Seoul. Life. Study. K-POP. misses: Day 1: Placement Test, Orientation and Campus Tour

First day of the Program! Didn't walk in the school before so decided to head out early. Followed some of those who had already walked around school yesterday.

Kyung Hee University main gate! Kyung Hee Medical Centre is right beside.

IIE (Institute of International Education) on top of the hill.

Had placement test at 10 am at IIE room #202. Before the test started, the teachers there told us that if we don't know any Korean alphabets we can leave the room and come back only at 12 pm for the orientation. That was kinda hilarious the way they said it. haha. But because I learnt a little online from YouTube, I stayed. The first few questions were quite easy asking what is this and time etc. But when it comes to the back few questions (starting from question 20 out of the whole 50 questions) it just made me feel like answering the whole thing without reading. Reading those questions at the end gave me a headache! Was told to go for listening and speaking test when I was half way done at question 25. Reading was quite ok but when it comes to listening and speaking that is where the problem comes! Introducing myself and all wasn't a problem at the beginning then suddenly all the unknown sentences came out. And worst thing when the teacher pointed the desk and said "이것은 무엇입니까? (What is this?)" I was super happy because I actually learnt that online! But I just can't seemed to remember what it is called. I panicked and said "erm desk?" In my mind was "shit! How can I forget what is that most important word "책상"!!" and immediately the teacher nodded and said "Beginner 1".Totally screwed even if I complete the written paper and did the front part good enough for Beginner 2 I would still be Beginner 1 because of the interview test! I even wrote apple (사과) wrongly! Can't believe this! oh well. But learning back the basics would still be the best for me. Self learning Korean online is way too hard to use because you won't know whether it is right or wrong and what other people say in Korea may be different from what I learnt online. So am grateful still.

Went to eat at the nearby bakery cafe in school. They have all sorts of hot drinks and freshly-baked bread! Wen Lin and I were the last to leave the classroom after the test because we didn't complete the paper in time. So we just have a super light meal and it was time to go back to the classroom for orientation. We were greeted by Professor Kim and she gave us the program booklet with all of our names and birthday. She also told us that 5 students are in the different class as the other 16 Beginner 1. 3 Beginner 2 (Danica, Samantha and Hui Mei) and 2 Intermediate 1 (Wen Lin and Laetitia) After that we went for our campus tour led by Teacher Lee.

The Library

The inside of the library. Looks so grand!

The big photo area where all students take photos at for class. We had the taste of it first! haha! Photos can be found around the stairs in IIE.

Climbing the hill to the next place

The Orbis Hall! Apparently this hall is actually where some award shows (Golden Disk Award) and celebrity concerts are held! So many celebrities have came here before! Imagine Yoo Jae Suk and the rest of the popular MCs gathering here. WOW!

All 21 of us!! :)

The inside of the hall! So grand too! and there is like 2 stories! Super huge! Wonder if I will have a chance to actually sit here and watch a concert anytime.. :P

The common area where I heard that many people take pictures at.

Us again! :)

Crown Hall!

The inside of Crown Hall! This is the venue where our opening ceremony will be at tomorrow.

Saw this pretty heart outside Crown Hall! <3

My textbook, workbook and program booklet

Thanks to the program booklet, everyone knew my birthday is tomorrow! So some of them (Nicole, Samantha, Daniel, Zac and Wen Lin. Jovian and Rayner joined for the drinks after dinner but turned out that they didn't eat at all!) planned dinner and some drinking session for me. Thanks guys! Was so grateful for it.