BLOG.: SeoulTech International Summer School Program

Thinking about the 2013 STISS Program that has ended, it feels surreal now. Perhaps my mind is still travelling around, enjoying the most convenient city I’ve ever been to. I enjoyed every single second I spent with everyone there. Let me start telling you my story.

Over the past summer holiday, I had the privilege of participating in a summer school program in Seoul, South Korea. This program, the 2013 STISS is a cultural program designed by Seoultech for students who wish to improve their understanding of Korea. It offers various courses such as Basic Korean Language, Korean Music, Korean Movie, Korean Traditional Musical Instrument, and Taekwondo. And also, it gives the students opportunity to experience other korean cultural activities, such as Hanbok Experience, Making Traditional Mask, Field Trip to traditional Korean Village, and also watching Musical Performance (NANTA Show). This program has 3 terms, and I participated in the 1st one along with my 2 friends, Kinanti and Aini.

Not only were we enjoying the scheduled program, but we also had a lot of fun going around the city! Imagine, we never stayed after classes, we always got back to dorm at night. There were always some participants and volunteers asking us out every afternoon. We went to many places, tried a lot of various korean food and snacks, took loads of pictures, sang millions of songs, and danced till our feet hurt! You only live once, right?

Staying in another country is one of the most effective ways to gain insights about yourself since it forces you to live outside of your comfort zone. I had proven this over my 2-week stay in Seoul when I had to communicate and live with the other participants from various countries. I learnt to live independently and pay more attention to my surroundings. This experience also made me learn from the people in Korea, as they were extremely kind and eager to help me despite the language barrier.

Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got from my STISS experience was the amazing friendship. Staying and studying with participants from Taiwan, Mongolia, UAE, UK, Japan, and also the volunteers from Korea made me learn to value, understand, and respect our differences. Being friends with them gave me new ways of seeing and dealing with things through a different perspective. Most importantly, the bonds I formed with the participants have not only extended my network that will definitely help me in the future, but also given me an opportunity to have new family.

I will never be able to describe how much fun I had during this program, because it’s just too much, believe me. I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to get this incredible summer experience. And I would like to thank Seoultech and also the international office of Universitas Indonesia for giving me that. At first, I joined this program with a view to honing my english and filling my passport with new stamps. But turned out it also gave me insight of what to do in the future. It was brilliant, unforgettable on all levels.

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