Pre-Departure

After getting the call that I was accepted into Globalinks' study abroad program to

Korea University in South Korea I screamed and leaped for joy (literally). Words couldn't explain how happy I was at that moment that I found out I was accepted. For the first week after being accepted I was literally on cloud 9 and NOTHING could bring me down. Until the work started... Now because Globalinks Study Abroad is an external program that meant I had to complete requirements from both Temple University's Study Abroad office and Globalinks.

On Temple's Study Abroad checklist I only had 4 things to complete by December 15th. On Globalinks side, I had 25 requirements to be completed by certain dates which ran very close to each other. My one main mistake was that I under estimated how much work this was actually going to be. When I had last studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea, in the summer of 2009, everything went very smoothly. But this time, is a very different story.

On Temple's side after meeting with the head adviser of the external programs  from the Study Abroad office, I had to meet with my academic adviser. Because I wasn't studying abroad through Temple's program I had to go through each course I would need and get each class evaluated and approved. This meant that I had to go to each department to get each course approved myself. Seeing that I was really worried about this half of the processes my adviser informed me that I had nothing to worry about because she was going to make copies of form to send out to each department. The only thing I had to do was to go to Korea University's website and download syllabuses for each course I wished to take.

As I was knocking out Globalinks and Temple's requirements I felt invincible, until I had to deal with the Finical Aid Office...

(Side Note: Now for those who don't know, yes you are able to use your financial aid package for study abroad programs through your home university.)

For external study abroad students this is where things begin to get complicated. In order to me to be able to use my financial aid I had to wait for all 8 of my courses to be approved and sent in. Then I would have to send Temple’s consortium form to Globalinks, and give Globalinks financial aid paper work for Temple to fill out, which was due on December 1^st. So to make a long story short, I was able to get all of that sorted out by November 29^th.

Thankfully the majority of these problems and all this running around have been solved before finals week came. Although this whole thing has stressed me out beyond belief, I wouldn't want to have it any other way. I’m extremely grateful that I am able to finally study abroad back in Seoul.