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First ever blog, so I will do my best to make it good, any suggestions appreciated.
So as the title says I am a Canadian grade 12 student from Ontario who is going to be spending nearly a year at a Korean high school starting in February.
I guess I will start with a little background information on me and why I want to go.
Lets begin with, so I am an Italian Canadian but have never been to Italy ( i know what an embarrassment) I live in a suburb of Toronto which is ok I guess but nothing much really goes on here. Not much do to beside just hang out with friends no real attractions in my area. Life in the suburbs can be pretty boring so I really wanted to try something new and it has always been my dream to see and explore the world.Now to the languages, besides English I was in French immersion for 9 years so I am better than most anglophones at French and I also speak a little bit of Italian but it is heavy with my family's dialect. You'll notice Korean isn't on there lol, so I am working pretty hard to try and learn as much as I can so that when I go I don't look like a complete idiot.
The reasons I want to go on this trip are mainly I want to experience something different and see a alternate way that people live. Ever since I saw an Episode of Departures,( which if you don't know what it is go watch it right now. It's definitely my favourite TV show of all time, it's about 3 Canadian guys who travel the world and try to do things off the tourist path and such) instantly after seeing the episode where they go to Jordan knew I had to see the world, and this exchange seems like a perfect way to begin doing that.
So why Korea? probably all of you are assuming that it is because of Starcraft. Not saying that the wasn't a really big factor cause it was. The real reason I chose to go to Korea was because first of all I wanted to go an Asian country for sure as I had never been to Asia and so Japan instantly came into my mind and I thought that is where I want to go. But then I thought about it for a while and decide like the guys from departures who don't always go to the most popular destinations I thought well why not Korea? We don't hear anything about Korea in our school system so I really didn't know much about it besides the whole starcraft thing I knew from here. I thought about and then decided that is what I really want to do and here I am a couple of months later and I got accepted to the program and now just waiting for a Host family to be found.
So if any of you have gone on a foreign exchange yourselves or have any helpful tips for me it would be really appreciated. So until I go I will keep on trying to learn as much Korean as I can and hopefully I am mediocre at it by the time I go.
Thanks for reading!!
 
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Where are you going to be studying?
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I am not sure yet it depends on where my host family is. I asked one of my Korean friends who used to live there what one of his favourite cities was and he says Busan was nice because of the beaches so hopefully I can go somewhere with beaches because here al we have is one really cold lake.
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Alright, fair enough.
I am probably one of the few from TL that is going to be staying here for a looong, loooong time. Though I will head back to Sweden for a month over Christmas, I will come back in the beginning of January. Though I live in Seoul. Can ask me for stuff anyway though.
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I was just wondering what is your grasp on the Korean language and if it is good what would be some tips for me to improve at it?
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Well. I am still a beginner though I have my finals for my first term up and coming (10 weeks of studying).
Some tips? Get used to having to try and memorize all the time. EVERYTHING. Ergo, try to get used to studying for multiple hours on the same words/phrases/endings, just so you actually remember them.
I guess trying to find out about some simple phrases will be a good start as well. Learning the alphabet, of course. Sadly, there are a TON of exceptions. I can't remember half of them (thankfully, I haven't had to use that many of them).
I guess your biggest issue will be pronunciation until you get here.
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If you need any help during summer break, ask me.
I am Korean, and I'll go back to korea on summer..
I am very bored in summer...
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Hopefully ill be going next fall for one semester att Korea University. Super pumped - hopefully PL is still going so i get the chance to see my fav JD live!!
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Yeah it would be cool if I was in an area with sc events nearby.
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hey man, I got accepted last year for yonsei but I decided against going. Hope everything goes well for you and update us when you arrive!
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Busan... so far from Seoul...
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United States7639 Posts
If you're picking Busan, then the only way you'll get to watch any live Starcraft is to take a 4 hour train to Seoul, or hope the PL finals will be in Gwanganri again. idk if SC2 ever does anything in Busan except for WCG in 2 weeks. Just depends what you want more, I guess. I live next to the beach at home, so it was definitely an easy choice to pick the big city.
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Busan - Seoul isn't too bad, 2 1/2 hours by train (KTX) for 50$. I live in Busan now so if you end up coming here, PM me any questions you have and I can help you out for sure. But Seoul is probably more exciting, not gonna lie!
As for learning Korean, it's tough but I assume you're going to an advanced high school where the kids can speak English pretty well already - if you learn the basic greetings, what to say at a restaurant and whatnot, as well as hangeul, you should be ok.
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If you're going to a normal high school, your peers are going to be heavily occupied with studying for the KSATs...
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NeverGG
United Kingdom5399 Posts
Dave's ESL Cafe and Waygook.org both have good guides about what to bring with you/where to go etc. I hope you have a good time ^_^
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If you're thinking Busan for the beaches... I really don't recommend it...
I mean, a lot of people seems to have this fantasy about Hae un dae, but that was long past. Now, its just filled with scums, illegal foreign workers, guys who try to pick up girls, and trolls who think they're the shit.
You should live in Seoul and Seoul only. but thats my opinion. you will surely have most things to do in Seoul
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Thanks for the advice everyone will update when the location is confirmed
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EPT
