Hello there,
I am studying entrepreneurship and team leadership at TAMK, and I brought a travel UGC project with me from Finland that I run under my cooperative back home. Before arriving, I imagined Seoul would be this futuristic city where entrepreneurship would be everywhere since this place runs on corporations. Turns out I was wrong. The startup scene exists but it is hidden behind the massive corporate culture that dominates everything here.
Spare time in Seoul
My free time has been split between working on my Finnish project with the time difference and just soaking in a culture that is completely opposite to Finland. I have gotten used to jogging in a city of millions, which feels surreal compared to running in Finnish forests. I found an apartment outside campus, which means I am living the local life without a student support bubble around me. It suits me well tho.
One of my favourite things here is KBBQ with friends and some beer. Korean beer is so light it goes down almost like water. The food is incredible though, completely different from Finnish meatballs and mashed potatoes. I have gotten so used to eating with chopsticks that going back to forks and knives will probably feel strange.
I have also done mountain hikes around Seoul. The city is surrounded by mountains and there are so many to climb. The highest one I did was Bukhansan at 900 meters. Watching Koreans of all ages power up those trails has been inspiring.
A tennis course at school got me hooked, so now I play morning tennis on weekends with my friends before the heat kicks in, and then we grab smoothies after. I have also done my share of shopping. The shopping culture here is completely different from Finland and I have definitely gotten carried away with souvenirs. I have tried to avoid the tourist traps and found spots that only locals know about, which has been rewarding.
Of course, free time also means studying. I still do coursework for Finland and run my business projects, plus university classes here. Honestly it has been refreshing to attend actual lectures since at Finnish universities of applied sciences we do not really have traditional lectures the same way.
Comparing study cultures
The biggest difference is pressure. Korean students study through the night during exam periods. Libraries are packed 24/7 during midterms and finals. There is this sense that you either succeed or you fail, no middle ground. In Finland we learn at our own pace and failure is part of the process. Here the stakes feel impossibly high.
The classroom culture is also more formal. Students are quieter, more respectful toward professors, and the hierarchy is visible in ways that feel foreign to someone from egalitarian Finland. But attending lectures has been a nice change of pace from the project-based learning I am used to at Proakatemia.
-Siiri
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