I had a dream last night in which I visited this year’s intro Korean class at Yale (full of people who definitely do not go to Yale; actually, one of the girls was a high-school friend who wound up at Harvard.  I don’t know, either), and asked how many had applied/received the Light Fellowship to go study in Korea over the summer.  Only one of them (the Harvard student) raised her hand.  Disappointed and seething, I began to scream at them about the merits of doing the Light Fellowship, countering their lame excuses with argument after argument.  I woke up with a sore throat and a slight fever: my first cold of 2011.  What the hell?  It’s like my body has decided to condense all of its sick-time into February.  At least I’m on a week-long break from school now…

Anyway, inspired by a dream that was almost definitely inspired by post-graduation euphoria + feverish delusion, I decided I should probably do that “advice for Light Fellows” post that it seems I will never otherwise get around to.

I can try to do this categorically, but it is almost certain to devolve into a disorganized, sloppy, anecdotal mess, so bear with me.

Starting with the obvious: Programs.

Yale’s Light Fellowship website indicates that, in theory, you can choose from 5 Yale-approved Korean language programs from 5 of Korea’s most prestigious universities: Sogang, Yonsei, Seoul National, Korea, and Ewha.  Practically speaking, only the first three programs get any traffic from Yale: Sogang gets the most, Yonsei gets the second most, and Seoul National hardly gets more than one or two (if that) a year.  I can’t even remember the last student who studied at Ewha or Korea.  For more detailed information on the programs, it’s recommended that you check out the Light Fellowship bulletin board, where you can read specific program reviews written by students who have actually done the programs; having only done Sogang, I can really only speak to the merits and weaknesses of that particular program.

That being said, I think it’s becoming something of common knowledge at Yale (now that the Light Fellowship is about 15 years old) that the following breakdown is more or less on target when it comes to Korea:

  1. Sogang University’s KLEC specializes in speaking.  While you’ll definitely get a well-rounded Korean language education, you’ll spend more time than you would at other universities engaged in speaking practice.  As such, Sogang is an excellent program for beginner or intermediate students who need that emphasis on speaking to take them to the next level. Translation: if you are a non-heritage learner or a heritage learner with weak speaking skills, Sogang is probably the program for you.  As for me, I obviously fall into the former category, and I’d say with confidence that my speaking, while obviously not native, is quite good for a whitey.
  2. Yonsei University’s KLI places a premium on reading, writing, and grammar above speaking.  I’ve heard (disclaimer: I did not study at Yonsei) that grading is meticulous and really emphasizes total and complete perfection, whereas Sogang seems more likely in general to let small mistakes slip by as long as students are actively engaging with the language.  Yonsei (to me) seems a better fit for heritage learners who feel decently confident about their speaking skills, but feel themselves lacking when it comes to written Korean.  Yonsei’s purported focus on reading and grammar was one of the reasons I considered transferring there for my final semester, but that was only because I felt that my speaking was solid enough for me to do so; personally, if I felt that I needed to develop my speaking seriously, I wouldn’t have even bothered.
  3. Seoul National University’s LEI is a program about which I am curious, but actually am woefully under-informed.  Seems to me that this program caters to seriously advanced speakers, readers, and writers; I would recommend speaking to your Korean teacher about SNU if you are a heritage speaker in Levels 3, 4, or 5.  But I really have no idea; the only thing I have to go off of is that since I’ve been involved with Korean at Yale, only gyopos (heritage learners) with solid speaking and already decent reading/writing skills have gone there.

The bottom line is that you should pick the program from which you believe you will get the most out of.  If you’re planning to study at a university simply because you think it’ll be the easiest and thus allow you more time to party/visit your grandma/drink soju/go clubbing/have more fun in Korea, then I really don’t know what to tell you.  You should probably stop reading here.

Next up is probably the most common query: Housing.

Yeah, I know, it sucks that [most of] the programs don’t provide dorms for you like the China and Japan programs.  Yeah, I know, it sucks that the dorms that do have spaces for foreign students have a 1am curfew.  Yeah, I know, it is daunting and panic-inducing to come to a foreign country and not know where you are going to spend the night.  I know you are going to be tempted to reserve a room in a hasukjib or goshitel before you arrive to avoid this feeling of uncertainty.  Here is what I have to say to you: SUCK IT UP.

Sorry, that is harsh, but literally, I was asked this question a couple of times last year and always gave this answer, and yet a few people still felt it necessary to ignore me and book rooms ahead of time, despite the fact that this is not common practice in Korea at all.  And of all of the Light Fellows, they were the ones who hated their rooms the most.  I am only going to say this once, so listen carefully: DO NOT BOOK A ROOM UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES, SPOKEN WITH THE LANDLORD/LANDLADY, AND ASKED ALL RELEVANT QUESTIONS ABOUT IT.  If you even think about ignoring this piece of advice, then you automatically forfeit your right to bitch about it if it blows up in your face.

Of course, this means that you will arrive in Korea without having a place to sleep.  This is a scary reality, but it is not the end of the world and you should also keep in mind that pretty much every single Light Fellow to Korea goes through this process and all have come out alive and well.  Here are some tips to find housing:

  1. If you have a Korean friend, ask if you can spend your first night at their place.  This will remove some of the post-arrival anxiety and allow you the chance to rest a little bit before starting your search.
  2. If you do not have a Korean friend, then you have two options: either book a stay at a hotel for your first night or two in Korea (and don’t whine about your budget, it’ll be just fine, I promise), or book a flight that arrives in Korea early in the morning so that you have a full day ahead of you to find a place.
  3. When you are ready to start looking, I’d recommend starting on the hill behind McDonald’s where all of the love motels are.  In order to get there, go out of exit 3 of Sinchon’s subway station, walk straight until you hit Paris Baguette, and make a right onto the small side street.  Walk straight until you see a MiniStop convenience store; make a left.  You should see a flight of concrete steps.  Go up and make a left.  Ta-da!  Street chock full’ o hasuks.  There are also more hasuks BEHIND all of these, if you go up the small hilly street instead of making a left when you ascend the stairs.
  4. If you don’t want to live in a hasuk, there are goshitels and livingtels in the area as well.  I stayed in the Shereville Livingtel my first stint in Korea, and if you want to get there, read the above directions and stop in front of the MiniStop.  The Shereville is right next to it, and there’s a big orange sign with the name on it.  There were some other goshitels (one name that I remember was the CoCo Livingtel) popular among Fellows, which I can try to mine some information on.
  5. If you want to live in an apartment, procedures are different.  You’ll need a visa and a 외국인 등록증 for this, and you can either contact a 부동산, a real estate agent, or search on Craig’s List (this is actually how I found my apartment).  Beware of high deposits, but keep in mind that almost everything is negotiable – my deposit was originally 5,000,000원, but negotiations with the landlady brought it down to 3,000,000원 with a slight increase in the monthly rent.

I remember last year that one Fellow got a bit snarky with me about housing because when I arrived, I lived with my best friend’s family for 3 weeks before moving out into my own apartment.  She insinuated that I was in no place to talk about housing because my arrangement was so damn cushy.  My response to this is that this is my second Fellowship, and if you’ve already done one Fellowship, you’re more likely to have met friends and lovely people in Korea who want to help you if you ever come back again.  Consider it a privilege earned from slogging it out the first time – like how seniors at my high school school were implicitly allowed to cut freshmen in the lunch line.  The first time I was here in summer 2009, I did the same find-the-goshitel song and dance that all other Fellows do, and it worked out just fine for me.  Relax and don’t freak out.  You WILL have a roof over your head for the summer.  I promise.

The more ambiguous: Integrating yourself into Korea.

This one is definitely less clear than the others, but the reason I wanted to address it is because a Summer 2010 Fellow once expressed to me genuine surprise that simply going to a bar in Korea and standing around did not magically yield him tons of Korean friends.  This is complete fantasy; if you are obviously foreign-looking [read: not Asian in appearance], there is almost 0 probability that any ordinary Korean will approach you unless he/she speaks relatively good English.  I’ve said before that Koreans operate under the general assumption that foreigners do not speak Korean, and thus any interaction with a foreigner requires that they speak English.  Since a lot of Koreans are embarrassed about their English speaking abilities, they are probably not going to strike up a conversation with you at a bar.  Sorry, kids.

Fortunately, you have options.  You are at a Korean university.  Here is my advice:

  1. For the love of God, do language exchange. Capitalize on the fact that Koreans are ashamed of their English!  In an earlier post, I posted links to both Sogang’s and Ewha’s language exchange message boards.  GO ON THEM.  If you are in Sogang’s Level 3 or above, they will probably even find a language partner for you.  Just get one.  Or multiple ones!  Seriously, I am so in love with my language partner that it is ridiculous.  We have gotten so close that I am going to her graduation from Ewha on Monday.  Language partners often set up a chain reaction; you get to practice Korean, so you get better at Korean.  Your language partner thinks it’s so 신기해 that a foreigner speaks Korean that he/she wants to show you off to all of his/her friends (that, or the friends will become curious and ask to meet you).  Suddenly, you are a hot topic!  Everyone wants to hang out with you!  Do language exchange.  You will thank me later.
  2. Join a club. This is something I have never done, but Sogang has a lot of clubs and organizations that are apparently very willing to tolerate foreigners; shocker of all shockers, some even WELCOME you!  Other Fellows have had great success with this in the past.
  3. Work your connections – and don’t tell me that you HAVE no connections, because I know for a fact that you have a Korean tutor at Yale that you meet with once a week.  Chances are she is a musician from the Yale School of Music, and chances are she is very sweet and will be in Korea over the summer.  This is a connection.  Work it.  Seriously, I had five tutors in my time at Yale, and they have all helped me out in incredible ways and hooked me into larger circles of Korean friends and opportunities in this country.  My very first tutor was a violinist who managed to get a job with the very prestigious Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.  This translates to invitations to hang out with her and her friends, which translates to making tons of classy and awesome musician friends and free concert tickets whenever I want them.  Another one of my tutors last year became my best friend; this translates to help with housing, introductions to her circle of college friends that I now meet regularly for coffee and shabu shabu dates, and a beautiful relationship with her parents who treat me like a surrogate daughter.  I repeat: work your connections.
  4. Uh…call me? I’ve been here for awhile and know people.  If you’re having trouble, I’ll be here over the summer (probably from June 15-sometime in August).  I’m not posting any contact information here, but feel free to ask Kelly McLaughlin for it or drop me a comment.

I will now take questions.  Come to Korea!!