Classes started on the 13th of December. After our zoom placement tests, we found out on the school portal which level we would take. The level structure for Korean classes at KU’s Korean language centre is different to the University of Auckland’s.
Having completed only Korean 110 and 111 at UoA, I was confident I would be put into KU’s level 2. But since there are six levels, I got put into level 3. Compared with the other PMSA students who have completed intermediate Korean at UoA (level 2), KU’s level 3 does repeat some of UoA’s Korean level 2 grammar. That does not say, however, that KU’s level 3 course is the same as UoA’s level 2 Korean courses. Since we use different textbooks to that of UoA, we learn various topics, with a variety of vocabulary and grammar (The green books in the pictures is the KU level 3 textbooks).
My class has 12 students from different parts of the world and from different walks of life. My class, in particular, has students from Hong Kong, Japan, China, Australia and the Netherlands. We have class every day, and since I got the morning classes, it is from 9 am to 1 pm. We have two teachers. The first teacher teaches the first two hours, and the second teaches the last two. After every 50 minutes, we get a 10-minute break, except for the middle break (after the first two hours), we get a 20-minute break.
Every Monday, we switch tables so that we work with different students. I like this as it is nice to get the chance to get to know other classmates more when doing speaking exercises with classmates next to me.
After class, I usually go out for lunch with friends and then study at a cafe or back at the dorms. Creating an after-class routine was a lot easier than I expected. On the other hand, finding breakfast took a lot more work than I expected. After eating breakfast at the convenience store for a while, it started to feel unhealthy. We couldn’t eat breakfast outside as well, as most places do not open till late, and since our dorms are on a hill, we had to go for a walk to go and find food. The first week’s breakfast plan was either the convenience store or the toast place nearby.
I only recently found a mart that sells fruit cheaper than the convenience store. So, now I buy a bundle of bananas and mandarins, store them on my windowsill (since it is cold on the windowsill and we don’t have a fridge), and eat them for breakfast.
So far, I have been enjoying my classes and going out with friends after class. It suddenly got colder (averaging around -8/-10) compared to the first week we spent in Seoul, so it has been snowing regularly. When it snows, people create a lot of snow art, such as snow ducks and snowmen, making the streets look much prettier (e.g. the duck army and the heart in front of KU).
