Even though my four-month long exchange semester is almost over, I still can remember my first day. I was appointed a dorm room nearby campus instead of one on the KAIST main campus. After some facebook-stalking with a list of names, I figured out that I would be sharing my dorm room with a student from Delft. When I opened my door, there was a Korean guy laying on my bed, who didn’t speak a word of Dutch or English. With a lot of effort on my part, I found out that his new room for this semester was still occupied. Besides my room still being occupied, the toilet was dirtier than the average student-bathroom back home. Luckily, a lot of people complained about this situation and the dorm was declared uninhabitable. We were transferred to a hotel and the next day we could move into a dorm on the main campus. From that moment on, time flew by so fast. 

Most chicken per Korean Won

Cooking is not allowed in the dorm. Furthermore, there are no kitchens available, so you simply just can’t cook. Now I am obliged to go out to get food. For breakfast and lunch, I mainly go to the main cafeteria on campus ((±3000 krw= 2,30 euros). For dinner, we mostly go to the 'West Gate'. An area just outside of campus filled with diverse restaurants and random places to eat. When going out for dinner, you can see the collective mindset of the Korean. Eating dinner alone is a no go and most of the dishes are prepared with at least two people in mind. The top picks so far Hoolala and Outdark. Hoolala has the beloved 'chicken with cheese' and Outdark delivers the most chicken per Korean Won.

The study pressure is similar to back home, which means: work hard during the weekdays and go out on the weekends! This made it possible for me to go for a few weekends to Seoul and different cities,  gave my father and brother a speed tour of Korea, made a road trip, did a lot of hikes (it’s the national sport), went to Hong Kong, and I will be going to Taipei next week!