WiB wants to give Emma Howey, Vice President of Membership, a warm welcome back from her fall 2023 study abroad trip to South Korea! We sat down with Emma and asked her a few questions about her study abroad experience. Read below to learn more!
Where did you study abroad?
I studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea!
What was the living situation like?
I lived in an apartment style dorm with five roommates. I shared my room with one of my roommates and we had our own bathroom. 😎
What’s a new hobby/food/sport/etc. you picked up while abroad?
A food that I had never had before that I became obsessed with is pork cutlet. I would eat it at least once a week and seriously had to limit my intake in fear I would get sick of it (I never did). Also bingsu (shaved ice) was everything to me.
What’s a new thing you learned about yourself while abroad?
Something I learned about myself was that I have anxiety when I can’t communicate properly. I would seriously get so stressed out when I didn’t know the right words to say. But, I also learned that I’m very good at planning travel. I’m just great at mapping out where to go and all the timing so I can fit in everything I want to do! I’m a great solo traveler. 😎
How the work-life balance while abroad?
I dearly miss my work life balance… I was in five classes and they were very hard (international finance and hedge funds ) especially since I wasn’t used to the competitive culture of academics. But I also had way more time since I wasn’t in any organisations and didn’t have a job, so I was able to travel a lot but also spend time in my dorm watching my k-dramas that I love so much.
Advice for those who want to apply for study abroad/scholarships for abroad?
My advice for applying for scholarships is to apply to as many as possible and make sure you have good recommendations !! I credit so many of the scholarships I got to the great recommendations I had written for me! My advice for applying for abroad is to make sure you really know what you’re getting into. I had studied the Korean culture for seven years before going and still made sure to talk to people that had studied abroad there before so I could hear their experience and advice. You won’t always be able to tell how your experience will be, but it’s very important to be as informed as possible before going and living in another country for a few months.