on-campus dorms for international students: the SK Global House and the International House. In mid-December I made an account on the housing website and then did some research on the dorms. Yonsei's email had included the time period when registration for housing was open. From my research, I found out housing was very competitive and that I should apply right when the registration opened up. With the 14 hour time difference, that meant logging on at 8pm on a Tuesday while on a family outing to fill out my form. I chose the SK Global House for various reasons and chose a double room which means I will have a roommate! There is supposedly construction going on around the building so I will let you know how that is. Otherwise the dorm looked very nice and will probably give me flashbacks to freshman year in the dorms at USC. The first notification date was December 30th and all was quiet which meant I hadn't been given housing that first time around. Then on January 11th the second wave of notifications went out and I received my email at like 4am. Needless to say I was extremely relieved since I honestly have no clue how I would've gone about successfully finding off-campus housing in Seoul. In the housing email, Yonsei informed me the housing payment was due on January 20th, giving me only 6 business days (taking into account for the time difference) to figure out how to wire my housing payment to Yonsei's bank in Korea. I immediately went into my own bank and sat down with them to discuss making the transfer. Now my personal bank in Charleston is a small local bank and they needed an excessive amount of extra information to make the transfer. So of course I emailed Yonsei inquiring about this extra information. In fine Yonsei fashion, they responded saying they had received similar questions, since the USA has stricter regulations on banks, but the initial information I had been given was plenty enough to make the transfer in more than 50 other countries. In other words, I should just figure it out on my own. Thankfully I have a family friend who is very experienced in international banking and wire transfers. He was so knowledgeable and a tremendous help to me in making the wire transfer to Korea through his bank. I am glad to say my payment was received and confirmed nearly 2 business days ahead of the deadline! The lesson I learned is to definitely make international money transfers through a larger, more well-known bank in the future. And lastly to be registered as an official student I had to upload proof of coverage by an international health insurance plan. The study abroad office requires all its students to buy a plan through CISI which met all the requirements of Yonsei as well.

The last step (for now) was applying for my student visa! I applied for a Student D-2 visa to South Korea with multiple entries. I gathered all the required documents which were; my passport, a passport photo, a bank statement showing financial capability, an official transcript, my documents from Yonsei (they were included in my admission packet), the standard application form, the visa fee, and a pre-paid, self addressed return USPS envelope. The South Korean Consulate in Atlanta thankfully doesn't require D-2 applicants to come in person when applying, but some consulates do, so make sure you check in advance. I had expected the entire process to take roughly a month; a couple weeks to gather all my required documents and a couple weeks for the Korean Consulate to process my visa. Surprisingly I got my visa back in the mail exactly a week after I sent it at the post office! So needless to say I'm super impressed with the South Korean Consulate and their timeliness.

So at this point I can finally now say I am an official student at Yonsei, I have on-campus housing, and I have my passport and student visa.

All I have left to do is figure out my class schedule at Yonsei, make my travel plans, and pack.

Only 1 more month!!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Let's get started!

Hey y'all! 你好!
This is my first official blog post! The IB department asked me to represent them and keep a blog while I'm studying abroad this spring semester in Seoul, South Korea at Yonsei University. Turns out I had already planned to write a blog  while abroad which is perfect because now I have someone to keep me accountable with posting. First off I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I am born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm a junior International Business and Management major and a Chinese Studies minor at the University of South Carolina (aka the real USC). I love reading, being outdoors, exercising, volunteering, and trying new foods and activities. I also absolutely love traveling and experiencing new things like hiking and sight-seeing. This is actually not my first rodeo when it comes to studying abroad. Back in my sophomore year of high school I participated in a Rotary Youth Exchange Program, where I studied abroad full immersion style for a year in Fribourg, Switzerland. Its been almost 5 years since then, hence I am more than ready and excited to tackle my new study abroad adventure in Seoul!
A lot of people ask why I wanted to go to Seoul, South Korea, especially if I'm a Chinese minor. (Why not go to China right?) Honestly, my original plan was to go to China, but in April during the IB application process of choosing potential schools I discovered Yonsei University. As I did more research, I felt this magnetic pull towards the school and city. I wasn't sure how competitive selection would be for certain schools, so on a confident whim I put down Yonsei as my first choice school. When I was notified of my placement in August, I was thrilled and knew it was meant to be! I found out later that I am actually the only IB student studying at Yonsei University and in South Korea for that matter. Must not have been as competitive as I originally thought. Almost all of my fellow IB Chinese minor classmates are studying abroad at different schools across China, so hopefully we will get to visit each other!
To me it seems like almost everyone studying abroad has left already, but Yonsei's spring semester classes don't start until March 2nd. Therefore I won't be leaving till around February 20th, which means I still have at least another 5 weeks in the states! I've been taking this time to work, apply for my student visa, and get everything organized to go. In my next post I'm going to tell y'all all about the application requirements and visa process.
Till next time! 再见!