Stories from the Classroom

My lectures started now already three weeks ago and in another three weeks my midterm exams are running by (ahhhh)... 
The classes theirselves remind me much more of a highschool, than actually a university, even if the topics for example in economics are completly the same than in a german course, i've taken before, it is just much easier explained and the professor talks for ages about one part, until everybody gets the point.
Because I am german, one of my professors thinks I know everything, I have about everything an opinion and absolutly want to share it with my classmates. Ah well... No, thanks. Still I'm getting asked every single lesson, what I think about this and that and whatever. Last time I tried to rescue me in a coughing attack, but my prof just waited until I can nearly breath again, so I can tell the others about my glorious thoughts. 
Another special person in relation to this is my political science professor. As far as I know he spent some time in Germany or "can" at least speak some German. So also nearly in every lecture he tries to impress me and the class with his german skills, writing any random words related to politics on the board and asks me to translate, explain, interpret or correct it. Korean friends told me, they don't critize teachers...sorry, I still correct writing mistakes, infront of everyone :-P
So who else is there... Ah yea, economics... I guess the professor is not bad at all, sharing stories of her horrible singing skills, scaring of the neighbors and what relation this has to economics. The only problem...her english sucks. She spent 13 years in the US and sometimes I am still not even sure if she is speaking korean or english right  now.
Because I am a regular freshman here, I have to participate like everybody else from my korean classmates in some obligatory courses, unrelated to my major. Including a Freshman seminar, completly in Korean. Do I speak korean? Eh.. okay let's skip this question. 
By the way, I am taking part now in a korean class with such an enthusiastic teacher, I would have loved to have in a highschool language class. She offers us to come earlier in the morning and staying longer afterwards, giving compliments and talks in korean as much as possible. Also her little daughter tries to entertain us, when she thinks our brain needs a break (or she just wants to go home), pulling down the shirt of her mum, giving out a view of her underwear... Oh there were suddenly so many interessting things in the classroom to look at, like the door, the table or the light on the ceiling.

Just one more thing about the classes: Homework, reading, reading, reading, studying... I really have never studied as much as in Korea, spending parts of the weekends in the library. I still can't believe it, that I am really lookin in my books so often. Dear Highschool teachers of me: You see, if I want I CAN study, it was just that your lessons were totally boring and it was more interesting to go out with friends, travelling through germany and making party at concerts.

Totallly scared of the Midterm exams, Hwaiting!

It's picture time

I promise I will write more of a text in the next days, just today i need to finish my reading for tomorrow's class and my bed is screaming very loudly for my.
So today I will just upload a few pictures, because my last post is allready some time ago...Sorry for that!

By the way, my timetable is fixed now (finally, after throwing it upside down a hundred times). My courses are now: Introduction to political science, Economics 1, Introduction to International Relations, The world we live in (really have no idea why I have to take this class and still not really what it is actually about), Understanding documentary and a freshman seminar, which is completly in korean, so i understand maybe around 1%  from what they are talking about. At least I don't have to write exams in it. But debate... Well, it will be really fun to debate in korean if I'm not even able to say the word "debate" in korean. Freshman seminar, Hwaiting!

A korean kindergarten, where my korean class will take place 

 

Some food in my dormitory

My Political Science Book... Yees everybody who doesn't believe it (including me): i really do my homework!!

Street food, how you find it everywhere. I still have no idea what I've actually eaten...

Breakfaaaaaaast! (oh i don't have anything to eat for tomorrow morning in my room... ah lets just sleep long and go directly for lunch :-D )

Hongdae - where the life begins

Before my class starts on monday, I wanted to spend some time at the weekend in Seoul. So we built up an international team including a girl from Tunisia, one from Bulgaria, a german boy and yea don't forget me, myself and I.

If you want to go to an exciting place, where all the time something's interessting on the street go to Hongdae! We spent the afternoon there walking through all this little cutie shops and drank Coffee and Hot Chocolate (yep, still don't like coffee) in the Coffee shop of a famous korean producer (Teddy from YG, my friend told me).
As soon as it gets dark the real life begins in Hongdae... Every 5 meters other street games, performers and underground rappers are presenting their stuff, and hey they're pretty cool!
Because of one of the singers we were even nearly missing our bus. I already thought we have to spent the night lost in Seoul...and it was damn it cold. Arriving back at Seoul station where our bus to Suwon would depart we really got lost! I felt like coming from a little village and facing now for the first time the hugeness of a capital train station. But try to find exit 9 if there are just signs of 1 - 4... Finally I asked a korean girl for the way and she was so kind to lead us outside. Just... the bus was full! In Korea every front of a bus (which is driving not just inside a city) has an automatical sign which shows how many people can still get inside the bus. If every seat is full, the driver doesnt let anymore people in. Fortunatly a few minutes later another bus was coming, we thought we missed the last one...

By the way, I am still focusing some problems concerning my korean phone number. There is just one company which sells prepaid cards including internet and right this company is facing whatever  kind of legal affairs! We ran from one shop to the other, until finally one shop in Hongdae had an english paper, saying that I should come back at the 13th of march, then they are selling simcards again. Yea, thank you. Still ten days without a phone card.... in Korea!!!

On our way the eat your kimchi studio :-) Yeaa I admit it: I love the videos of these guys!

Actually I have no Idea what they wanted to tell us with this project...

Oktoberfeeeeest

Some kind of game where you have to throw a coin on the things on the ground. My friend tried it and totally failed ^_^

Exploring Seoul and try to understand the subway system, hwaiting!

Surrounded by cameras on the red carpet

On Thursday I got to see the other freshmen of my major for the first time and all together we were brought by busses to our second campus in Seoul to attend the Entrance ceremony. You think you have seen nice ceremonies in Germany? Forget it all in comparison to what happens in Korea!

The Peace hall

After arriving with the bus on a sport field, we should stand in line by two next to each other (ohh when have I done this the last time... in elementary school?! we just missed holding hands during walking) while the first person was given a big flag with our Department (International Studies) on it. Like this one department after the other walked through the campus like a parade to our final destination (padadadam): The Notre-dame-doppelganger-place-of-many-concerts-and-today-our-entrance-ceremony-hall. On our way there all the people around us were congratulating us to be accpeted to Kyung Hee University, just like we would have won a gold medal in olympia. Also many clubs of our both campuses made advertisment for themselves and gave us many flyers for I don't know what all.
The last few meters up to the entrance of the Peace Hall I couldn't believe my eyes: They rolled out the red carpet for us! Feeling like a movie star we went inside the building and searching our place, looking around the big opera hall.

The stage with our department flags on the left and right side

After all the I don't know how many thousands of freshman found their seats, the moderation started to announce the presidents speech. And it followed another speech. And another speach. And... Well, all of it was in Korean, so mostly I just understood all the congratulations again, that we were accepted to this great university (Honestly, yes i feel kinda proud :-) ) and we should give our best by studying hard.
Oh wait one weird thing was happening before the speeches: The moderation team said something about standing up (that was all I understood) and suddenly really everybody around me got on their feet. Ehm, guys what's going on??? I asked someone next to me and well, we should just do the same as he does, which means: put your hand to the heart, look to the left... and greet the korean national flag! Ah..yea...nice....oh girl watch out that you don't burst out in laugh!
After all the talking the performances could start. Our university is famous for having a lot of singers studying in our school and also the amateurs are quite awesome! It started by a choir with orchestra, going up to performances of the musical department playing a scene out of "Fame".
You all know the song YMCA? Well, a group of the postmodern music major changed the song or better the choreaography a little bit so instead of the handsigns for YMCA, the whole audience should do together with them KHU, which is the short form of Kyung Hee University. Yep, the relationship between the students in Korea and their university is a bit different then students would feel in Germany.
The Highlight for some of the students might be the two Kpop (Korean Pop Music, you hear it everywhere walking along a street out of the shops) groups. I didn't know any of them, but they were quite good. The boyband is still pretty new, like I heard and is called "Speed".

But really fascinating was the behaviour of the male students, when the girlband arrived: They were running to the stage, screaming, singing along (Ohh babyyyy ohhh be my ladyyy, ah well don't remember more of the text) and everywhere were the newest smartphones (that's a korean phenomen that really everybody has a big new smartphone) risen in the air not to miss any centimeter of the girls on the stage. If I understood it right, one of the girls is even studying at my campus. It was really amusing, most of the time I didn't look on the stage, but just at the boys around going crazy. Yea, it was fun :-)
Ah their name was Davichi by the way, others told me that they are pretty famous in Korea.
What also impressed me, was the performance of the Taekwondoteam, this guys are amazing!

Unfortunatly I didn't expect such a big event, so I haven't brought my Camcorder and camera along. The pictures and videos added in here are just made with my Iphone, so sorry for the bad quality at some of them.

Inside the Peace Hall

On the way back home with the school busses you really noticed that you are in Korea: As soon as you enter a kind of transportation, 90 % fall asleep. And while I would be the one to miss my destination and just staying a bit longer in my dreamland, they wake up right at the right time... I definitly need to learn this.

Let's try to study well to make the university proud of us, like we are proud to belong to it, freshmen Hwaiting!

Freshmen humiliation aka Health check-up

Mommy I don't wanna go to the doctor!! Okay, so let's just bring the doctor to school ! Every freshman has to go through this, unfortunatly we international students are no exception... So let's check up our health in the best humiliating way possible! 
You remember doing circle training in sport class in school, going from one station to the next in one room? Yea, just like that it was two days ago: Standing in one line you went to the first station (and unbelivable: boys and girls were doing it together!!!!) where you received a little cup and a paper strip and should head to the next station: Toilet! Yep exactly... Standing again in one row, and you know how long girls need in the rest room... Just that this time there was a lil bit awkward atmosphere in front. You mostly make this first check by yourself, by putting the paper strip into the cup, waiting a moment, and bring it back  to the other room (emptying it before).
So lets move on to the next step most girls will hate: Standing on the weighing machine in front of all the other people around you! And messing your height. Guys, i shrunk in Korea!! When I checked my height last time with 16 years (korean age: 18 years) I was 1,61 m and now 5 years later there are just 159 centimeter left of me... Ohhh I can feel it, I'm getting old.
Move on, move on, let's check up your blood pressure and say hello to the needle which will steal some blood of you. Comment of an assitance: You guys have eaten good breakfast? Me: Nope, haven't eaten at all. Assistance: Ohhh you may get unconscious! Me: Don't worry, I will survive it.  For my africain friends it was the first time to make a blood test, but with holding hands and a lot of Hwaiting! we succeded together. 
Next up we were asked (in korean plus the nice english translation from one guy of the office, at least i could say 안녕하세요 to the man in white and answer all the questions in korean: 네,네, 네, yes, yes, yes) about our health background and could move on to the next room to get changed in the most sexy outfit ever (Kyung Hee Pinky Style!): A totally pink wide shirt under which you aren't allowed to wear ANYTHING. Yes girls, throw your bras away and walk out through all the people standing in the hall to a lil bus where the X-ray is waiting. Or better stand a long time in the cold freezing in your kind a bit pinky material and look at the boys inside sitting in front of a heater... At least that was the last step before letting us go in freedom and to get some lunch. 

The afternoon was spent in our Department Building to register the courses for the first semester. I will tell you next week about it, cause it's still a matter to be changed. Let's see Let's see. 

The best comment of the day was from a female worker of my major office, looking at my (absolutly normal, jessie-like-)behaviour and meant to another korean girl: Ohhh kyopdaaa! (english: Ohhh so cute!)
It's allways my pleassure to sweeten up your day :-)

Health check up survived, let's keep up Hwaiting!