Culture Shock about Christmas Holiday in Korea

  If you are in Korea or any Asian country I have a question for you; do you enjoy Christmas there? As for me, I do not enjoy Christmas in Korea. If you are not in Asia or Korea, you can imagine how boring it is to be in a quiet home. Especially Christmas time! Korean neighborhoods are so quite. The landlord can give you several warnings if you make noise in your apartment. Even your neighbors whom you haven't seen can leave notices at your door if you play loud music or talk loudly. If one wants to hold a party, they have to rent a facility for that. In Korea if you want the ghetto kind of noise, you just go to the market, shopping malls and clubs. 

 Imagine, the ghetto in me of listening to loud music and even dancing to music from neighbor's parties. I even wonder if Korean families own speakers or amplifiers. Honestly, Korean households are just too quiet for me. This is a culture shocker and others mentioned in previous post.

 I always go to downtown for a Christmas feel. South Korean calendar shows Christmas holiday only on the 25th of December! No boxing day holiday, if 26th of December falls on a working day you just go to work! Luckily this year 26th was a Saturday so we had a day off!  Another shocker is the amount of decorations they put for Christmas you would think it's a week holiday. I am one person who grew up celebrating Christmas from the 19th of December to 2 January kind of festive mood. I miss loud music parties and outdoor braai on fire at home.  Who else miss home Christmas party?

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Please leave a comment.

Review on Research Based Ph.D. Scholarships in South Korea

A research based scholarship for Ph.D. is a full-tuition scholarship offered to International Students to pursue their studies. These are mostly in research based degrees such as Engineering and Biological Sciences.

Ph.D. graduation 22 Feb 2018, Materials Science & Engineering
 @University of Seoul

I will stick to my major, Materials Science and Engineering. I was offered the full-tuition scholarship at University of Seoul from 2015 to 2017 (2 years of course work to obtain 60 credits). Then depending on your Supervisor whom you work with from day one of your admission, you simultaneously conduct research daily whilst doing coursework. In other words, from the day you get enrolled you become fulltime research student until the day of graduation. You also get a living allowance from your Supervisor depending on your ongoing research activities. 

The scholarship package:

1. full tuition by the university

2. Living allowance (depending on the projects in your laboratory)

*if  project funding is low then your living expense allowance will be low, why? There is no way Professor can support you if there is no funding.

In such cases, you need a BACK UP somewhere somehow because cost of living in Seoul is so high. Minimum monthly expenses on tightest budget would be 700,000 won.

This scholarship type is best if your Supervisor has good funding, if not it's a real headache to survive on it because you cannot do part-times here in Korea, it's rare to find one especially for African people.

I also discussed my journey on this link here

Please leave some comments and share this info too. Thank you!

Reviewing the 'so-so'/partial scholarships offered in South Korea

The truth about so-so scholarships/partial scholarships. I  titled this blog 'the so-so scholarships' because these are not the best scholarship options since they are partially funded. 

Master's Degree graduation at Keimyung University 8. 2014 (KISS scholarship)

If your family has to sell an asset to send you to study on this type of scholarship don't even bother. Honestly, you will forever need money from home. You can't work at all, though some people illegally do so, but when caught the fine is very big. I'm talking of more than $1000. Korea is not like Europe or America where you can work to sponsor your studies and family at home so don't give your family unnecessary headache to sponsor your studies in Korea. It's even much better to get a diploma in your country than to come and struggle financially for a Korean degree that you are not certain you will get it. 

The so-so scholarships are for people who can afford:

* to pay to and fro air-ticket

* to pay living expenses monthly for the whole duration of study (~$700 to $1000 per month), but the immigration set up some figures depending on cost of living in South Korea.

*to pay monthly health insurances 

*to top up tuition as discounted by university if you meet the criteria.

*sometimes it can be good that you get full tuition, dormitory and a little living allowance which requires a backup. I was on such scholarship it wasn't easy to survive on that small amount. I reviewed this type of scholarship here.

Which criteria?

* Korean language proficiency, by the student, level 3, level 4, level 5, level 6

The higher the TOPIK score the higher the tuition waiver for example for level 3 you get 40% discount, level 4 you get 50% discount, level 5 you get 80% discount and level 6 you get 100% discount.

Where to find such scholarships?

*On university websites, just click on international admission scholarships icon on any Korean University site, if they OFFER any, you will definitely see this type of scholarship. N.B you need a backup plan for this kind of scholarship! It's also difficult to work and study to raise funds and in most cases it is prohibited do work on student visa as I mentioned above.

This information might be helpful to someone so please share the information to those interested in studying in Korea. The second part to scholarship reviews is still in the drafts and I will publish asap. Wishing you a joyous Christmas holiday. 

Please leave some comments or questions! Thank you.