TL;DR - Being an International Student in Korea

[@MobbinMic]

I agree that Leigh should do a mini series. So she could talk about stuff like how she transferred, difficulty of the classes, getting a job as a student,etc.!

[@jennshar67]

She totally should. I would like to know her first hand experiences:)

[@smeva26]

yes! there doesnt seem to be a lot of responses to questions on their blog post

[@ChristineDaniels1341]

YES! Do it!

[@orchidmsc]

Leigh has good comedic timing. She should be in more episodes.

[@soobsessedwithcats]

9AM WOULD BE A BLESSING MY CLASSES START AT 7AM AND IM IN HIGH SCHOOL (GERMANY)

[@emlay3078]

I feel ya bro

[@racheln.1989]

Kris You're still lucky tho. Class here in Philippines starts at 6. So you definitely have to be in school before 6 or else you're guardian will be called 😂🎉

[@jimillie6022]

Same (Germany too)

[@luvlihyunjin]

Kris in my country classes start at 8:30 but assembly is at 8

[@lunamooncat7926]

Same, 7.30am for me.

[@MissCupCakeCow]

Leigh is such a beautiful person. She is self confident and speaks so claerly without being nervous! I love it seeing her everytime. Go on Leigh!!!

[@acefrightening7888]

"Voldemort" isn't actually just a random made up name. "Vol de mort" loosely translates to "stealing death" or "stolen death" in (grammatically incorrect) French.

[@StephanieC1]

Ace Frightening "flight of death"

[@joyontheleft]

S Charles technically yes. The verb "VOLER" can translate to "to steal" or "to fly". However, contextually, I think "stolen/stealing death" makes a bit more sense.

[@laredletolvr44]

I think it'd be awesome if Leigh had her own segment/side project talking about her experiences in university and studying Korean. I want to hear more! :)

[@freyaporter99]

A lot of people are like "4 hours a day? THAT'S NOTHING!" First thing - it's a language course. Second thing - it's intense! I'm doing Year 11 and 12 IB course for Italian that crams 6 years worth of Italian language into an 18 month course. The IB part just ended, but now I'm studying for my normal state exams, which will be against people who have been studying Italian for 6 years! It's scary to think that I've done that much in 2 years, and that was only 2 hours a day at most on top of other subjects. Even out of my other courses, Italian is the hardest. Learning a language in a short time period is exhausting. And even after all that, I can't read Harry Potter yet! Despite all that, I would definitely take an intensive language course again, probably in Korean or Welsh if I could get my hands on that. Intense is the only way to go - anything less, especially as an adult, just won't hammer it into your brain.

[@cassandrathomas6015]

I would love to learn Welsh properly! If I found an intensive Welsh language course I would sign right up!

[@freyaporter99]

Cassandra Thomas Let me know if you do! It's not a popular language ... makes me sad

[@Lucini91]

Freya Porter In bocca al lupo ^_^ Vedrai che gli esami andranno bene!

[@BAMBIIx07]

+Freya Porter OMG I FEEL YOUUUUUU i'm in my last year in IB and I did IB French but I had an advantage bc I speak French fluently bUT it was till kinda hard. Hit me up sometimes other IB student

[@BAMBIIx07]

Freya Porter IB peeps gotta represent fam !!

[@magpies.6370]

Leigh needs to do a mini series on student life in Korea.

[@arabnoura8382]

I never went to America But we have an american Military base in my country so we know that most of americans are friendly and open minded, WE LIKE THEM !!

[@amipop1108]

Dude, I want to hug you for being nice and not a jerk like most foreigners are about us. :)

[@woohyukikkoku]

Thank you for saying so!! I was stationed in Korea (now I'm in Germany), and I always do my best to represent Americans as friendly and polite. American military bases often get a bad reputation because of a couple bad eggs, unfortunately. :/

[@eatyourkimchi]

Yeah! It's called eatyourkimchi. You should check it out :D

[@G0053-e3r]

HAHA! I love Leigh, should do more TL:DR with her :D

[@pratyeka]

It's pretty amazing how similar Leigh's descriptions are to my experiences as a student in the same kind of courses in Japan, down to the culture and class setup.

[@LifeDefinedByME]

I love Leigh! Can she talk more about university life in Korea?

[@lovekaoriori]

I think this has to be one of my favorite TL;DRs. Thanks, Leigh!

[@lifeisrosyyy]

We start classes at 7 over here. I would be so so happy with starting at 9am! This is why many students aren't getting enough rest.

[@juandenz2008]

Thanks ! Oh, and Leigh is amazing !! I am astounded she got to that level of fluency so quickly !!

[@Hersheychocolate12]

9 am? That is life and amazing. I have to wake up around 5 for school until 2:40 pm.

[@Mimimpostor]

Please, please continue next week Leigh! I think this is a topic that so many of us are interested in but because there's so little information revolving around it, it's very intimidating. But you guys definitely made it fun. :)

[@isitlina]

oh my god leigh is awesome :D

[@barbarashirland9078]

Oh, and your interviewing style, Martina, is absolutely seamless and wonderful!

[@PachiSupaLuv]

intense = 4 hours a day? SIGN ME UP my major is very general so i have at least 4 lectures a day from 8am to 5pm with a 1 hour gap for lunch. oh and the attendance is compulsory and you cant skip 3 classes for the whole semester. its that strict.

[@BeccaMoses]

But it's just one course. That's one of your classes.

[@skyism5022]

+PachiSupaLuv 4 hours is pretty intense for a language class. I took language courses and it was a pain being in that class for the whole 4 hours. Also since I am pre-med/psych student, I was in class from 8 am to 6 p.m... then had to take a 4 hour language class from 6-10 pm. Attendance was also compulsory so I could not skip a class if I wanted to study for an exam from a diff class. 1st year I took Japanese, second Chinese, third Korean, and fourth Russian. I had many health classes but preferred them because 4 hours of language is a pain!

[@leos5722]

+Katie S If someone has a conversation in French can you understand most of it? The language barrier between French and English is very low.

[@BeccaMoses]

Katie S I feel you. I can have a conversation about onions and lard in Spanish, but that's about it.

[@NovaLaMason]

*IntenSIVE. It means they cram a LOT of information in a short period of time, so you have to learn it FAST. Seems like you need English lessons too.

[@TheSilverMoonFly]

Thank you!!!! My favorite tldr EVER. As an exchange student I totally get you and it makes me feel better to hear of stories like yours. Doesn't make me feel as lonely (: thank you again!

[@Shananaigans12]

I need more videos for this Leigh! lol T minus seven months till I go to Hanyang University!!

[@Hollbyhand]

I absolutely love it when we can see the points of view from other people (in addition to Simon and Martina's)!

[@AngMagulongVlog]

wow Leigh seems a so-fun-to-be-with-girl so funny.

[@kimcheefan4983]

I vote for more TL;DR's with Leigh!!!

[@aihara_namika7585]

i love this one. it help me make decision whether to pursue my study to korea or not. i'll read your blog for more info :3

[@hyperactivegenie]

When I told people in Hawaii that the Korean restaurant in my hometown has restrictions on what you can eat if you go alone, some were shocked. I suppose I am not as surprised hearing that it's the same way in Korea since my initial experiences with Korean food worked along the same lines.

[@xkimmyyoung]

4 hours a day isnt bad. In america I go to school 7hours a day from 7am to 2pm.

[@김태연-i3y5s]

In Philippines it's 8 hrs

[@LindseyNguyenlyr]

haha but with that 7 hours, you go to different classes (includes gym, break, etc..). Imagine being in a class for 4 hours and seeing the same faces for that long, it is intense. Plus she was talking about college level, not high school. I would shoot myself.

[@xkimmyyoung]

I know she's talking about college, but that's not what the point of my comment was. I'd rather see the same faces everyday for 4 hours that see the same faces everyday for 7 hours. Each class it's the same people. college level or not it's basically the same, except different hours.

[@LindseyNguyenlyr]

oh haha my bad

[@adaflorea96]

Yeah, it seemed weird to me too, because I live in Romania and here we've got like 6-7 hours a day with only 10 minutes breaks between classes. And I was stuck too with the same faces and class all day long. And this is the relaxing part of your life. Once you get to university (i go to medical school), you have classes from 7am to 8pm. You don't even have time to sleep or eat!!! So i can't understand how can 4 hours a day of work can be exhausting when I can't even afford to sleep decently. :)

[@rhinoa17]

We need like a series of this topic with Leigh. This is really helpful. Thanks Leigh! :)

[@kitsie_]

I am interested in studying the Korean language, but not as a major. I am a graphic design student (or will be) but I feel as if studying on my on will not progress at the rate I would like. I will look for programs, but are there programs that exist where you can just study the language at a university, even if you aren't going to major in it?

[@FunnySunshineRider]

Not sure if your question has already been answered but I think almost all the big Korean Unis offer them. Just google "KLEC Seoul National University", "KLI Yonsei University" or just any type of "Korean Program (insert Uni)". You'll find a lot of offers :)

[@bitsofplastic]

one of the best tldrs and def the most useful! Love it, thanks guys and Leigh!

[@eatyourkimchi]

Thank you +marsto26 for the Norwegian subtitles, you lovely person you!

[@luenaiya]

Leigh should definitely do more TL;DR's! She's really interesting to listen to

[@niallove]

Omg I still love the "did you have diarrhea? Did you go to the hospital? What color was it?" xD

[@megkocik]

I would love to watch more videos featuring Leigh and her experiences as a student in Korea!

[@Nijidesu]

9am?! That is late.... School starts at 7.30am here and since I live extremely near my school, I leave my house at 7. *immediately calculate the number of extra hours of sleep I could get if classes starts at 9*

[@blissstreeks4035]

HECK YEAH!!!!! YOU GO GIRL! I am learning to read right now and I would be SO stoked to get to that point! You are so awesome sauce. Thanks for making this video!

[@valeriepau6205]

''WHAT COLOR WAS IT?!'' HAHAHAHAHA oh my God I died

[@DaniTheWise1]

Gonna be attending the same program Leigh did in march, i'm so excited!

[@essennagerry]

Actually, the "typical American" to me is something a whole lot like Leigh. I'm Bulgarian, living in Austria and I haven't met all that many Americans, but all of them are pretty cool people. Different from Hollywood and TV series, different in humor and how you act and even just how you look and the vibe you give off. (And I like it way more.) In Bulgaria I was very sarcastic and I wouldn't meet many people who would be that as well, but people would definitely understand it. When I came to Austria my sarcasm just died. :D There's little to no oxygen for sarcasm here (especially if you're a foreigner, since they always try to be considerate of your language skills and are more prone to take you seriously). One day I found my self in an all-American group, I was bombarded by sarcasm and I could only laugh - I couldn't respond. :D I've gotten really rusty.

[@tori6678]

As an American, I could do nothing but nod at your explanation of how we handle sarcasm lol.

[@dinglee2946]

I feel obligated to tell you how happy I am that I got my GPA up to 4.4 from 3.1 and now I made the team. Thanks to [e-mail] for changing my grades

[@mhz12]

So much RESPECT for Leigh!! Moving to a country without knowing the language or anyone there... That's already intense! Not in Korea, but I've done an intensive language program, and so true that it's very difficult to have a social life outside of it and still pass with high scores. and the naps!! So true!

[@azugirl111]

I go to college in America and they also take attendance and if you're absent more than three times a class then your professor will drop you. Also I take a 5 hour long math class twice a week and it sucks ass

[@IchigoHime7]

This TL;DR was so helpful! Even though I don't want to study in Korea, it was a good insight into just being an international student in a country that speaks a different language :)

[@jyrv]

damn here in philippines classes start at 6am

[@sike5043]

Tru and it isnt the best thing

[@mizumj3674]

SOOO TRU OHMYGOSH

[@mikkahsangcopan3334]

relate much

[@DaniDrawsKpop]

I'm really loving how all of the new videos are including more Soo Zee and Leigh! so awesome! keep it up guys

[@lilarose3338]

Am very interested in a program like this!! What can you tell me about Hispanics/Latinos in South Korea?!! :) Thanks! ^-^

[@Diveintonewenglish]

I studied at Yonsei for a little over a year and totally loved it. Not only was the university great, but the location was also really awesome for getting food and having fun

[@bayleyarmstrong3380]

I love Leigh she's hilarious

[@BBMonkeyStar512]

I think you guys should make another one of these!!!! I'm going to study in Korea next year so it would be soooo cool to know as much as I can!!!!

[@vegetable973]

The intensive course isn't even intensive tbh xD For around 4 days in a week of school days, my school hours is from 7am-3.30pm(sometimes even until 4pm)

[@barbarashirland9078]

Leigh was GREAT on camera. Sounds like she definitely has more to say . . . and I'd like to hear her some more!

[@maggieandgeorge]

Martina looks gorgeous.

[@mayyonguyen21]

Wow Leigh is so nice and humorous, I love her! Plus, she really helped me out in this video. Thank you, EYK! (:

[@NikkiNicolePop]

I got accepted to Korea University and I'll be going next Spring. ^^ I'm so excited. I would love to do an intensive language program, but I don't know if I will be able to or not. :( I am going to have fun and work hard either way, though. ^^ Oh errrm, the link for the blog post isn't working. At least not for me. :O

[@ahmedmdarbi746]

Congratulations maybe we'll meet there one day :D

[@NikkiNicolePop]

Ahmed Timberlake Yeah, maybe! :D

[@ahmedmdarbi746]

I'm curious to know how you applied for the university and other things ... Can you give me more details please :D

[@NikkiNicolePop]

Ahmed Timberlake Yeah, sure. ^^ I applied through GlobaLinks Abroad. I had planned on just applying to KU as an international student, but I found their website and decided to give it a try. They were so helpful throughout the whole process, especially since my current school doesn't actually have a study abroad program (community college...Woo. haha.) Since I had to apply for a passport to finish my application, the whole process ended up taking about 3 months. GlobaLinks office called a few weeks ago to let me know I'd been accepted to KU and talked to me about the program and everything. I never actually had to apply directly to KU because GlobaLinks took care of all of that when I submitted my application and transcripts to them, so I'm not sure how difficult the process would be if I had applied to KU on my own. Sorry, I hope I explained everything okay. ^^ let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know. :)

[@ahmedmdarbi746]

@NikkiNicolePop thank's for answering my question I wish you a good luck also a safe trip :D If you want I'll be happy to continue this discussion on facebook I'm sure you'll be very helpful :p

[@ZeniahDragon]

This has been one of your most informative videos so far. And trust me, I've watched almost all of your videos^^;;. I'm so glad that you're mentioning things like this for younger people who might want to go to university in Korea. Ahh. This video made me happy.

[@missonigiri197]

Hey Leigh! What language was the class taught in?

[@cerdoensusalsa]

omg let Leigh do more of this!!! she so cool and i want to know more about korean universities

[@31361claire]

Is depression an open subject koreans talk about? Are there therapists and what are koreans view on antidepressaints?

[@holi82942]

you guys should do a part2!!!!! pleasee im planning on going to ewha next year to do the intensive program but its so difficult to find good info about everything including things that ppl can only tell from experience, please let her do a part two :(

[@M94Otaku]

9AM!?! Compared to where I'm from that's nothing Lol... School started @ 7am, 7AM! Which means I had to wake up @ like 6 to get ready... Man I hated school -__-

[@sprootoveralls1450]

... I have to get up at 5 am... = - = this morning i was just about to break my door, cause I was just that pissed that I had to wake up that early. then I missed the bus... * ^ * So yeah. No complaining.

[@Soreejillah]

Leigh is really well-spoken, I am so glad she was able to talk on this TL;DR :)

[@Syoobi]

Not to be mean or offend anyone, but why is Leigh's eye like that? (I just started watching EYK)

[@fruitflyhunter]

Lena G that's not a lazy eye, a lazy eye is when one weeyks is more hooded then the other

[@fruitflyhunter]

Jung Hyosung *eyelid

[@parreno76]

Jung Hyosung I am just speculating, but it looks like she has astigmatism and maybe it is the cause of it.

[@Nejigurl13]

Can leigh have like a multipart series dedicated to this topic? i think so many people would find her experience as a student extremely helpful!

[@KettiexD]

Wait, Ewha is in Korea, right? How did you get to go study in Korea in the first place? I'm curious, seeing as how you said you knew nothing about Korean culture o.o why'd you decide to go? Did they teach you Korean in english?

[@Lagiacrus1996]

Yes Ewha is in Korea. You can sign up for their language programs on their website. They're quite expensive. And no, the language is taught in Korean (as most people who do the programs don't speak English).

[@KettiexD]

***** Then.. how did Leigh learn it?

[@Lagiacrus1996]

KettiexD By going to class. She was just taught in Korean.

[@saxyviolist]

This is great! I studied for four weeks at Hanyang University, and just got back a week ago. ㅠㅠ Yes, I miss it dearly. This video and the blog post are very helpful! I hope to go and do an intensive language program in the future as well. Thanks for this! Actually, the whole 9am thing is no problem for me. At Hanyang i had 9am classes every morning. And we went drinking the night before usually(ya know,Korean night life!) and survived class the next day. I have them in college too. music major.

[@keke555788]

jeez she talks really fast but she was very informative.

[@arabnoura8382]

Leigh, you are so lucky to study some thing you love and only for 4 hours a day !! when i was a student at law school my schedule started from 8am to 7pm with only one break for 30 minuts. thank god i finally took my license.

[@loverosie4929]

oh my God simon you're so funny xDDD

[@aracelyaybar3281]

Thank you so much for your videos! I am traveling to Korea this month, I'm going to study there for 10 months and all your videos are so good! I have learnt a lot of Korea! :D Love your videos!!

[@Myacckt]

am either I or that girl totally cross-eyed??

[@7777kassandra7777]

Why does that matter?

[@Motthall2009]

Omigahd I love this TL;DR with Leigh! Maybe you guys can also do a TL;DR with Soo Zee! Love seeing more of the EYK Crew!!

[@sunnybunnybunny]

kimbap taste of loneliness :p LOL

[@ninjacatcookie]

I think Leigh should have her own video series on EYK where she could talk about all these things about being a student in Korea! I would like to learn much more, and in videos sometimes things are easier to understand than in blog posts. Even if it's not a long term video series, I think it'd be really cool, even to show some places that foreigners can go to and not feel so... foreign...

[@welldressedbutlate2172]

boldemort... ha ha

[@lousbruise]

i studied the korean language at Yonsei for 3 months and it was the BEST thing i ever did. BEST period of my life. school, teachers, classmates, the life in korea, meeting new people was just plain AWESOME. i miss it so much now and would love to go back and study more or even work there. but finding a job there is sooo hard for asians especially if you're a non-native english speaker. ppffttt.

[@buzzlightyearandco]

What's up with her eyes

[@RinxPanda]

rude

[@truisticprince]

she has lazy eye its unfortunate

[@RinxPanda]

tis :< i have one too but i can contol mine

[@ShadowsOverTheCity]

She has a condition called "Lazy Eye" where the muscles in your eye or eyes are very loose. And do not ask a question like this in the way, it's very rude, especially since you are asking it this way to a kind person like Ms.Leigh.

[@cjqueen]

I would love if Leigh did a segment on this each week on either this channel or openthehappy.

[@alemix_md]

Wow!! I felt so identified with what she said!! I'm finishing my 3rd level of Korean in HUFS, but I started from level 1 in december last year and it was totally like that... we couldn't communicate at all. Well, I was lucky since, even though I'm Spanish, I can speak French and "THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT" so I had a French friend in my class and we could talk, so it was actually not so lonely...or we were lonely together Thanks for all the work!! It would be great if I could meet you in person ^^

[@Shananaigans12]

I have been waiting for this TL;DR, the whole reason I started watching you guys (Even though now I love you guys and have watched every video XD) was because I am going to be studying abroad in Seoul within the next year or two, so this video and the blog was very informational! Thank you Leigh (And Simon and Martina)! You guys are awesome! If you get the chance please make more videos on this topic

[@clarisdogao7436]

watching this made me chuckle a little...because many of the points are true. I'm currently attending Seoul National University's intensive language program...and while there are more americans (I'm a filipino american/Virginian) in the program...my first 2 weeks of class seemed harder than my last semester of graduate school!

[@ToastersaurusRexx]

It would be great if you made an entire series of this. I first found your channel because I was interested in studying abroad in Korea sooooo ;D

[@indigopocky]

prerequisites to get into a language program are being able to pay tuition, if you can do that you're pretty much golden. You don't have to be in college. It's becoming a regular university student over there that's a bit more difficult. If you go to a college your college may have some sister universities in Korea though that you can do a study abroad thing.

[@eda5936]

if you go to college in the US, there are study abroad programs you can take advantage of through the actual school that has programs in korea

[@thirsamisu]

to be honest I feel really excited seeing this, I will check out their site for sure, because I really wanna get a job that has to do with languages

[@translateddaydream]

Leigh you seriously have me extremely pumped for school to start now. I'll be at Yonsei in a few days and I'm taking the intensive Korean course. I think mine's only 2 hours each day though (then again we have to take a placement test before we start class though) so hopefully the time will will be longer ^^ anyway thanks so much for this ^^

[@chkoe96]

Leigh is so down to earth, i love it!

[@Tsubasa9981]

This is the most useful and interesting tl;dr ever!!!

[@jasmynpseudonymous2065]

My eye are now opened to Leigh's awesomeness.

[@sadiecherish9509]

LOOOOOOOVE THIS VIDEO!!! I've been waiting for y'all to make a video like this!! Thank you! Keep them coming please!!!

[@Jtwi120lightG]

Love it so insightful and spirit lifting! I'm a 10th grader and I'm trying to decide what I want out of college because I'm defiantly going and this just helped me become more confident in my choice to study a semester or a year... or two overseas :)

[@Milie026]

I love how Soo Zee and Leigh are appearing more and more in the videos, both are really awesome =D

[@PrincessKyuKyu]

Actually I'd really love to talk to Leigh.. She's doing exactly what I am planning to do in a few years and talking to her might help me a LOT..

[@r-ogu-e]

I studied in Korea for 6 months and my class was incredibly diverse ad it didn't take 6 months to start getting along with classmates so people shouldn't be scared off by that - there are different experiences, haha. But I definitely recommend the intensive program for anyone serious about learning the language/culture. It takes a lot if work but the progress is fast and things get fun really fast because you get really comfortable out and about

[@ringringtll]

Woah.Leigh you are really lucky since you only need to study for 4 hours. For me,a typical Singaporean student have to study for at least 6 hours. If I have to include after school lessons/activities,it will be an additional 4 hours.

[@VladKirshkov]

In my architecture program we have four-hour studio classes three times a week, and it's true, that much intense study/mental work at a time is exhausting. Because studio went from 2p to 6p, a lot of people would go home after to eat and take naps... then by midnight everyone would be back in studio, working. But at least we could all understand each other when we complained about how much work we had and how tired we were!

[@JosiptoKorea]

I love you Leigh, you should do this more often!

[@arupopk]

Dear Simon and Martina and Leigh, Thank you for doing this video. You probably don't remember me, but I sent you an e-mail asking about something sort of related to student life. I didn't even know how to phrase what I was asking, but it seems like whatever it was, you answered it. Sincerely, Arushi PS: I only got to see this video right now, but I have been meaning to tell you that I went to Otakon in Baltimore and saw a nasty holding up a Flaxton Street sign going "Brohoho". I smiled.

[@SuperMoocow67]

You guys need to talk about this more. I really want to do in exchange program in Korea for high school though

[@minimouette]

you can try the rotary club exange program where you spend a year studying in an other country and live with a family that help you learn the language. If you are still in high school it's the perfect time to try that program, after it's to late: you're to old to qualify.