Stories From Busan

Barkah Ramadhan, a student majoring in Cinematography class of 2012, got the opportunity to exchange students to Youngsan University, Busan, South Korea. This is the story of his experience.

August to December 2015 has been an exciting month for Barkah. The reason, his goal of high school that is to go to South Korea finally realized. And not only a walk, but he also got the opportunity to study at Youngsan University, Busan. Together with 3 colleagues from UMN, Barkah can mingle directly with local students, study together and expand networking.

There, Barkah and her friends were given classes that could be attended according to the desired major. As a cinematography student, Barkah chose to take classes such as Visual Effect, Green Screen and film history. While his other friends, Meike, Ines and Irma, each chose a different class around games and beauty art.

In addition to studying film, they also take Korean culture classes. “We were invited to travel somewhere later in the next week, we were told to tell the experience using Korean,” he explained. In the cultural class, he was joined by other students from Russia, Singapore and China.

One of the requirements to join the exchange program is to have a TOPIC score (equivalent to TOEFL for English) at least pass level 2, because all lectures use Korean. Because he had passed that level, in the class Barkah can still attend lectures despite finding a few obstacles.

“There are some vocabulary that for example I do not know, I note then when there is free time I translate back. Because there the powerpoints all use Korean so inevitably they have to be able to,” he said. During teaching, lecturers do use Korean, but there are some who speak English so they are willing to re-explain if needed.

Not only lecturers, his friends are also happy to help the difficulty. “If they study groups, they want to help. Moreover, there are also those who want to practice English, so sometimes I ask in Korean, they answer in English,” he continued.

Studying for a semester in Busan provides a valuable experience for him. “Being able to walk and learn is more satisfying. Hopefully in the future UMN can open the same opportunity more, and maybe not just student exchange but also for dual degrees, “concluded Barkah. (*)

by Debora Thea – Universitas Multimedia Nusantara News Service

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Teknik Informatika | Sistem Informasi | Sistem Komputer | Akuntansi | Manajemen | Ilmu Komunikasi | Desain Komunikasi Visual, di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id