Why I Chose to Study in South Korea

To me, studying abroad was always something I wanted to do since before I started university. I think of it as fun and exciting way to see the world while getting credit (and maybe learning something) for school. As most people probably know, my major in college here is International Business and German. Obviously my first choice for studying abroad was in Germany or Austria. After it became apparent that programs in Germany and Austria were a bit out of the budget for me, I realized that I didn't want to go there anyways. UTA has well over 200 study abroad programs on 6 continents and I thought that going somewhere knew and exciting, someplace I hadn't been before, would be much more fun. 

When it came time to choose the places I wanted to apply for last August, it was between New Zealand, Thailand, and South Korea. New Zealand would have been a beautiful country to see, but was the most expensive option and to be honest I wanted to go somewhere they didn't speak English. Thailand was my second choice but after the extensive flooding last December it's lucky that I didn't pursue going there. South Korea then became where I wanted to go. At first I was hesitant after being accepted, I knew it would be fun and exciting to go there but didn't really know much about the country. Between last August and now though, I have become extremely excited to go and after learning more about the country and people I think my choice was the perfect one. 

Last semester I was lucky enough to meet a foreign exchange student at UTA from Yonsei University in Seoul in my International Management course. His name was YongSoo and from him I met other Korean exchange students; Yeonsin, Byeongjae, Goeun, SaeRom, Jun, Jungmi, Seby, and Saetbyul. I have become really good friends with them over the course of the past few months and they have all taught me a lot about Korea. They are some of the nicest, most open and sincere people I have ever met and they have had a huge impact on me being excited to go to Korea. As well, they all seem excited to show me places in Korea and Yeonsin, YongSoo, Byeongjae, and Jun have already made plans for when I get there. 

Besides just meeting great friends and learning more about a culture, in reading and learning more about Korea I feel that it will help me in my future more than any other place I could study. Obviously, as a business major, getting any kind of Asian experience, especially in a country like Korea is beneficial. Korean companies are now huge, global companies, and speaking the language and having lived there will give me another competitive edge in the global workforce. 

The last reason why I finally decided to choose to go to South Korea is that through a partnership that UTA has with Ajou and with the 4 scholarships I'm receiving on behalf of UTA, the entire program is free to me, everything from spending money there, airfare, housing, tuition, and food is all covered for the entire stay. So as you can probably tell I am just waiting restlessly and anxiously to go, and as of now I have 31 more hours before I go to the airport!