Prisila

 I learned a lot about the country and learned the language. I was going to visit independently prior to the pandemic. I chose Yonsei because it is a beautiful campus in a very foreign friendly city. I enjoyed making friends and exploring the surrounding areas.

 I am very in touch with my LatinX identity. I knew that Korea was a very homogeneous country, so I did try to prepare myself to be looked at. I did experience a fair amount of stares and questions about my race, but I did not find any of it to be disrespectful or too uncomfortable since I was already preparing myself to face this.

 I would often wake up, go to class, eat and then explore the area. I knew I wanted more time in the day to explore, so I chose classes in the early morning. On weekends I would wake up early, get coffee and prepare for more day trip activities since I only had about 7 weekends to explore further out. There is good nightlife in the college towns, so I occasionally went out late at night. There was also a lot of great busking groups that would perform in the nights.

 I took a Korean studies class and a contemporary Korean culture class. I personally thought that the grading for the first class was a bit harsh, as I did all the assignments, yet did not receive the best grade. As for the second class, I loved the content and enjoyed the assignments. There was a lot of new things that I enjoyed and loved. I think that the course content was a lot more rigorous than Berkeley classes, but it was still interesting. I also compare it to be harsh because there was class every day and a semesters worth of content was taught in a short amount of time.

 I don't think that there was a shift in my identity at all after the program, but I did learn that my culture has similar or overlapping ideas with Korean culture. I actually did a project on a comparison of Korean culture with other cultures around the world.

 The most meaningful experience for me was actually meeting people. I met a lot of amazing people that also coincidently also go to Berkeley. I also still hold a close relationship with my roommate who was from Taiwan. I also made a friend in Korea who showed me around and now I have the opportunity to show them around as they are coming to visit the US soon. Being able to learn and connect with all these people was an amazing experience that is very precious to me and I value that a lot.

 Communication was one of my main concerns abroad. I had previously studied Korean for about 2 years and then had a 1 1/2 year gap so I was a bit rusty and did not know a lot of the slang or formal words that were being used. Luckily people are very accepting and they like to see that one tries to interact and speak Korean, so they also try their best to speak English and/or communicate. I think I was also concerned about being out of the country for the first time in my life and for my safety, but I felt surprisingly safe while I was in Korea, although I never went out late alone.

 The most important thing to do is research ahead of time. Getting an idea of what to expect in Korea was a big help in making sure I did not have much culture shock. Although some things made me a bit uncomfortable at times, such as the excessive staring, I knew that was something I was going to experience. I also received a lot of stares, but no one said anyhting disrespectful or rude about my identity.