Part of studying abroad is the "studying" as a student; in this post, I will describe my experience at Yonsei University as an international exchange student from Hawai'i.
Before attending Yonsei University, you must sign up for a minimum of 2 classes and a maximum of 3 classes with the option of a 4-week or 6-week period. YISS provides a detailed list of possible classes as well as their syllabi and class times. All courses take place from Monday to Thursday, leaving your Friday open. They provide a wide variety of courses to choose from; in addition, Korean is offered, but the downside is that the class ends at 6:00 pm. In order to obtain credits for school, I decided to take "Introduction to Computer Graphics" and "Energy and Environment" which take place consecutively from 9:00 am to 12:40 pm. Personally, I enjoy using Photoshop and decided to take computer graphics to better my skills using it; I am taking Energy and Environment since it was accepted as a Mechanical Engineering course at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (ME 491F: Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering). A plus in choosing these courses was that they took place in the first two periods, leaving the rest of my day available.
My typical school day starts quite early, waking up around 7:00 am to get ready: brushing my teeth, showering, and packing my backpack. At 7:40 am, I head to the Resident's Lounge for the complimentary breakfast included in the dormitory fee at DMCville. They provide cereal, toast, jam, orange juice, bananas, salad, boiled eggs, cooked rice, soup, and coffee for the guests. I usually get two slices of toasted whole wheat bread (one with strawberry jam and the other with peanut butter and banana slices) and orange juice. DMCville also provides a shuttle bus that takes students and professors from the residence directly to Yonsei University; the morning bus leaves at 8:00 am, so I usually rush down after finishing my breakfast.
Arriving at Yonsei University at 8:30 am, I head directly to my first class, Introduction to Computer Graphics. The classroom is in a computer lab in Baekyang Hall with the necessary programs installed on every computer. At first, we only had the Korean version of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, but our professor, Park Huiji, assisted us in installing the English version for easier usage. The class style is full of in-class practices, exercises, and projects. Professor Park explains the usage of each tool and has us complete a task relating to the tool. We recently completed a homework and project: the homework was to create a personally-designed month calendar; the project was to design a blog webpage. These tasks were mainly done in-class since not all students have the programs on their own computers. This class is really entertaining and informative!
Following that class is my "Energy and Environment" course. Professor Rosic Budimir from Oxford is very passionate about this course, introducing the many sources of energy and their advantages and disadvantages. This class is lecture-based, with each class covering another topic about energy. Grades are based on attendance, one midterm, homework, a report, a presentation and a final. The report and presentation are based on whatever topic you want to talk about relating to the course. Professor Budimir's goal for the students is to learn about the basics of these several energy sources. The class overall is very eye-opening to the current status of energy in today's society.
Attending classes during your trip may be tiresome, but be sure to put time into your studies that your credits can transfer back to your home university. I highly recommend taking courses that you have a special interest in to motivate you to attend classes daily.