I have been meaning to do this entry for a very long time but I have been really busy and so tired all the time that I just never got around to doing it, Sorry
I have been attending a regular Korea Highschool in a regular class in Second grade ( junior year for you Americans and grade 11 in Canada. It is pretty amazing and I love going to school here. I have been settling pretty nicely, the only thing I really cant get used to is having to get up so early zzz 6:00, but besides that all is well.
So my first day of school was on Friday 3 weeks ago, I was incredibly nervous seeing all the students stare at me and the finish exchange student who was going to school with me. Eventually after the school introductory assemble I was introduced to me classmates. Their faces when I walked in the class :O, and then when I said hello on in Korea they erupted in applause, was really funny. I sat in my seat which was all alone in the back of the class ( usually set up in partners but because I was new they just brought in another desk). Everyone was really nice to me and introduced themselves, but it was difficult to communicate with them as my Korean isn't the greatest and most students are way to nervous to speak English with me. I was much more popular with the female students then with the guys. I would always have to approach the guys but it was the opposite with girls. I didn't make any meaning real friends or learn anyone's name the first day but I liked it and it was a cool experience.
So after just one day and the weekend, the whole hype of OMG we have a foreigner in our class kind of died down, that made this one of the most boring days of my time here yet, I still talked to a few people but it wasn't like the first day as most of the not shy people had already introduced themselves to me and the shy ones still hadn't. So worst was when we have to go for lunch in the cafeteria I had no one to go with, everyone forgot about me , so I ended up sitting next to some random people I dont even know. but it was ok. The next day was much better as one guy from my class told me that his friends from another class wanted to meet me, so i ate with them and even still do. They are my closest friends at school and some of the even have really good English and like practicing with me and helping me with Korean. I even started going out with them on weekends, they are really nice.
Classes are still incredibly boring as I understand very little of what is being taught probably somewhere around 10-15%. Most of the time I just try to not fall asleep or read a book I brought from Canada or study some Korean. My favorite class is probably world history as I can understand the names because I already studied them and the teacher is super nice and always attempts to talk to me. Then between classes we have a 10 minute break during this time I started talking to the two girls who sit in front of me and they are very nice but eventually we got a seating plan and I went from way back of the class to the very front but I finally got a seating partner. So I began making friends with her at first as usual most people are really nervous but then they warm up to you and it is much better. But just recently we had to change seats again so we have to say goodbye to each other
And finally it is mandatory that everyone in grades 1 and 2 join some kind of after school club, so at first I was going to join the soccer one. I consider myself to be pretty decent at soccer for canadian standards so when they asked me if I was good I said "yeah im better then average". So the first day of the club begins and they decide we are playing 3-4-3 with the center striker playing further ahead a little bit. Guess where they put me? ofcourse center striker. So im like okay it is going to fine just a little nervous. Then the game start, and they proceed to play circles around. Turns out Koreans are soooo much better than Canadians at soccer. I was cut from the club the next day. I didn't really care much I didn't have a club now, I could always join the cooking one with the Finnish exchange student. But then the day of the next club meeting time a bunch a girls from my class asked me to join the Scouts club and the first thing they were doing was going to visit Seoul National University so this sounded really cool so then I joined and the trip to the university was really cool and all. Talked to a few of the english majors and helped them with a couple of things and such. I am happy im in this club instead of soccer to be honest, they took it a little to serious imo.
That is pretty much it about my first 2 weeks as being and exchange student, I like it here alot and am really looking forward to my year here. Hopefully I can make a lot of good friends and meet a bunch of cool people.
Oh and please dont comment saying : "get with all the girls" or something like that, it adds nothing and is dumb.
Otherwise I am sure I have left out a bunch of stuff so ask pretty much anything you want regarding my exchange and I will try and answer.
I dont play Sc2 at all, and to be honest no one does here. I've played brood war twice at pc bang with my school friends but mostly when we go pc bang we just play LoL or one time they wanted me to try Sudden Attack. Those are probably the two most popular games at pc bangs that I have seen.
Meh you shouldn't give up that easily, where's your fighting spirit? Just because they're better soccer players doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Train hard and show them who's boss. Also, get with all the girls.
I think you should change your outlook seems like a very negative outlook atm. try have a more positive outlook
On March 24 2012 23:54 LlOoKkIi wrote: I have been meaning to do this entry for a very long time but I have been really busy and so tired all the time that I just never got around to doing it, Sorry
No need appologise to us
On March 24 2012 23:54 LlOoKkIi wrote: I have been attending a regular Korea Highschool in a regular class in Second grade ( junior year for you Americans and grade 11 in Canada. It is pretty amazing and I love going to school here. I have been settling pretty nicely, the only thing I really cant get used to is having to get up so early zzz 6:00, but besides that all is well.
Go to bed a bit earlier I could do with taking this advise tbh I would love to see the early morning everyday + I'm curious when does class start? do you just have long travel distance or do koreans start class really really early?
On March 24 2012 23:54 LlOoKkIi wrote: Classes are still incredibly boring as I understand very little of what is being taught probably somewhere around 10-15%. Most of the time I just try to not fall asleep or read a book I brought from Canada or study some Korean. My favorite class is probably world history as I can understand the names because I already studied them and the teacher is super nice and always attempts to talk to me. Then between classes we have a 10 minute break during this time I started talking to the two girls who sit in front of me and they are very nice but eventually we got a seating plan and I went from way back of the class to the very front but I finally got a seating partner. So I began making friends with her at first as usual most people are really nervous but then they warm up to you and it is much better. But just recently we had to change seats again so we have to say goodbye to each other
Your still in same class/school so you can still be friends its a better experince to meet a new person!
On March 24 2012 23:54 LlOoKkIi wrote: And finally it is mandatory that everyone in grades 1 and 2 join some kind of after school club, so at first I was going to join the soccer one. I consider myself to be pretty decent at soccer for canadian standards so when they asked me if I was good I said "yeah im better then average". So the first day of the club begins and they decide we are playing 3-4-3 with the center striker playing further ahead a little bit. Guess where they put me? ofcourse center striker. So im like okay it is going to fine just a little nervous. Then the game start, and they proceed to play circles around. Turns out Koreans are soooo much better than Canadians at soccer. I was cut from the club the next day. I didn't really care much I didn't have a club now, I could always join the cooking one with the Finnish exchange student. But then the day of the next club meeting time a bunch a girls from my class asked me to join the Scouts club and the first thing they were doing was going to visit Seoul National University so this sounded really cool so then I joined and the trip to the university was really cool and all. Talked to a few of the english majors and helped them with a couple of things and such. I am happy im in this club instead of soccer to be honest, they took it a little to serious imo.
Soccer's (its football btw! (I'm british)) just a game, follow day9's moto "become a better gamer" If their better than you at soccer you will improve alot having such good people around you if you can get/want to get back on the team. Even if you dont want to get back on the team next thing you choose to take up if people there are better than you look at it as a good thing and improve from them.
Yeah I guess it does sound a little negative. But I didnt mean it like that. Right now I am thoroughly enjoying myself and I usually cant wait to go back to school. It was just difficult at the beginning to settle in and make friends. I will do another entry maybe tomorrow or something talking more about my friends and hanging out with them and other random school stuff.
What are you even doing in class when its only in Korean and your Korean (as I assume) is not fluent enough to understand anything? Sounds like you will have to retake the grade when you get back to your home country? I have no idea why you would even think of that as a good idea, you could've just went there as an exchange student 2 years later as a university student (and then take English classes)...well but to each their own, as long as you're having fun ^^ Edit: Just read your first blog post, kind of makes sense, but my argument still stays..
I think something that could be really beneficial is to try out soccer, lets be honest here, Canada's soccer team is absolute shit, I don't even know if they ever get invited to the world cup, and S. Korea gets invited sometimes, I live in america and soccer/Futból here is actually ridiculously good. The best way to meet people is to play club sports like soccer and even though its competitive, there will never be non-competitive sports that people give 2 shits about. Hell do you know anyone that plays competetive tiddly winks? No, didn't think so. The main thing is to have a positive outlook on getting better until you are at a point which you can ascend to the next level of play. I really suggest joining a team and getting better, even if its not soccer, it could be something like tennis, or baseball, or hell korean league basketball (LOL). Since you are canadian i assume you have been exposed to Hockey in some form or another, you could do that! Alternatively you could take artsy things and join the theatre thespians and be part of a club like that. The point is to make friends even if you don't speak well, you have to join clubs to make friends quick.
Ok, read all the blog, dont have much to add, just that S.korea and canadian sucks balls at football :D
Ok, stoping to be a dickhead now ... i played a banch of football when i was at school, i was aways the goalkeeper cos i suck hard :D I was pretty good at goalkeeper, because so much practice (no1 let me play at the field, because i was horrible)
Wow it sounds like you experienced a lot in just 3 weeks! Be it guys or girls, try to make friends with everyone as you'll just meet new people from them that way. I'm pretty envious of you! I hope for the best for you and keep us updated really! ^_^
I wonder how much Korean you know.... and was it your choice to go as an exchange student? What were your reasons to go to South Korea as an exchange student?
On March 25 2012 03:10 docvoc wrote: I think something that could be really beneficial is to try out soccer, lets be honest here, Canada's soccer team is absolute shit, I don't even know if they ever get invited to the world cup, and S. Korea gets invited sometimes, I live in america and soccer/Futból here is actually ridiculously good. The best way to meet people is to play club sports like soccer and even though its competitive, there will never be non-competitive sports that people give 2 shits about. Hell do you know anyone that plays competetive tiddly winks? No, didn't think so. The main thing is to have a positive outlook on getting better until you are at a point which you can ascend to the next level of play. I really suggest joining a team and getting better, even if its not soccer, it could be something like tennis, or baseball, or hell korean league basketball (LOL). Since you are canadian i assume you have been exposed to Hockey in some form or another, you could do that! Alternatively you could take artsy things and join the theatre thespians and be part of a club like that. The point is to make friends even if you don't speak well, you have to join clubs to make friends quick.
Canada do have Junior Hoilett, who's pretty damn good
I think you should try joining a martial arts club just be upfron that you either know it or not. The reason I suggest it is because you dont need to understand korean to know how to hit someone plus you can learn the name of the moves.
Either way I hope you have fun during this year and try not to bring something from the culture back in your personality. It will help you seem more diverse which is a really great thing to have the older you are trust me GL HF and be safe.
On March 25 2012 10:15 klibrt wrote: I wonder how much Korean you know.... and was it your choice to go as an exchange student? What were your reasons to go to South Korea as an exchange student?
Oh btw :D have you been to noraebangs?
Yes I went to Noraebang on friday, and damn Koreans are pretty good singers, well atleast the guys I was with.
Yes I chose to be an exchange student, I know a fair bit of korean but am by no means anywhere close to fluent.
I knew I just wanted to be an exchange student, my intial choice of place to go was switzerland but I got rejected from that program so then I settled upon Korea because I was interested about what it was actually like. All I really knew about it was kpop and starcraft.
Can I ask how much korean you knew before going to Korea and how you went about learning it? Also how have you found it living as a foreigner (though I guess it may be different as you're younger) and how has your relative understanding of hanguel affected it?
I was considering going to visit Korea sometime perhaps in the summer or later (and maybe staying for a few months), but I wanted to try learning some basic (at least) hanguel before I did.
I have a few questions: 1. Do you listen to Kpop? 2. What is the foreign exchange student policy regarding grades? It sounds like you're going to fail the classes if you can't even understand most of what the teachers are saying, and that would be bad.
I knew very limited korean before coming but I just made sure to know how to say basic greetings, thanks and somewhat express myself. Yeah it probably is very different for older people living here. You should definitely be very comfortable reading Hangeul before you come tho.
Yes, there are many extremely cute girls in my class.
And of course listen to Kpop, I used to post in KMD but it kinda wasn't my thing. And grades don't matter for my program it is a cultural exchange not to get marks.
Damn I guess you're having the time of your life xD make sure to go watch sc2 or scbw live lol. Man.. I really miss the food you buy on the streets... 떡볶이... god... Korea
Oh btw, if you don't really know what's going on in class... what exactly are you learning lol Are you learning Korean in some class?
As awesome as Korea is, I can't help but think that being trapped in a Korean class for 6 hours every day where you understand next to nothing would be extremely boring. I guess you'll have lots of reading time. I'm sure a lot of the girls will be wanting to have language exchange with you.
I also think that coming to Korea before you're of drinking age is also a giant waste, but that's just me. Glad to hear you're enjoying your stay. Eat 닭갈비 while you can. Keep us updated with your life, the blog is very interesting!
Yes I learn alot everyday, also I go to Korean Language Hagwon after school sometimes with the finnish exchange student.
Also just heard this now, SBS( a major broadcaster) is following around the finnish exchange student for 10 days filming the life of an exchange student so most likely I will play a minor role in that which is kind of cool I guess. Filming starts on thursday, so Ill update everyone on this weekend or something.
I know you said not to comment about "get all the girls" and stuff- but that sounds exactly like the premise of an eroge game I played once.
I'm pretty jealous of you dude. I hated highschool when I was in it, but I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I could have gone to Korea! Make the most of your time there man!
EPT
(I'm british)) just a game, follow day9's moto "become a better gamer" 
