Studying in Korea: A Summer at Ewha Womans' University

This is the second installment of my study series. I spent my 2013 summer in Ewha Womans' University with two of my friends and also with their friends. Ewha Womans' University accepts male international students also so people tend to say that losers go to Ewha to get girls lol. My semester at Ewha was definitely different from Yonsei and I'll share why.

1. Schooling

Unlike YISS, Ewha only has two periods. For your second period, you either choose a normal class or a Korean language class. The Korean language class starts later at 2pm and ends at 5pm. Like YISS, Ewha has classes from Mondays to Thursdays and hold excursions on Friday that you can sign up for. However because of the two periods, it's hard for students to pick their courses in case they clash.

For my morning class, I picked Cross-cultural Psychology. I learned a little about cross-cultural psychology only because the course was more like an introduction to psychology. I learned most of the stuff, just with a little more statistics. The problem was that we were supposed to copy the notes but the professor was speeding his notes. Also, the professor has a fault of treating his students as patients. HE'S NOT EVEN A PSYCHOLOGIST. HE'S A NEUROLOGIST. Yes so brain much knowledge but NO PSYCHO. The classmates all didn't like him either, considering that he's a blunt, Korean-culture-biased misogynist in a classroom of WOMEN. He left a very negative effect on my schooling there. As usual, the professor did not tell us about his own textbook so we had bought one earlier. After a whole hassle, we got a refund which he had no hand in assisting. The most ignorant professor ever. Thank God for the patient administrative team.

For my afternoon class, I picked Korean Ceramics. There is a fee of KRW100,000 for your class materials. For this class, you will make items based on basic ceramic skills used during the Three Kingdom periods. Plenty of the word "celadon" being thrown around the class. For a few weeks you will be making and drying your works before glazing them and exhibiting them at the graduation ceremony.

2. Housing

If I'm not wrong, Ewha has four international dormitory buildings. One is for the regular(Korean) undergraduate students, two for graduates and researchers, and two for the international students. The dormitory complex has a few single rooms that come on a first come first serve basis. In fact, I think there are only 7 single rooms. I managed to get one because I was in the first 7 to register lol. On my floor, there were 5 Singaporeans who are in the single rooms. Can you say kiasu? haha The single room is the size of the double room, just emptier. No doubt it costs more than the double room, but the single room is the same prize as the YISS double room. That being said, the YISS is a longer term so your dollar is stretched more, I guess? I was quite fed up with my previous summer roomie so I really wanted a single room this time.

Huge cupboard, desk, fridge, veranda, bedside light

Dresser, bathroom, shoe cupboard, long mirror

The door is passcode protected so you don't need a key card. The key card is only used when the building doors are closed. Laundry cost KRW500 per wash and KRW500 per dry. Sadly, there are only 3 washers and dryers for an entire building. The building also has a lounge on every floor for quick meals and studying.

A problem I suffer with the Ewha dorm is the automatic switching off of your air conditioning. Korean summer is a period of rain and heat. You close the window because of the rain, but the lack of ventilation forces you to open it. And the Ewha dorms have no windows, just a door for the veranda. Leaving your door open to air the room risks rain blowing into your room. And the air conditioning hours are weird. They switch on during class hours and switch off right before sleeping hours which is midnight. So basically no air conditioning. WHAT THE HECK. I PAID FOR AIR CON GIVE ME MY AIR CON. The air con was available 24/7 only on the last day of our program -.- Thanks.

Another problem was the sound acoustics of the buildings' walkway. You can definitely serenade to the entire complex there. I once got up at 6am and went down to yell at the Singaporeans who gathered at the building door thinking it's ok to chat and bellow laughter at 5-6am during exam week.

3. Food

Ewha Campus Complex

Ewha has the famous Ewha Campus Complex (ECC) where you find the bank, bookstores, restaurants, halls, and cinema. Most importantly, your normal classes are conducted in that complex. They have a food court there which is not very valuable for the price. There's a bakery also and GS25 for you to buy other convenient foods. At the back of the ECC, there's also a cafe Ahreum Garden at Helen Hall B that serves Korean-Western pasta. I recommend the shrimp pasta because the rest are a little too overwhelming. If you are sick of the school food, go visit Ewha and Sinchon!

4. Field Trip

What field trip? Lol The field trip is a separate program. Go figure. If you want a field trip, you'll have to stay for the second session. The second session comprises Korean language classes in the morning and special lectures or half-day field trips in the afternoon. In my opinion, these are trips you can make without paying that amount.
There are free day trips on Friday, but that's about it.

5. Student Care

PEACE Buddies

Maybe it's a women's thing. I don't know. But they had opening and closing ceremonies for the program. There were PEACE Buddies in charge of a group of you that will make sure you have fun and socialize throughout the semester. The closing ceremony was a little unnecessary but I felt that it was good to close the program together rather than dispersing into nothingness like the YISS. These ambassadors can also stay as "lifelong" friends on Facebook because they are the outgoing type… Well at least mine was. Was it SD or L who got an ambassador who sucked up to the Korean-Americans? I don't remember.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

*Application Process

Please refer to this website for more details about the application process: Application Procedure.
There is an early bird discount deadline, and you should be registered and paid the full amount by then if you want to be considered in the list of single room applications. Housing fees are paid one week after check-in because you only find out your rooming when they e-mail the list of student IDs and room allocations.