Studying at SKKU

Studying here has been a mixed experience. it's definitely made me appreciate how it's run at UWE. So I'm taking 4 international courses across the design and film&media department. The design classes are actually really basic, because I've discovered that for the Koreans it is mandatory to take an international class to graduate, so for a lot of them it's not by choice. I'm taking Design Process, Digital design studio, photo studio, and interactive video as well as an extra class in video editing. In the classes the tutors teach mainly in English with some Korean for the national students. It's been slow for the first two months of the design courses as the students are just learning the basics but it's beginning to pick up now that there are major projects. The teachers are setting really basic tasks, but in those classes they realise the international students are ahead so they allow us to do our own projects that they support us through instead if we like. To be honest, it’s been really refreshing to go back to basics and to study in an American system and I don’t think it has held me back, but instead helped me to realise what i’ve been lazy about or missed in my work. And the Koreans are super creative. Also the city has so many art installations and events every week that there are willing designers to meet and talk to everywhere, really it's such a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere. And it’s meant I have more time to enjoy my time here. The film and media classes are of a higher level, especially the coding in the interactive video class which I have actually found quite difficult.

In terms of the school system, it's almost entirely American. If you look out the window on break, you can see baseball and basketball practice overlooking the city skyline, with their girlfriends cheering on the sideline. Attendance is taken every class and they are quite strict on how many you are allowed to miss/ be late, but the international students can almost get away with anything as they appreciate they need us to have a good time here and if that means missing some classes to go on trips, they are willing to let it slide. I know some students that went to Bali and North Korea for two weeks and the tutors wished them well. It does feel like college again, that we are set weekly projects and have more of a divide between teachers and students, and attendance, but it has made the experience all the more immersive and entertaining.

The best thing about campus has to be the rooftops. Every building has a rooftop/ rooftop garden over which you can see a 180 view of Seoul, which in my opinion is one of the best. Great place to take a few beers on a warm evening has to be the law school rooftop. And the cherry blossoms on campus in Spring are insanely beautiful.

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