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E-Mail: L.erkens@tilburguniversity.edu Study Program: Master International and European Law Exchange semester: Fall Academic year: 2016-2017 Host University: Yonsei University Country: South Korea General information about the school & practical information

Yonsei University is located in the biggest city of South Korea, Seoul. I really love Seoul since it is so vibrant, well developed, with a lot of young people living there. Not even one day passed that I felt bored because of all the fun things that Seoul has to offer. With my fellow international exchange students, we went out for dinner every day in one out of hundred cozy restaurants that we could choose from. In contrast with some other universities, Yonsei University has a perfect location. It is situated in the area called Sinchon, which has a vibrant nightlife, several cinemas, tons of restaurants, shops, gaming halls and karaoke bars (which the Korean people love to spend their leisure time). I felt blessed to live in such a ‘busy’ – but not

overcrowded – area since some of the other universities in Seoul are located in a quieter environment with fewer activities to choose from. The campus of Yonsei University is quite impressive (especially since I am used to the campus of Tilburg University which can be considered small in contrast with Yonsei University); it is one of the largest in Korea (it could take up to 25 minutes to just cross the campus walking), with a combination of high-tech; fancy looking new buildings and historical buildings that date from 1885, the time the university was established. The latter gave me the impression I was studying at ‘Hogwards’ (or in Dutch ‘Zweinstein’) like in the movie Harry Potter. The impressive campus corresponds with the image that Yonsei University carries out in Korea, or even worldwide. It is one of the three ‘SKY-universities’ (Seoul National University, Korea University and my host university: Yonsei University) which are considered the most prestigious in Korea. Living in such an energetic, dynamic area with a lot of new

buildings and lively nightlife, I was worried that I would miss the nature as I am used to in Holland. To my surprise, it was just the opposite, mainly due to the location of Yonsei University. Yonsei University is built into the side of a mountain called ‘Ansan’.

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While hiking up to the top of the Ansan Mountain you can enjoy the beautiful green woods and at the peak, enjoy a splendid view over a great part of Seoul. The view was so superb that I went up to the peak for another time later during my exchange to show it to others. If you like to enjoy the beautiful nature, chatting along with your friends while hiking and get some exercise at the same time, Seoul is the place to be. There are a lot of mountains which have paths for beginners and advanced hikers. For me it

was a great manner of spending my leisure time and a lot of my friends felt the same way. Besides going hiking, spending our time in the karaoke bars or gaming halls or just shopping, I also visited a lot of beautiful temples during my exchange. Yonsei university is located near one

of the ‘must see’ temples of Seoul, called the Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was the main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty and I can assure you, the pavilion is breathtaking. Although the entrance to the palace is almost null, you could even go in for free when wearing the traditional Korean clothing ‘Hanbok’. Since I visited the palace during the hot summer and the costume would not make it more bearable, I did not try it myself. However, I still enjoyed all the others (both Korean and international people) who tried the costumes and wandered around at the palace. It had a really nice feel to it. After visiting the Gyeonbokgung Palace, I went out for dinner with my friends and ate the famous Korean traditional dish called ‘Jokbal’ (pigs feet). It is one of my favorite dishes here in

Korea. Since I am a real foodie, I felt blessed that I could enjoy all the crazy and delicious dishes that the Korean cuisine has to offer. From eating alive octopus – one of the weirdest dishes I ever tried in my life – to Korean barbeque, spicy ramen noodles that made me cry and ‘kimbap’ the well-known Korean sushi roll, which everyone loves.

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I stayed in the dormitory of Yonsei University, where we could cook in the kitchen of the downstairs basement, however, because it was pretty cheap to eat outside the dormitory (varying from 4.000 to 8.000 Korean won, which is 3 to 6 euro’s), everybody was going out for dinner every single day. Talking about costs, I guess I have spent approximately 4.500 euro’s in total during my exchange, this includes my single flight to Korea, food, housing, transport, books, several trips I made

during my exchange (trips within Seoul, a trip to the South of Korea to Busan and a trip to Japan) and extra costs for buying clothes or tickets to all the parties I went to. Because I wanted to make the most out of my exchange, I spent way more than I usually did in Tilburg. However, in my opinion, all in sum, 4.500 euro’s is not that bad, since I did everything what my tiny little heart could dream of. I could easily move myself in Seoul by subway, bus or taxi. Normally, in Holland, the cab is the most expensive options of transportation; however, in Seoul it was incredibly cheap. Coming back home from a party in one of the hot Gangnam clubs in Seoul, I would share a cab with my friends, spent almost half an hour in the cab and (as a result of our ‘Dutchy-split’) I would only pay 2,50 euro. That does not give us sleepless nights right? Because Korea is unbelievably safe, you could easily – as a girl – take a cab home all by yourself at the middle of the night without the fear of getting scammed or some other nightmare coming true. During my four months stay in Seoul, there was not even one moment that I felt unsafe. The Korean people are very kind, stick to the rules (they even line up for the bus or subway) and are always helpful although they – most of the time – do not speak English. The young peeps living in Seoul however, will be able to understand you

and will do everything to get your problem solved, such as getting you to a certain location (walking you all the way up to your destination although it is 10 minutes walking away from the direction they are supposed to go), get you on the right subway, or get your favorite dish ordered while you are staring at the menu with only Korean symbols without any food-pictures. This brings me to one important subject, I definitely want to talk about. Culture-shock, which students must not underestimate. For me, it was the first time that I ever visited an Asian country. Although I have read a lot of blogs and watched YouTube-videos about the Korean lifestyle, you can never anticipate on how well you will adapt yourself to your new environment. The Korean culture differs from our Western culture in many, many ways. Arriving at the Incheon Airport of Seoul, I was flabbergasted about the fact that I was the only

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foreigner walking around. Not to be offensive, absolutely not, but for me it was the first time I was surrounded by only Asian people. Not being able to communicate with them easily because I cannot speak Korean, not being able to understand the signs

or menu’s, experiencing a totally new environment with its own smells, taste and sounds, it made me feel – in all honesty – a little confused for the first days. However, understand that you are not the only one who needs time to adapt and cope with the huge differences that you are confronted with. Share your thoughts with fellow students, give yourself time to adapt and besides that, understand and accept the new manners. In the end, I feel enriched being confronted which such a different culture. I have deep respect for the Korean manners, manners that have faded away in the Netherlands from which we could definitely learn from. There is a great respect for people who are considered having a higher ‘position’ within society, such as elderly, your parents, professors or anyone who is older then you. Asking your age is therefore not considered rude, it is just a way to know how they could be the most polite towards you. Or if you receive or give something to somebody, use both

hands or bow when you leave the restaurant as a sign of respect for the restaurant workers who served you. This nonverbal Korean politeness – at first – felt a little uncomfortable, but after one week, I bowed and used my both hands when I paid with my card as if I did it this way all my life. Being aware and opening up to these new social norms, will be fun and maybe even enlighten you by getting a new perspective on your own values and norms. In addition, it will not only be the Korean culture you will be embracing. Since I was staying in the dormitory of Yonsei University (SK Global House), I came in contact with a lot of other international students who – all coming from different places in the world – also traveled all the way to go on exchange in Korea. I chose to rent a double room instead of a single room in SK Global House because it made me more relaxed, knowing that there was always going to be someone to come home to. I was sharing the room, bathroom and toilet with a girl from the United States (originally from Korea). We both entered the room as strangers, however, after living together for four months we became close friends. Yonsei University is expanding its capacity to give accommodation to more international students, however, at the time I was staying in the dormitory I was living with 499 other international students. Yonsei University also had a special buddy-program that linked me to a mentor or buddy that would organize an event with a small group of students (or a ‘cell meeting’, a meeting with several groups from different mentors). So do not be scared to feel lonely once you are on exchange, there are so many activities organized by Yonsei University that makes it really easy to connect with others. With friends from Venezuela, Spain, the United States, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Kazakhstan etc. I was in one heck of special situation that I will never ever forget. Therefore, I could recommend going on exchange to every single student. Get

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out of your comfort zone, push your boundaries and give yourself this once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience different cultural backgrounds and feel enriched, like me. Now it all will seem like just a few ‘inspiring’ words on a piece of paper, however only if you take this leap of faith, you will understand what these words truly mean. Academic information At Yonsei University, the number of law courses that are taught in English are relatively small. They have wide range of Korean taught law courses; however, since I do not speak Korean my choices were limited. Because I wanted to broaden and deepen my international legal knowledge and wanted to get to know the basics of the political and legal system of the country that I was visiting, I chose for the following courses:

Course Prerequisites Exam ECTS

International Business Law

None 1. Presentation 2. Moot negotiation 3. In-class final exam

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Comments on International Business Law Fun interactive class, which covers the most out-standing, controversial cases in the area of International Business Law.

Korean Law and Legal system

Undergraduate School of Law

1. Three our open book in-class final exam

2. Two response papers

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Comments on Korean Law and Legal system

This course – next to the course called U.S. Contract Law – is taught by one of the most intelligent human beings I have ever met, professor Yong-Sung (Jonathan) Kang, who is graduated Magna Cum Laude at Harvard Law School. I can highly recommend these two courses, since you could learn a lot from his way of (legal) reasoning, which is incredibly impressive. Except of the professor, the course content is really interesting too because you get to know the Korean legal system and its historical development while comparing it with other influencing legal systems like Japan.

Law and Justice

None 1. Presentation 2. Take-home

midterm 3. In-class final exam

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Comments on Law and Justice A fun course in which you do research on several historical and political Korean issues that occurred in the past or are hot topic in the news nowadays. One downside, the workload is pretty high because of all the weekly assignments you need to hand in.

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U.S. Contract Law

Undergraduate School of Law

1. In-class midterm 2. Three our open

book in-class final exam

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Comments on U.S. Contract Law Since the Netherlands is a civil law-country, the common law system of the U.S. was totally new for me. Although the work-load is pretty high for this course, professor Kang knew how to create curiosity among students and make us understand all the doctrines in a fun way, although the material is quite tough.