Studying Abroad in the Land of Kimchi

by Amelynn Hisham - August 09, 2019

Does going for a summer camp counts?? Lol.

So recently, I just got back from South Korea for a summer camp in Changwon. It was a fully sponsored program by the Korean university - Changwon National University, or CWNU for short. Being a public university, CWNU had invited my university - UTeM (which is also a public university in Malaysia, in case you didn't know) to send some students as one of their sister-to-be universities. This program is a program conducted for their partner universities only, so it was a kinda private program.

A little introduction about the camp...

This camp is officially known as "CWNU International Summer Camp 2019" and is a 3-weeks program during the summer in Korea. The main purpose of this program (I believe) is to promote Changwon and the Korean culture to people internationally. This year is the first time they are organising this camp. There are about 15 universities who participated in this program and each university are required to send only 2 participants. There are people from the U.S, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia, Taiwan, China and of course, Malaysia. Some countries include 2 invited universities so there are pairs of people with the same nationalities in this camp as well. Each participant is assigned with a Korean buddy and shares with one other participant.

Ok, that's basically the gist of it. On to my experiences!

Disclaimer as a Muslim: The food that were purchased by me in Korea are based on the ingredients that I can read, whereby I try to avoid food with meat that is being stated in their allergen section (닭고기 [chicken], 쉬고기 [beef], 소고기 [beef], 돼지고기 [pork], 햄 [ham], 베이콘 [bacon]). In restaurants however, I try not to be too picky and just go with my instincts and what I see. Ask if there's meat and just avoid them if possible. Also, I don't eat chicken and beef in Korea mainly because it is not slaughtered the Islamic way and from what I understand, that makes it not permissible to be consumed.

It's how I survived on food there. My mostly asked question to Koreans, "고기 안에 있어요?" which literally means "Is there any meat inside?". I just made that up using the words that I know. I didn't even know if it was normal to ask like that lmao.

Also, knowing the Korean culture and food definitely helps me in every way. For instance, normally if in Malaysia it's more common that they serve us beef if they don't mention what type of meat, but then in Korea (or any other non-Muslim countries) it's usually pork. Like pepperoni pizza... You'd be surprise to know, there's people who are not aware of this.

Besides that, Korean has a dish called 순대 (soondae) which is actually pig intestines and 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal) which is pork belly and 족발 (jokbal) which is pig's feet. Which to let you know are some of the famous local food with unfamiliar names that if I were to not know, the foreigner in me would wanna try. Overall I can say, I'm pretty proud of my Korean knowledge prior to this trip.

So this program was held in July. Technically, summer was just warming up. The first day I arrived at the airport, you have no idea how much I loved the weather. There were sunshine and cool breeze (the latter is something Msia lacks of). However, that only lasted a week before the heat started kicking in.

In case you didn't know, Korea is a land of hills and mountains. Also people here tend to walk a lot. Two reasons why I suffered in UTeM - the hills and the walk on it. Guess what? UTeM's campus doesn't even come close to their university's campus. CWNU campus is massive and so hilly. Going to classes ended up giving me more exercise than I ever did to myself!

The greenery of Korea is truly a pleasing sight. The buildings and streets are also very pretty.

Shopping. Around my university area, there's only one place we were told to shop. It was in Sangnam-dong. Everything is here. Except for one. They don't have street food other than tteokbokki here.

To me, Koreans start their day late even if their sun rises way earlier than Msia. Subuh is at 3.30am in Changwon for God's sake. But their stalls and shops all open at least at 10am. In Malaysia, only our malls open at that time, not the entire neighbourhood. So most of the time, convenient store is the only breakfast available. On top of opening the shops late, the business usually ends by 10pm or earlier. Like everywhere... there wasn't an option for late night shopping. At least that's how it is in Changwon. Seoul might be a different story though.

Korea's nightlife. Despite shopping being dead by 10pm, the BBQ and bars were most alive then. I had an experience sitting by the orange tent with my international friends sipping their soju away. That was the Korean life as the drama portrays, you see.

You know how Malaysia has literally only like 2 seasons - hot and rainy? Korea's summer is the same. But they are more overreacting - both the weather and the people. Prior to coming to Korea, I know that weather forecasting is a big thing there. They always check their weather and their weather forecast is fairly accurate. So every single time, the weather is gonna be rainy, I kid you not when I say people bring around this kind of umbrella everywhere in the street. Not even the foldable ones... it had to be the long ones with a candy cane handle. It's like a fashion item in Korea.

Regarding the weather, Korean typhoons are pretty bad. Some of my friends literally were woken up by the emergency alerts on their phones sent by the Korean government at like 4am. Emergency alert tho!! That's how bad it was.

The saddest thing about being a Muslim in a Muslim-minority country is the inability to consume halal meat. Therefore, throughout my entire time there I had to resort to all the seafood/vegetarian options that they had. I've tried almost all the shrimp they could offer. Thank God I'm not allergic to the only menu I can eat. Nevertheless, shrimp pizza, shrimp burgers, shrimp fried rice are surprisingly tasty af. I wish they have more shrimp menus in Msia too.

Also, I've grown to enjoy eating fries with ketchup ever since. Chili sauce what? Yes, the Msian me bought my own packets of chili sauce from home. I came prepared.

As much as I loved working as a barista, I'm more of a tea person. And boi, peach teas are nicer in Korea.

It's impressive how they have an ice cream like this in their ice cream freezer without even melting out of shape. This coned ice cream reminds me of ais krim kon pak cik mat cool. Instead of crispy cones, I prefer soft and chewy cones like this.

Had 2 desserts that were in my Korean-food-to-try list - patbingsu and heotteok. Mission completed. Only two left... egg bread and fish bread. Ugh they're everywhere in Seoul! Changwon why don't u have?!

This one is a gem in disguise. It's a soft serve by a local cafe near our university. It was cheap and tasty. Such a score.

My best food discovery in Korea goes to... Honey Butter Chips. Especially the lavender and blueberry flavour! It's so unique and addictively good. I bought that chip for 1000 won in Daiso, where the price in convenient stores would otherwise be 1500 won. And also, Mom's Touch. It's a famous food chain in Korea. Apparently more famous than Lotteria. Way nicer too. I had it thrice while I was there. I can only eat shrimp burgers but those were the best burgers I've ever tried and the best fries as well.

From all the paid activities...

To all the fancy food and buffets...

I have satisfyingly had the best introduction to Korea both in terms of their culture and food. Also, with the best hospitality! What more shocking was... I didn't spent a single penny on it!

This summer camp is honestly a dream come true. It's weird being able to fulfill few things off my bucket list this summer. I can't believe I was chosen to be part of such a great program with such amazing people.

I enjoyed my time so much mainly because of the people. My geng bawangs was truly the icing on a cake during this trip. I'm thankful to every single one I came across during my time there. Including the 2 cafeteria workers who had to deal with my fussy 'no meat' requests and always letting me know on what I can and can't eat. And all the red stickers pasted to indicate the dishes containing pork at our buffet places. The buddies who went out of their way to bring us to the bank, to Busan, to the museum and even gathering us to take a group picture together. I love everyone of you!! And also to Ms. Kang and the staffs who planned this trip. I'm forever thanking you for making this once in a lifetime experience an AWESOME ONE!!