What I wish I knew as a KGSP embassy track recipient when deciding on a university and what you have to know or be prepared mentally before joining in your program! 😊

 Annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요), hi there!

Amalia here! I thought today I wanted to give a tip or an advise that I wish I knew before I decided to which university I wanted to join, and before I started my PhD program so I could be mentally prepared. I was one of the people blessed to have received the Korean Government Scholarship Program in 2018, chosen as a recipient through the embassy track for Malaysia. I was and am still very thankful for the experiences I have gotten while I was in Korea. It was an amazing experience, an eye-opener, something I will never have encountered if I did not step out of my comfort zone of a secured job. It is absolutely a different feeling being away from home alone in a country you do not speak the language (yes, very different than my years in the United States). But now that I am where I am, I see that it was a huge part of my growth! I am so different from the person I am 2 years ago, a person with so much more colors... not just white, red and blue, but green, orange, grey and black.

Korea is a beautiful country, I still crave for the beautiful landscapes as seasons pass, the parks and the well-made infrastructures, the very efficient public transport systems and how convenient it is to travel and the amazing coffee shops you would see every 500 meters. But let’s get real, when you go for studies, it’s not like going for holidays, and I think it is best to take note and be well prepared before starting the program!

As an embassy track applicant, we were asked to apply for three universities. I applied to Seoul National University SNU (서울대학교), Yonsei University (연세대학교) and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST (한국과학기술원) and got offered into SNU and Yonsei. At that moment I already had a potential supervisor in SNU so I just immediately thought of accepting SNU’s offer. Don’t get me wrong, I did not regret my decision, because it made sense at that particular moment. However, I wished I knew that I should have considered these things properly before really deciding:

1.    Availability of a GOOD International Student Support

It is important, in a country where English is not the main language, to choose a university that has a strong international student support. Trust me, this is EVERYTHING. Especially when you’re not that fluent in Korean (even after passing your TOPIK 3 as required as a GKS scholar, handling or dealing with documents or very complicated situations, it’s hard to speak in a language you just learned). Find out by talking to alumni, or go through the GKS student facebook groups. Trust me, researching on websites is not enough. Personally, SNU has a very good international student support system, especially with SNU-SISA on campus, however… I was a college of medicine student and our campus is different from the main campus. Being away from the main campus was a struggle as a medical/biomedical science student, because there was no international support in our campus. Which comes to the second tip…

2.    Know what things are like in the field of study/your faculty in your university of choice

Find out not just in general how the university is, but also how it is like in your faculty. Knowing how the conditions are, whether the classes are conducted in English or Korean, the research environment, the university environment… will help you decide what is best for you as well as help you be more well prepared. I thought my classes were in English, as indicated in the website (and also my assumption that medical courses would be in English), however none of my courses are in English. They were fully in Korean. Which in the end, you will have to adapt to, which is fine… but knowing this ahead of time, also in the case where some universities might offer the subject in English, might be your deciding factor.

I must highlight the part where you would want to know your university environment per faculty, because for me being apart from the main campus was a bit lonely. There was no campus life, and if that is an important or essential choice for you, you might need to consider these in your decision. SNU hospital (서울대학교 병원) where 서울대학교 의과학과 is in Daehakro (대학로) though, you could meet potential actors there hahaha.

As a PhD student doing research I also wanted to advise this, as it was something I had in confusion when I was transitioning from language school to my PhD.

When do I start searching for a supervisor (SV)?

Especially if you are in the line of research where you work in the lab, and depend on grants, it is actually important to find a supervisor ahead of time (before you actually go in for your PhD). I do not know how it works for other universities, I heard from some of my friends that they get their supervisor (university chooses for you). But in SNU, you have to have a supervisor prior to your studies, or you would not be able to join your PhD program, and eventually you will be dropped-out. Hence tip number three is..

3.    Find a supervisor at the end of your language school before your transition to your postgraduate studies (note – applies to research students that work in the lab only).

In my case, what happened was I told you how I had a supervisor when I decided for university right? Well right before the transition, my supervisor apparently resigned, which left me SV-less. I had to email every single potential supervisor in the line of immunology because when I was asking for help from my department to assign me a SV, they told me no. I had to find my own SV before starting, or not… goodbye! I thankfully, Alhamdulillah after going mad, and having to change my line of study, got an SV after.

These are the things, or tips that I wish I knew before deciding or before actually starting my postgraduate studies. I hope these tips are beneficial for those currently deciding where to go, or are transition from their language school to postgraduate studies. I wish you all the best and hope that you get the best out of this experience! HAVE FUNNN!

TLDR version:

Mid 2020, an incident that made me grow

I have been keeping quiet about it, but decided to write it personally because what I have experienced these past 2 weeks might somewhat be helpful/beneficial to someone. I avoided posting it because it took me a while to feel okay telling my experience again and again on repeat. Whenever I actually talk about it, without realizing I started to get really anxious. My head starts to hurt even more, and somehow I couldn’t breathe properly. It was somewhat like PTSD, but I didn’t even realize I was having one, because I sincerely thought I was okay. I mean come on, it couldn’t be that bad, or stop being so weak keeps ringing on my head,

Well (almost) everyone who saw my story might have known one side of the coin about the ‘incident’ I had with the drunk man. but cut story short if you didn’t get to catch my story, my friend and I were harassed by a drunk middle aged man that was a stranger, in bright daylight, and we were in no shady area, we were in a quite family oriented neighborhood in front of a train station that was closeby an apartment (just in case someone starts saying, try to avoid walking alone at night or go to strange places, yada yada). I wanted to say this because, just wanted to reach out to people that things can happen even in the safest place and time, so just be careful and I pray none of you will have to face the same situation. Anyways, coming back to the story, the drunk man threw a plastic bag which I assume has either a bottle of beer or a beer can that was filled because I hear a ‘tung’ and it was really heavy and painful. Feeling shocked and scared, I was just left in the state of ‘mong’ (an expression commonly used in Korean, meaning emptiness… blank). Fast forward the details etc, because I think I have repeated myself a thousand times. what I wanted to tell was the process after.

Feeling so lost as foreigners who can’t speak the language well, I cannot tell you how frustrated my friend and I were. We hesitated to report to the police, especially since when we tried to explain the situation to the station guard, it felt like we were dismissed as though it was something that is ‘of no big deal’. To be honest, I actually started believing that it was just something light, and wanted to give up and let it be. However, my friend insisted because instead of me, she felt angrier that I was attacked on the head. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give up, the process was tedious and having to struggle with the language and feel frustrated every time people could not understand what you were trying to say, was heartbreaking. But guys, please PLEASE if anything happens like this, please do not give up. DO NOT. It might have been hard but, it will be worth the fight, I will tell you why later. Anyways, so the process goes like this. If anything happens like this in Korea as a 왜국인 (foreigner):

1.     Tell your supervisor and lab manager (if you have one) that you would have to come late and tell your situation. Best thing, your supervisor will ask someone from the lab to help you (in my case the help came in a bit later).

2.     Go to the GP or any hospital and get yourself checked. Make sure you ask for a statement for the police AND this is what I forgot to do ask for an extra copy so that you can use the statement when you want to apply for insurance (cause girrrrl, you better be prepared the bills are CCCCeeeeRRRRaaaZZZyyyyy). You can say “초진 기록지에 일반적 푹행으로 인한 외ㅏㅇ 내용이 적혀있어야 보험금 지굽이 용이”.

3.     Once you have the statement, go to the police station WHERE THE SITUATION HAPPENED. Make sure to check its right police station because although the incident happened at Dongjak Station, it was not under the Jurisdiction of the Dongjak Police Headquarters. If you go to another station, most likely your report will take longer due to the transfer period, or your application will not be accepted. I actually first went to the Seoul Global Center’s police station because they could speak English, but that is actually just for legal sevices. However, when I went there they did advice, that I could get translator services at the police station. But we didn’t need to, when my friend and I went the police officer was kind to entertain us (we were definitely blessed to get a nice female inspector), and we could understand and communicate the basics enough to make a report. Being in the police station felt not intimidating/frustrating at all as a foreigner. In fact, they were telling me it was not a case to be taken lightly, and the investigation would have been faster if we went to the police station straight. However, in the middle of the investigation, my lab manager and lab senior called and told me that they were coming. So having them around later on made the process so much easier with the communication. Lesson 2 that I learned from here, even if we were not close, try to ask help. I tend to not like to burden people, especially from someone I am not close to, but Alhamdulillah they were willing to help.

4.     Don’t expect too much, which is true. Nothing happened till my professor asked for the contact number and contacted them after 2 weeks of no news. 바러 연락이 왔어 ㅎㅎ

Enough of the police story, going to the other story that I haven’t revealed. So after the GP visit and how she told me that my bump and nausea is normal, she told me if I start to get extreme headaches to inform and come again. At first I thought I was going to be okay, but the headache became worst and worst. I went to the GP again and I was referred to the Neurologist. Neurologist told me I will be fine in another 2 weeks and that the pain I am going hrough is normal, and I just had to brace it through and gave me medications. 1 week passed, no change and one day at midnight I got an attack when I started to become breathless, I was shaking and blue. The first attack I was lucky enough to be partially conscious to call my friend to come over. Ya Allah, at that time… I can only be thankful to Allah I have someone relatively close by. It made me realize a lot of things, including not wanting to grow old alone. It made me realize the importance of companionship in levels I can never express. The second time it happened when my friend was there. She rushed me to the hospital on the taxi and I cannot say, how bad it felt when it feels like you have no oxygen and was just shaking. I thought I was going to die, as morbid as the thought is I just prayed to Allah and istighfar and say my shahadah. It made me realize also, in that moment, I wish I would do so much more good, and it was sad at that time when I wish to pray, I had my period and can only recite my Do’as. When we arrived and the emergency room, I have to say I was a bit dismayed. They didn’t check my condition and left me at the normal emergency room while I was breathless. Emergency room was not an emergency room. Note the only comfort I had was the fact that my friend is a Neurosurgeon, so whatever that happens she could help do CPR or something. Even she was shocked and dismayed by how slow the ER was. They literally asked for my card for payment first and usually that happens for the guardian to settle while the patient gets checked but nope. I just waited there till all my transactions, checking of government insurance (that was not available), etc was cleared. Nonetheless, I could only think well if anything happens while waiting, they should have amazing Doctors to rescue me since it is SNU (note: best hospital in Korea). When the attending doctor saw me I was still shaking and blue, but the episode got better slowly, until the third short episode happened but I didn’t care because I was already there. They checked my CT Scan and all the emergency procedures, but funny nothing happened after and I got better and they couldn’t make any diagnosis because the CT Scan was normal as well. The attending MO neurologist just checked me again, and asked me to make an appointment for EEG and I left with a shock of how much the ER cost (more than a million KRW). Note, after starting the whole emergency procedure though, it was nice to see how the testing were advanced and thorough though. Plus, cute attending MO hi. HAHAHAHA (okay, that was just to make me feel better for the bill I just had to pay.

     So the next day, I asked for help from my labmate to call and make an appointment for the EEG, though I still do not know the results now because my appointment with the Neuro specialist is not till tomorrow, I got the shock of my lifetime for the second time. Because the test was super expensive. Moral of the story, let’s wish and hope one day us D2 visa holders (ie next year February 2021 – I called and checked if I could apply for the government insurance and they say we can apply starting next year, yay! Please do guys). Insurance is important and necessary. So anyways, also because I have a past eye surgery for my cataract and to fix the position of my eye due to my congenital Morning Glory Syndrome, I had to take extra precaution (also deduce) whether the pain from the pressure from the back of my eye may be due to the incident. The thing is where I am getting to is that, because of all this……. The fact that I thought it was nothing, and was almost going to give up reporting, made me so thankful that I reported because as time goes by I became angrier and angrier, and believe that this person SHOULD be found, caught and pay my bills.

     But whatever it is to be honest, more than that I am thankful. Thankful because this incident made me learn a lot of things. Plenty. To be honest. The experience itself made me learn a lot about the process, and also made me thankful for so many people beside me, and also made me realize again that our time here is short. Banyakkanlah istighfar, bertaubat, show your love and gratitude and always always be thankful. I just have to repeat this again and again I cannot highlight how thankful I am. I love all of you that I hold dear to me lillahita’ala.