2024 KNAPS SEP Incoming_Visiting Program_Testimonial by Ben

It was so much fun getting to participate in the student exchange program to Korea! I learned a lot about the pharmaceutical companies abroad and the way their community pharmacies work as well. My grandfather was originally from South Korea until he moved to the United States, so I wanted to have my own experience in South Korea as a healthcare professional. We did so many different activities that I would never have gotten the opportunity to try if I didn’t come to Korea with the amazing team at KNAPS, nor would I have met so many amazing people and became friends with them too. I’d like to also take the time to thank all the people at KNAPS who translated for us and made sure we were following along. They all worked super hard for us to have an enjoyable and educational time, from reserving educational places to visit and finding us restaurants to experience Korean cuisine. I hope their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. I can’t go over all of my favorite moments there, but I can talk about a few!

We visited GC Biopharma, a major pharmaceutical company that focuses on vaccines and other various diseases. We learned about the different medications that are produced, and we got a little tour around their beautiful industry. This is just a small little picture of their garden that we went around.

We got to visit a local pharmacy as well. Local pharmacies in Korea teach that while treating a person's symptoms, they go further than that and try to find what the root cause of the illness is. I’d like to say this was one of my favorite days because I just came out of my local pharmacy rotation and it gave me more insight on how the local pharmacies work abroad. I also learned that local pharmacies pay the most as opposed to the United States where I’m from where they pay the least.

After we finished our tour and Q&A at the local pharmacy, we went to the Korean folk village! I wasn’t aware of this village until this year even though I visited Korea with my family the prior year, but I had so much fun going on all the rides and watching a traditional Korean dance with our groups. Not to mention we all had so much fun on the bumper cars.

This photo was taken when we went to Gwangjang market and we had kimchi pancakes and raw octopus! I kept staring down the octopus to try and make it stop moving but that didn’t happen. I hope everyone else enjoyed the octopus, but that dish was not for me haha.

While exploring Korea, we ended up taking the subway a lot. I remember some of the KNAPS members commenting on how I already got used to navigating my way around the subways, and I thought that was really funny. The United States doesn’t have a countrywide subway system as advanced as Korea does, so I’m sure it must’ve been a little surprising to see a foreigner like me already be familiar with the system. But I overall loved the subway, it’s something I missed from my last visit to Korea. It’s so much better than driving everywhere in the United States.

Looking back at all these photos makes me realize how much this trip impacted me and my view on both the pharmacy field and health collaboration between countries. Not to mention the entire trip in general was the absolute best and I got to meet so many new people with different backgrounds and experiences. It also makes me miss Korea and everyone I met while there. But thank you to everyone for making us feel welcomed and encouraged to be curious while we explored Korea together. The memories we made on the trip is something that I will never forget, and the education we received from the pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers will help me grow as a pharmacist as well. Hopefully I can bring what I learned from Korea back into the United States so I can continue providing care to our patients here.

 

If anyone is considering going to South Korea for pharmacy abroad, I definitely recommend trying it! You’ll learn so much, try a variety of new and delicious foods, and hopefully make a bunch of new friends and memories that will last forever.

 

I hope to see everyone again some time soon! And if any of you ever come to California, don’t be afraid to reach out!

 

Much love, missing you all, hope you all are doing well and staying healthy, and until next time!

 

Benjamin Barruga