Relief

I finally booked flights to Seoul and back to Finland! A sip of cold cider after sauna and I can finally take it easy with preparations. Almost everything has been taken care of except for travel insurance and one final e-mail to KMU international services informing them of my arrival schedule. And of course planning trips around South-Korea and Bali where I'll be heading for christmas with my good friend Sonja who'll be spending the autumn in New Zealand.

When the final admission certificate arrived from Keimyung just before midsummer I felt extremely stressed due to all the paper work that had to be done. Two weeks and the paperwork is done, and I still had time to enjoy traditional midsummer at summer cottage in Central Finland and a superb weekend in extreme heat in the extremely beautiful Savonlinna.

Basically the most difficult thing with preparations is the visa applications. The Visa can be applied via traditional mail, but is quite complicated with all the annexes: original admission certificate from the receiving university (with your signature!), original student certificate from home university, visa handling fee, passport, and registered mail envelope for returning the passport. My brain capacity just felt too small to remember all this.

I've also sent confirmation and medical self-evaluation forms to Keimyung, and visited the occupational healtcare for getting a medical certificate from a licensed health professional stating that I don't have pulmonary tuberculosis and hepatitis B :). I've also been wondering about my finances during the trip. Jut for precaution I've given my mother rights to my bank accounts.

Now, I'm just going to concentrate on my Lonely Planet -guide, and plan my first holiday (five whole days!) since 2005 which I'll be spending in Seoul before heading to Daegu on the 29th of August.

H

Decisions, decisions

I've been lately filling out the application form to Keimyung. Selecting courses is really easy, but I'm having huge problems in choosing between two halls of residence.

There are several halls of residence near the campus, but the two most likely for an exchange student are Keli-house and International Learning and Residence hall. In Keli-house you'll be living in the same room with a korean student and english is the only spoken language allowed. The thing that matters to me the most is the size of the room and facilities. In Keli-room you can find a bunk bed, one desk and bookshelf.. For two persons!!!!! It's about 400 euros cheaper per semester than the International hall, but still! And of course shared showers and bathrooms in each floor...

In the International hall you will share the room with another student, but you'll have your own bed and desk, and for me, the most important thing: every room has a shower and bathroom with warm water throughout the whole day. I think in this case paying 400 euros more is justified :)

Back to bed! Too early for more sensible thoughts...

H

We're on!

This is it! Confirmation of my semester abroad has arrived and I couldn't be more excited. This August I'll be heading to South-Korea, Keimyung University.

For a long time, I've wanted to visit Korea, the motherland of Taekwondo, a dear hobby of mine since the mid 90's. So, when the opportunity occured how could I have resisted? My friends' and family's reactions have so far been "whaaaat? are you kidding? of all the places in the world? there must be something wrong with you..."

I hope this blog will answer why I chose South-Korea, while I write about my preparations for the exchange and of course, most importantly, my adventure in the other side of the world.

Tataa!