Hello! Today, I’d like to introduce you to two clubs that I’ve actively participated in, as well as another club and a few others that made me feel welcome, even as a foreign student.
The first club I want to introduce is…
SNU SAILORS
This was the only club I was truly active in, and funnily enough, I joined by pure coincidence. I was simply wandering around the school club festival, checking out different options, when the sailing club caught my eye. Curious, I approached their booth, and to my surprise, they immediately started speaking English, enthusiastically explaining how great their club was. Since I know Korean, I didn’t really need them to speak English, but I thought it was such a thoughtful gesture—especially for new international students who might not feel comfortable with Korean yet.
From my undergraduate days, I knew that sailing was an expensive sport. However, they reassured me that once I paid the registration fee (which, to be fair, was on the pricier side—though most clubs have a fee), everything else would be completely free. Since the boats actually belonged to the university, there were no extra costs. That’s right! Excited, I quickly signed up (and even dragged along two of my foreign friends), and we never had to pay for anything else. The club was incredibly welcoming to international students, and I never felt out of place. They usually opened slots for members who wanted to sail on weekends, and we met at Mangwon Park to take our boats out on the water! ⛵
The only downside? The number of boats was limited, meaning you had to take turns. Sometimes, all you could do was sit with an experienced sailor and observe for half an hour—that was it! And let’s be honest, half an hour is way too short for learning, especially considering the time it takes to assemble the boats. You could end up spending an entire day at the club for just a brief sailing session.
But aside from that, everything was amazing! I absolutely loved sailing on the Han River—just think about it, when else would you get the chance to do that? I can already picture myself telling my grandkids one day, "Back in my twenties, I was a sailor in Korea!" Now, how cool is that?
SNU EQUESTRIAN CLUB
This has been my biggest disappointment so far—not because the club was unwelcoming to foreigners or anything like that, but because I was too nervous to take the first step.
When I first arrived in Korea, I was eager to find new ways to make friends, so I immediately started looking up school clubs. That’s when I discovered that my university had an equestrian club! I was beyond excited, and the club members were more than happy to welcome me. Most of them could speak English, but I insisted on speaking Korean (practice comes first, after all!).
