Stories from Abroad

The city where I studied in is full of students from all over the world, so while walking through the venerable streets, I meet passersby from completely different parts of the world, Italian "mamma mia", German "gutten tak", Ukrainian "sho and hde", Spanish "gracias" and so on... Some very funny feeling, some kind of interstate uncertainty appears, as if Wroclaw is a small universe, in which representatives of all nationalities have gathered.

The most wonderful thing in Poland is architecture. Incredibly beautiful buildings, churches, museums, cozy cafes with their unique history and sprawling design framing. Literally, in front of every other building you can freeze for a few minutes... examine every crack, study biblical scenes depicted on portals, watch the shimmering rays of sunlight in stained glass. So what about going to the university when, as you walk down the corridor, you encounter statues of almost half of the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church. Such reverence for one's religious identity certainly deserves respect, but in my eyes it stands in stark contrast to the Russian attitude toward religion as something very intimate and personal.

I had a fairly flexible schedule, which allows me to make the most of my free time. So far I have had time to visit the Czech Republic and climb the Tatra Mountains, on the border with Slovakia, and that is just the beginning! Classes at the university are dynamic and discussion-focused. We discuss global issues, try to understand the point of view of everyone in the conversation, and the multinational composition of the group allows us to look at the economic and social problems of some countries right from the inside, from the perspective of those who live there permanently.

My studies in Wroclaw are an opportunity to learn something new, interesting, and useful, and to try to apply this knowledge in practice. I can say with confidence that I am immensely happy to take part in the exchange program, to feel part of a large and friendly international family.

The impressions were only positive, there were always people around, ready to help and go to the trouble. I was able to successfully pass the session, learn new subjects, and gain experience in intercultural communication. First of all, this internship gave the chance to receive skill to adapt to changes, opened new horizons for development and allowed to get acquainted with interesting people.

This trip did not require a visa, so the preparation was quick and without
the preparation was quick and without any complications. I can advise future participants of the program to read carefully the contracts and other documentation, which requires signing, as well as to keep calm and in advance
to collect in advance the package of documents required for travel.

I was confused by the need to collect and sign a large number of documents, pass a medical examination and the difference in training programs. In such situations, you should try to have patience and find a person who will advise and guide you in these matters.

The cost of round-trip flight was 17,758 rubles, the cost of travel to the place of training was 3754 rubles,
The cost of medical services (fluorography) - 200 rubles, travel by public transport, costs for travel by public transport, food and accommodation amounted to 1 7 - 20 000 rubles. I mostly cooked my own food, which allowed me to reduce the cost of food. Cab fare is cheaper if you pay for it with a large company, the same principle can be used to reduce costs in cafes and entertainment venues.

I studied at Ajou University.

Overall, I was pleased with the internship. In a short period of time, I managed to master the basics of the Korean language, work out the skills of academic writing and critical analysis. During my studies, much attention was paid to precisely these aspects.

Also, I learned a lot of new and interesting things about Korean culture. Since this training took place remotely, the process of preparing me no trouble at all. Due to the remote internship format, I was in Russia, so there was no need to get a visa. One more advantage of studying online is that it does not require any financial costs.

In general, the study materials were clearly explained. If some questions appear professors provide quick feedback by email or during an online class so it was easy to keep in touch despite we were pretty far from each other. One of the professors was a native English – speaker, which helped me to develop my language skills.   

I would be excited to go to Korea. As I learned from the experience of online communication with Korean people, this country is full of different interesting things, culture, music, technologies, and so on. Korea is definitely worth visiting.

Mostly, everything was going smoothly. Just a few times there were some problems with the connection because of power outages in my area. The educational online platform functioned properly and I didn’t face with any difficulties in the use of it. Unfortunately, the remote format of education has a social disadvantage, I wouldn’t mind coming together with new groupmates in real, but it was completely impossible.   

Amazing experience. An exchange program boosted my professional skills a lot and made me practice speaking foreign languages. You also discover many cultures and make international friends. The whole different studying system may be challenging, but it helps to adjust to some unusual living conditions.

This balance between Russian and foreign courses may be really difficult. You should be careful with the course syllabus. Make sure to contact professors as you might not be allowed to take some courses due to many reasons. Do not hesitate to contact your coordinator in the Korean university if you have any questions, better safe than sorry. In my case, I was informed a bit late that I cannot take more than 4 courses, so be aware of everything written in Handbook for the semester. Also, make sure your English level is good enough which is higher than B1. Officially, it is okay to have B1 only, but it is going to be harder for you to interact with foreigners as their English is really advanced. I saw some people struggling a lot so focus on your English.

Getting a Korean visa is not that hard. You should check the embassy website, they have all the information you need. You may get your visa approximately in 3 weeks. Prepare 80 dollars to pay though.


Choosing courses may be really difficult as you should do it yourself. The thing is that the number of students for each course is limited so you should do it really quickly. You will get an instruction though so make sure to read it properly and ask your coordinator if something is unclear.


Save 80 dollars for the visa, all my flights were around 60 000 rubles but my scholarship almost covered it, for the quarantine it was around 900 dollars, for the dormitory 1300 dollars, the health insurance is about 1500 rubles per month but it is better to have one in Russia as you will not be able to get the Korean insurance before your Alien registration card. The transport fee is a bit more than 1 dollar but it also depends on the distance. As a rule, the subway is the cheapest, the bus is more expensive. Having food in Korea is not really expensive; the prizes start from 120 rubles. The fastfood and European cafes are more expensive. To save money, it is possible to apply for the Open kitchen for foreigners. It is free but located in another building. There is no kitchen in the dormitory! Be aware of that.

I have a lot of positive impressions fr om meeting new people, experience of communication in English. I definitely became more confident in myself and also improved my skills in my specialty.
Now I have friends fr om different countries and continents, and I am sure that we will meet with them again someday.

The most difficulty is the choice of a university that is suitable for the curriculum. It should be remembered that subjects taught during the semester at INRTU will be credited if their analogs in English have been studied at a foreign university. The difficulty is that, in my experience, universities can publish a list of subjects for the upcoming semester only one or two months before the start of their studies, that is, after the enrollment of foreign students, and this list may turn out to be unexpected.

The process begins with the official website of the country's embassy, wh ere you should find a list of documents required for filing. You should not wait for all the documents to be completed and only then leave a request for personal filing. This mistake almost cost me a lot of money for postponing the date of my fly ticket. This time, the embassy met halfway and opened additional receptions on non-working days, but you should not think that any embassy will adapt to students.

I didn't have any difficulties, except for the language barrier. I did not expect that in the country in which I was located, the native population had bad English. You can count on one hand the places wh ere the locals understand English. However, given that now all city maps are available in a smartphone, as well as an online translator, there should not be any big problems.

Tip: Learn basic phrases in the country's official language in case you don't understand your English.

The visa fee was $ 80. The round-trip plane cost more than $ 800. In Korea, due to the regulations on the fight against the Chinese coronavirus, a mandatory fourteen-day quarantine was introduced, which cost me more than $ 1000. A taxi from the quarantine site to the university cost about $ 35. Also in Korea, there is compulsory health insurance, even for foreigners. Its cost is $ 35 per month. Travel by public transport is at the level of Russian prices, but travel by metro is much cheaper than by buses. Absolutely all groceries in stores are at least twice as expensive as in Irkutsk. Living in a dormitory for a semester cost about $ 1000.

Tip: If you are going to cook for yourself, which is obviously cheaper, then find a store closest to you that does not do mark up for advertising it’s store and products. You can ask local students who know the city well about this. For example, for Korea, such a store is called NoBrand, and the prices in it are noticeably cheaper than in the usual Lotte Mart supermarket.