Everything about South Korea is always interesting to discuss, not only in terms of entertainment but also culture. South Korea has a unique and surprising culture so that it is not uncommon for people who are visiting Korea for the first time to experience culture shock, one of the unique cultures is their culture in college life.
Similar to Indonesia, South Korea apparently has its own college culture, you know. In addition to having a competitive learning environment, especially during the exam season, South Korea also has a number of other unique and unusual lecture cultures. What culture do you think? Read more below, come on!
Welcoming Event for New Students
Holding a welcoming event for new students is indeed a very common thing to do in universities in any country, the only difference is how to welcome them.
If in Indonesia the welcoming ceremony for new students is carried out by observing, South Korea has its own way of welcoming new students. In South Korea, the event for welcoming new students is done by holding cross-generational drinking events with seniors.
In addition to drinking alcohol, welcome events are also sometimes carried out by camping. Usually the welcome and introduction of these new students will be followed by several other events such as OT, MT, or bapyak.
Alcoholic Drinks That Are Part of Student Life
Drinking alcohol is one thing that is very identical and cannot be separated from student life in South Korea, students drink a lot of alcohol both in terms of quantity and frequency.
Because it is the biggest aspect of the lecture culture, alcoholic beverages are often found in every way that is held, from new student orientation, sporting events, festivals, to membership training.
Uniquely, they don't just drink common alcohol such as soju, makgeolli, or beer. There are lots of Korean alcoholic drink concoctions that students usually make when drinking together, including somaek which is a mixture of soju and maekju (beer), yo-go which is a mixture of yakult and soju, so-mak-sa which is a mixture of soju, makgeolli, and saida (soda), and col-so is a mixture of cola and soju.
This Korean lecture culture may indeed be difficult to understand or follow by people who are not big fans of drinking alcohol or people who don't drink alcohol, because generally this habit will be carried out for a long time, for example from 6 pm to 6 am.
However, South Korean students consider drinking as an activity to get to know each other in order to build a strong relationship.
Orientation (OT)/ Saeteo
In mid-February after entering college, there will be a big event called orientation or saeteo (Freshman Learning Center), where most new students will take part in this event.
In addition, there are also second and third year students and teaching lecturers, so that new students can meet many different people from campus. Due to this large number of participants, OT events will usually be held in large inns for two to three days.
On the first day, new students will talk with lecturers and seniors, then after dinner there will be performances from several university clubs. After that, at midnight the students would drink alcohol while playing some drinking games to get to know each other better.
Bapyak (Bap-yaksok)
Generally, new students don't know about good or recommended restaurants to visit, so usually they will do a lot with seniors.
Bapyak itself is actually an abbreviation of bap yaksok or an appointment to eat together, which usually refers to making lunch or dinner plans with seniors known during OT events.
Then, usually the seniors will treat the new students first when they do the lot for the first time, then in the following month the juniors will treat the seniors. Through this process, new students will get to know many seniors in their department and learn about restaurants around the campus.
Membership Training (MT)
MT is basically an abbreviation of Membership Training, where in fact this event is not only carried out within the university but also in companies and other social groups. Through this MT event, students will build friendships through shared activities such as going out together or having fun.
In MT, the activities can be in the form of playing games, eating Korean barbeque, to drinking alcohol together, and MT activities will be carried out in suburban areas such as beaches, mountains, or rural areas.
In contrast to OT which is attended by all students at the university, MT events generally will only be attended by 10 to 20 people from the same department or club and become a place to get closer to people in a smaller scope so it is easier to relax and drink alcohol with safe.
Lecture Culture Has a Strong Exam Vibes
Korea is one of the countries where students are always serious when it comes to academic matters such as exams, including the students. If the exam season has arrived, don't be surprised if you see the libraries in every university and also the study rooms will be filled with students who study until midnight or until early morning, even staying there.
The culture of Korean students is the thickest of which is a competitive learning environment and students who are ambitious and don't know the time to get good grades for their academics.
In addition, because most students will reduce their sleep and dedicate the time they have to study, it is not uncommon for students to be seen bringing towels and toiletries to their place of study.
These are the six most striking and common Korean lecture cultures. Apart from these six cultures, students in Korea are also famous for their seriousness in holding festival events, so it's no wonder that the festivals held by each campus are very lively and memorable.