This past semester has been quite the ride for me.

I joined a community club (Dongari; 동아리) I resonated so much with for the first time, joined my first dance course!, juggling extracurriculars, part-time work and grades-- all at the same time.

How did I survive?

I had absolutely no clue, either-- and there were definitely times I realized there were better ways to handle some of my situations.

Hi there~ I'm a 2nd-year student at Inha University, Korea and I thought I'd give you a summary of the things I learned over this bustling semester. Hope they might be useful for you~!

⭐️ Tips after 2024 Reflections :

1. Your undergrad university experience is merely 4 years. Use this as a chance to do all the things you’ve ever wanted to! Join that community club you’ve been eyeing on. Sign up for those volunteering events & competitions that your university emails you. You shape the university memories that you’ll want to look back on~
2. Curate a Course schedule that matches your daily habits. If you’re not so much of an early bird, try to avoid too many morning classes– you’ll either struggle to wake up each time, or you’ll end up missing a couple of classes– it is an outright lose-lose situation… Know yourself and curate a schedule that you know you can handle over the entire semester!
3. Don’t limit yourself to courses within your major. Sometimes, a really good freshener to have during your semester– are the general elective courses that have absolutely no correlation to your major. I’m a Business Major, but I took a Dance Sports course during 2024-2, and it was one of the best decisions I had made for the semester haha. It was only a 1-credit course, but rather than sitting in class for hours on end, I was able to get up and learn fun dances every once in a while thanks to it. It was fun and different! There are also so many other courses on a wide variety of subjects, that you could take even if it’s not your major (the credits become your free elective credits; not major credits). So if you’re eyeing on any class, take that dive~
4. Don’t hesitate/postpone on opportunities! This is pretty much the same point, but I’d like to re-emphasize it again! Perhaps you wanted to register for that TOPIK exam, or there was an internship application period open at a comfortable time. Because of your hesitance, you end up missing the deadline or telling yourself, “well, let’s just do that another time.” While there are plenty of opportunities out there, you don't get to them if you don't catch them. You might end up hesitating & hesitating for all the years, and by the time you graduate you would’ve missed the things you wanted to do. I say this because there are so many seniors who tell me the same advice over and over. The lesser you try, the more your fear grows on taking that first step. Remember that your first-tries can never be absolutely perfect– and it is so much better to have tried than to not have done so at all.
5. Health, health, health. On top of everything! Korea has a loot of seasonal changes. It comes as a surprise, especially for those coming from south-east asian countries like me, where the weather there is all-time warmth. There can be early winters, autumns that last longer than usual, springs that flee quicker than you expect– so always be on the lookout for rapid weather changes. Keep track of the news and check your Weather app regularly, so you can wear according to the temperature! Flu seasons also come and go, so try to wear masks during those times and keep up with your daily water intake!
6. Don’t spend all-nighters cramming for your exam. This is one of those obvious words that are– rarely followed through. Once it becomes a habit, it gets harder to break your cycle of pulling all-nighters ;0; But what I might suggest is to try and put an effort, atleast once, in the coming semester– to avoid nighttime study cramming. Let’s say you set up your mind to not cram for your midterms in the coming semester. I would suggest you set up a study plan days before it & try your best to stick to it with the mindset that: you’re only trying this method out for atleast “just this once”. Having this mindset might burden you less when trying to study for longer periods. I usually find that starting my studies 10 days before the exam is the right amount of time I need. You would then need to write a small to-do list for each of those days, and this would prevent you from thinking you could just push them back & postpone them to the night before your exam; Because cramming is going to be an absolute nightmare for your health– especially if you sleep less than an hour, dunking 2 energy drinks as you dash into your exam..!
7. Despite all, take it easy. (Much easier said than done, but, truly, try to take it easy!)

This semester, I took less credits than my previous semester hoping I would stress much less this time. I even had my fridays free off class– and yet, strikingly, I felt the same exact level of stress (if not, slightly worse) than the previous semester.

Why?

Because it wasn't really the courses’ problem.