2021 Summer Student Exchange Program Experience
Lucija Hergouth (ŠSSFD, Slovenia)
Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Laboratory of molecular immunology
Since I’ve heard about Student Exchange Program (SEP), it was my wish to experience it on the other side of the world. Last year when Coronavirus pandemic hit us, this plan started to fall apart. But I didn’t give up and searched all countries on the IPSF website when I had to apply back in January. When I came across South Korea, I knew this would be my first choice because their programme description was updated this year, giving me hope that they would not cancel SEP program. Besides that, visiting Asia was on my wish list since forever. And I was right, choosing South Korea was the best decision I’ve ever made!
My SEP started with 2 weeks of quarantine. In the beginning, those two weeks sounded like a whole eternity but luckily time went faster than I thought. I took advantage of all this time, writing my master thesis, watching many movies, and even learning some Korean. Also I met some of the SEP team members and the other SEP exchange student from Serbia on ZOOM meetings. They prepared a presentation about Seoul and we had an ice-breaking time playing some fun games. Even though the quarantine was not that terrible I was glad when it was finally over. And the true SEP experience began the next day with full of expectation and excitement.
My first schedule began by looking around the campus of Ewha Womans University(EWU), where I conducted my internship. It rained on the day of the campus tour, but the campus was the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen! Three SEP members joined me on the campus tour and two of them are EWU students. We started by looking around ECC. I’ve been really looking forward to seeing ECC since I’ve heard that it was designed by a famous French designer. As I’d expected, it was amazing. Inside the building, there were various amenities such as restaurants, cafeterias, a souvenir hall, a small movie theater, study rooms, convenience stores, opticians, printing shop, pharmacy, and even a flower shop! After finishing the school tour, we headed forward a College of Pharmacy building. The building seemed to have a long tradition and it was really nice. The building had a total of four floors, with lockers and club rooms in the basement, and various practice rooms and lecture rooms from the second floor. In particular, it was very fascinating to see a mock pharmacy on the first floor where students could experience pharmacy practice in advance. On the second floor, through the bridge, I could go to Building B, where the laboratories of pharmacy professors were mainly located.
On the first day of the long-awaited internship, the SEP members led me to the professor's laboratory. They introduced us to professor Eun Sook Hwang whose field of research is molecular immunobiology. She is well recognized for her research ability in the field of molecular mechanics as a background in biochemistry and molecular biology. She also published more than 60 papers in SCI-level international journals in the field of T cell immunity and adult stem cell differentiation regulation, and won the Korea L'Oreal-UNESC Women's Life Scientist Award.
The research program began with that day and lasted for 4 weeks. During my 4 weeks stay, I mainly worked with two students on their research. After a week of observing, I did the experiments on my own and learned many new things. Almost every day after work with SEP members, we did some sightseeing, hung out and ate delicious Korean food. During the weekends we visited places, which required more time, for example Lotte World, palaces, and Nami Island. The sunset view from Lotte World Tower, Bukchon Hanok Village, Gyeongbokgung Palace, and all the food markets gave me a huge impression. Before going to Korea I was quite worried as I am not a big fan of spicy food, but it didn’t matter at all. Every SEP member I met asked if I could eat spicy food, and helped me to choose the menu. Also, since not all Korean food was spicy, I could enjoy every meal in Korea, feeling the various flavour of food. Everything I tried was delicious, and every scenery I saw was magnificent. Korean food still definitely has a special place in my heart. I miss Korean food a lot because I love pretty much everything I’ve tried!
Even though the Covid-19 situation was getting worse during my internship, SEP team still tried their best. They tried to make my experience memorable and hang out as much as possible. Riding bikes along Han River while the sun was setting down, getting lost in narrow streets of Ikseon-dong, and dressing in Korean traditional clothes made this experience so special.
After 4 weeks of my internship ended, and it was time to head home. It’s a bummer to leave Korea but eating Shabu Shabu and receiving very thoughtful gifts from SEP team on my last day made my leaving a little bit easier. In the end, I would like to thank the whole SEP team for making my SEP experience unforgettable and special thanks to Da Won(SEO) who made it possible!
