I have been in Korea for 2 years, experienced both lab life and a housewife life ;). In this blog, I almost focus on the study in Korea and only adjust a few things living here.
Deciding to study in Korea, you must face many different things, i.e., culture, language, lifestyle and even thought. As other North Asian countries, Korea had had a long time being almost closed about culture, language. Korean thinks they are the highest and noble nation in the world, they don't want their children getting married to foreigner, they believe that their language is the smartest language in the world (?!?, I don't very understand the meaning of the most intelligent language). That's a reason why you cannot live well in Korea when you can't speak Korean, not many Korean can speak English.
Being thinking that they are better than the rest of the world makes them not to accept us (foreigners) into their "우리" circle if we don't speak Korean and don't appreciate everything they have (Korean has "우리" culture, "우리" means we in English, it means if someone accepts others is their "우리", they will consider those more than the remain). Sometimes I have a feeling that they are not confident of themselves. They seem to try not to understand that "respect is something earned, not something given".
Korean respects education, it's a good point, I know. However, they over-respect everything related to education. If you graduated from a not-good-university, despite how good your skills, your ability are, you have a lower starting salary than the ones who graduated from a higher rank university. The good thing is there are many opportunities to find a position as a graduate student in Korea. The bad thing is professor is like a God here. It's not always good having power concentrated in one person, if the king is good, the country is rich, people lives in peace, otherwise it is surely a hell.
I am the one who lived in that hell once, and I decided to quit, even though I already spent half of the time for my Ph.D. If the professor calls you, and you don't answer the phone, or you don't have the phone by your side, a storm will come. In the meeting, if you don't agree with him, you can get a thick book right on your face (of course, this one will never happen to me, since I am a woman but be careful if you are a man). You are micro-controlled even in your individual time. On Sunday, if the professor is in the lab, and he sends the email to you, you probably should be in your lab. At 2 am, if professor is still working, and you are in your bed, you are guilty. And many other bad things that I cannot remember all, and yet I want to forget all now.
Of course, thing will be better if you have a nice professor. However, their "level" culture is one thing that not all foreigner can stand on. You must respect the one who is older than you, be your senior without considering whether he is deserved or not. As I mentioned, "respect is something earned, not something given". But here, you are asked to respect someone.
Culture, language, lifestyle can be adapted but not thought. They have a different mindset. In the lab, despite how you focus on your work, Korean always talks to each other, sounds like buzzing. Almost the time, they tell bad things about others (like I do now...lol). And a weird thing that I still not understand until now is I almost cannot laugh at their jokes, also they cannot laugh at mine :))), although I can laugh at an American sitcom, or a joke that my European friends make, and I think I am not a boring person. That's weird, isn't it? And I think I cannot live here, so I decide to leave, as soon as possible.
(to be continued).
Deciding to study in Korea, you must face many different things, i.e., culture, language, lifestyle and even thought. As other North Asian countries, Korea had had a long time being almost closed about culture, language. Korean thinks they are the highest and noble nation in the world, they don't want their children getting married to foreigner, they believe that their language is the smartest language in the world (?!?, I don't very understand the meaning of the most intelligent language). That's a reason why you cannot live well in Korea when you can't speak Korean, not many Korean can speak English.
Being thinking that they are better than the rest of the world makes them not to accept us (foreigners) into their "우리" circle if we don't speak Korean and don't appreciate everything they have (Korean has "우리" culture, "우리" means we in English, it means if someone accepts others is their "우리", they will consider those more than the remain). Sometimes I have a feeling that they are not confident of themselves. They seem to try not to understand that "respect is something earned, not something given".
Korean respects education, it's a good point, I know. However, they over-respect everything related to education. If you graduated from a not-good-university, despite how good your skills, your ability are, you have a lower starting salary than the ones who graduated from a higher rank university. The good thing is there are many opportunities to find a position as a graduate student in Korea. The bad thing is professor is like a God here. It's not always good having power concentrated in one person, if the king is good, the country is rich, people lives in peace, otherwise it is surely a hell.
I am the one who lived in that hell once, and I decided to quit, even though I already spent half of the time for my Ph.D. If the professor calls you, and you don't answer the phone, or you don't have the phone by your side, a storm will come. In the meeting, if you don't agree with him, you can get a thick book right on your face (of course, this one will never happen to me, since I am a woman but be careful if you are a man). You are micro-controlled even in your individual time. On Sunday, if the professor is in the lab, and he sends the email to you, you probably should be in your lab. At 2 am, if professor is still working, and you are in your bed, you are guilty. And many other bad things that I cannot remember all, and yet I want to forget all now.
Of course, thing will be better if you have a nice professor. However, their "level" culture is one thing that not all foreigner can stand on. You must respect the one who is older than you, be your senior without considering whether he is deserved or not. As I mentioned, "respect is something earned, not something given". But here, you are asked to respect someone.
Culture, language, lifestyle can be adapted but not thought. They have a different mindset. In the lab, despite how you focus on your work, Korean always talks to each other, sounds like buzzing. Almost the time, they tell bad things about others (like I do now...lol). And a weird thing that I still not understand until now is I almost cannot laugh at their jokes, also they cannot laugh at mine :))), although I can laugh at an American sitcom, or a joke that my European friends make, and I think I am not a boring person. That's weird, isn't it? And I think I cannot live here, so I decide to leave, as soon as possible.
(to be continued).
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