Studying

As I figured at some point of the semester the balance between studying and free time activities changes and the focus moves towards studying. It is not a bad thing, after all we're exchange students. I just hope it's not gonna be all-studying-no-fun for the rest of the time. Well... I shouldn't worry. We are exchange students after all ;)

The most difficult thing when it comes to school for me right now is to get a picture about how much work the professors expect from us. The courses aren't difficult themselves, it's just that I don't know how much time to spend on the studies and assignments.

Some Korean students tend to live at the library. When you try to find a desk there you see that many desks are already "taken"; there are books and stuff on the tables waiting for the student to return. I wouldn't be surprised to see a houseplant on some desk there! You also see people sleeping with their head on their books. Of course they need a nap if they stay there all day...

One difference between Koreans westerners is the effectivesess. I wouldn't want to say that Koreans aren't effective, the infrastructure and constructions in Seoul are a proof of that. (Nothing in Finland would happen as fast as it happenes here.) The point is just that we westerners want to spend as little time on doing things as possible. If there is a decision to make in a group, we discuss it and make the decision and people compromise. If we have to do a group work, we make it as good as reasonably possible and hand it in. It doesn't have to be perfect in every aspect. I guess Koreans want to do things more carefully.

None of the styles is better than the other. The difference is how we measure time spent on the work. We westerners want to start working, do the job and get out. That is effective for us. Koreans in the other hand do a lot of other stuff like discussing alongside. So the time spent on doing the actual actions might be the same, just the style is different.

This text is really rough. I separate 'westerners' and 'Koreans' pretty arbitrarily and my arguments are subjective. It shouldn't say "westerners and Koreans" but rather "me and my impression".

Last week we represented and advertised our home university HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences to potential exchange students with Ville.