One Day Pub organized by SNU Buddy Group 1 and 10

 On the 27th November my SNU Buddy group (group 1) and another group (group 10) organized the a one day pub at SNU station. On Thursday SNU Buddy usually have their Thursday pub in Global House (near the SNU-campus dorm. However, since it was the last Thursday pub, we displaced the Thursday pub with our special pub.We rented a pub called Bunker, where we had a contract with the pub owner. The only condition was that we share our profit with the pub owner, who got 60 % of the profit. Both SNU Buddy groups used the 40 % of profit to go on a trip. Thus, we made a lot of advertisement.

Official advertisement picture/poster.

Our drinks where much cheaper than in Global House. Before we opened the pub, we changed the beer price from 3000 won to 2000 won. Our Cocktails were our trump card. Usually you will get a cocktail for 5000 won with less alcoholic drinks, but our bartenders did a good job. The ingredients for the drinks were sold out, so we had to buy new ones after 2 hours. In the course of time, we did not have enough ice to cool the drinks and the shops were already close. The pub was so crowded. It was a success.

The menu with the cheap prices. Beer was later changed to 2000 won,

For entertaining the pub guests, we learnt a dance the day before. It was a kpop dance and the song was called "Darling" from Girl's Day. It was a lot of fun. Yasmina and Jiwon were teaching us the dance. These two are also memebers at "Goahead", a dance club at SNU.

Dance practice for the song Darling (girl's day) on Wednesday.

Now I would like to show you some staff pictures, which you can enjoy. As you can see, our theme for the pub was christmas time.

Staff group picture (group 1 and group 10).

Kenneth, Yasmina, Hojae and Sora.

SNU BUDDY Group 1.

Yasmina, Sora and Rachel.

Jieun and Jiwon.

The DJ's for the night.

 I would like to thank those who came to the pub to support us, especially my friends from the lab and  from my building. Thank you for coming!

Phillip and the Minnesota girl.

Jieun, Kyoung Min, Yoonbin, and Jong Gil (from lab).

Benni, Nico, Andy Oppa and Yeon Kil.

Nico, Jiin, Andy Oppa and Benni.

Vitor and his friends.

We also offered some games in the pub in order to entertain our guests. It was so much fun watching them. Phillip and the Minnesota girl played beer ping-pong against Michael and Adam, who can drink a lot. To be honest, they did not have the chance to win. Yoonbin played the paper cup game, where he has to throw a ping-pong ball. This game is so difficult, but he manage to be very close in winning the game.

Beer ping-pong.

Yoonbin and the paper cup game.

Getting into SNU (Seoul National University) as an exchange student

Campus Map of SNU

The Seoul National University (SNU) is on the 4th place according to the QS university ranking (in Asia 2014).  The faculty of chemistry is placed on 16th rank of the QS World Universities. Thus, there are so many Koreans having the desire to end up at the particular university due to his high reputation. On 2nd Thursday in November (every year) people can take an university entrance exam called 수학능력시험 which is often compared as the SAT in the USA. On that day all exams will be written at the same time nationwide.

However, for an exchange it is much easier to get into this university.

I did not take the 수학능력시험, but I followed the application procedure on the OIA-website (http://oia.snu.ac.kr/03study_snu/0302_01.html). So first I applied in Hamburg for an nomination of my home university " University of Hamburg". If you have question regarding the nomination, you can always contact the international Office of you home university. I was lucky to get to know exchange students from the previous years and that Prof. Theato offered a programme for student with the major in science. I have to admit that Prof. Theato helped me a lot in getting to SNU.

The next step is to fill in the online-application according to OIA (Office of International Affairs, at SNU)  and to send all required documents via post. Please don't forget that it takes time for the post to arrive.

If your home university does not offer nomination, you can apply for the visiting programme, in which you have to pay tuition fees. However I'm not quiet sure how the application progress works. I recommend you to look it up at http://oia.snu.ac.kr/03study_snu/0303.html.

After all the paperwork was done, I waited for the answer. Ms. Song from the Office of International Affairs wrote me an email to inform me that I was accepted on 23rd June 2014 and I received the acceptance package in the middle of July. Ms. Song has been very kind and helpful. This package consist of a letter of notification with a specific student ID,a small handy book called Seoul Survivor and the certificate of admission (for applying for a visa in your home country).

After I received the acceptance package, I applied for a D-2-visa for students, since it usually takes time.  I had to hand in a application with a colored photo, valid passport, my German ID (and birth certificate), a printed page of my bank balance (at least 3000 Euro for 4 month!!!), a printed page of an email stating where I would stay in Seoul, my certificate of enrollment of the University of Hamburg, the certificate of admission from the SNU-package and a  letter from the "Handelskammer in Hamburg".  The lady of the consulate was very friendly. She told me that it would take two weeks. However, after 3 working days they gave me call that I could pick up my passport because at that time there were not so many people applying for a visa. For more information visit : http://deu-hamburg.mofa.go.kr/worldlanguage/europe/deu-hamburg/main/index.jsp.

Trip to Nami Island with Ligaya

On Saturday Ligaya and I wanted to go Nami Island ( also called Namiseom 남이섬). 

Thanks to Yoonbin, we both got a discount for our train ticket. So want way just cost us 4100 won. Usually it cost around 6000 won for an ITX-ticket (train ticket). We booked the ticket on Friday and there were just a few seats left in the online ITX-system. The ITX-train just takes an hour to go to Gapyeong. 

We took the blue bus 501 from SNU main gate to get to Yongsan, where the ITX leaves. It took us 35 minutes to Yongsan including a traffic jam. However, we missed the train  because the platform was crowded and people did not move. Nobody responded to " Excuse me!", "Sorry!", "Can you please move!" and "This is our train. Please let us through!". So after 10 minutes struggling in the crowd, the train left without us. I assume people did not understand us. Most were Koreans in their late 40s.

Luckily a ITX staff told us to go to the counter to get a refund of 3600 won.

  

So we took the subway instead of the train. The subway took us 2 hours to go to Gapyeong via Sangbong. However, there were not so many people on the subway and we always got a seat. The platform where even very quiet. The subway just cost us each 1900 won.

The empty subway platform in the morning on Saturday.

When we arrived a Gapyeong, we asked a cute couple to slpit with us the cab. However, the girl paid the whole taxi drive saying that we are still students. So she very kind and fun to talk to. On the opposite, the taxi driver cheated on us. He drove the long way and it  cost 5600 won. Normally he should have turn left (from the main entrance of Gapyeong station) to go the shorter way. Thus, not every taxi driver is nice to tourist. When we arrive at the ferry wharf (Nami Island) we bought a bottle of the famous Makkoli (막걸리). Then we bought the Nami Island ticket (also calle Nami Island Visa) which were 8000 won for foreigners. Koreans have to pay 10000 won. We used our alien registration card to get the 2000 won discount.

Ticket fee information of Nami Island.

Main entrance of the ferry.

Our VISA or entrance tickets of Nami Island.

The ferry is arriving.

The ferry just took 5 minutes to go to the island and it was decorated with different flags. Of course, we had to take pictures with the US flag.

The ferry and a lot of people.

The American girl with the US flag.

The German girl with the US flag XD.

Nami Island taken on the ferry.

Ligaya and I on the ferry.

I can easily describe Nami island: it is the most cheesy place I ever have been. Even Disneyland cannot beat it. It is designed for couple and it is based on a Korean drama called Winter Sonata (겨울연가). It has 20 episodes where girls like me cry and laugh. But the island toped even the drama.

Just look at the following pictures.

Nami Island main entrance.

Let''s see if she get a boy- 2nd Jeju Island?

Ligaya and I in front of a certain gate.

Nami Island 1. 

Nami Island 2.

Nami Island 3.

Nami Island 4.

Nami Island 5.

Nami Island 6.

Nami Island 7.

Nami Island 8.

Nami Island 9.

Nami Island 10.

Just because all the tourists from Hong Kong are covering the girl.
I had to do the same. It is in my vene.

Nami Island 11.

Nami Island 12.

Nami Island 13.

Nami Island 14.

Nami Island 15.

Nami Island 16.

Nami Island 17.

Nami Island 18.

Nami Island 19.

Nami Island 20.

Nami Island 21.

Ligaya and a hut where couples snuggle.

Nami Island 22.

Nami Island 23.

Nami Island 24.

We did not eat at the island, as we wanted to try the chicken galbi, which was very famous in the area around Gapyeong. The Korean dish came originally from that area. Thus, we took the ferry back and ate in a restaurant at the ferry wharf. There were six restaurants which offerd this certain dish. We have chosen the one where most people were eating. And we also met there the friendly couple again.

The chicken galbi (닭갈비) was delicious and we got as usual a few free side dishes. The sauce was different to the one in Seoul. It was spicy, but the ingredients of the sauce were mixed well. They complement one another. 

Locations of the restaurants which offer chicken galbi at the ferry wharf.

The menu of the restaurant.

Ligaya and the friendly couple from the taxi drive.

Chicken Galbi.

After our dinner, we followed the growd and took the bus to get to Gapyeong station. It took the bus only 3 minutes to get to the station. Then we took the subway to head home.