Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

It's a required program (that's how great it is). The classes are extremely good in terms of academics--really descent professors and classes. I also went on cool field trips. Rather it was fun or not, they were all memorable and positive and made new friends. The overall program would be 9/10 because of the students and the quality of education. However, you can't expect advanced Korean classes to be 'advanced.' They are good only if you are wishing to learn the very basics of Korean language. In addition, you have to be careful about picking classes. I picked intellectual property in korea and the Professor was laughing at students he/she disliked. More importantly, the exam was not easy, where you had to memorize examples of law and take good notes. If you miss his classes, you are kinda screwed (unless you don't care what you get). Again, his/her class was super interesting as well, but would not recommend it.

International Summer Session in HUFS was the best summer in my life. I really enjoyed my staying at this university, because academic courses, administration, events organized by the school were so good that I did not even expect. Thanks to HUFS ISS program and to people involved in that for such a brilliant opportunity! :)

I went from knowing virtually nothing about Korea to caring and talking a lot about it all the time! It does not matter if Korean/East Asian studies is not your field of study! You'll never be bored as there are so many activities and field trips (my personal favourite being the DMZ). As a westerner I feel like I understand Korean and East Asian people a lot better now, and am glad I had the amazing opportunity of learning about this country and its history with people who were there and saw it - it is not everyday that you learn history with the professor's personal account and photos rather than books! The ISS was only the starting point as I will definitely go back to Korea someday - ultil then, I'm learning the language! Academics: I only give this an A because I barely learned any korean, but the other two courses I did were very interesting and I definitely learned a lot that will be very useful for my future. Living Situation: The rooms are shared but very clean and comfortable and the dorm has a canteen downstairs and a convenience shop (and you can find many of those around campus, as well as restaurants). I miss eating gimbap and samgak gimbap from the convenience shop on a daily basis!! Cultural Immersion: Unfortunately I think I missed out on this a lot since I can't really speak Korean, but I did have to get by in Seoul and made many korean friends so I learned a lot about them and their culture. And besides, I made so many friends from other countries that I learned a lot about their countries too!