Part 2: Hanyang International Summer School (HISS) 2017

Hello reader!

Welcome to part 2 of my blog regarding my Hanyang journey (For part 1, click here!). In this post, I would be sharing about my timetable (the mods I took) and my accommodation, as well as canteens in the university.

Also, read part 3 for some the FAQs I've received and part 4 for the free activities!

Timetable

I took 3 modules in total as mentioned in part 1, they were ISS1041, GEN6060 and ISS1056. I was very lucky in course registration as I managed to get all the slots I wanted before they were all taken.

Additionally, even if it is the same module, it could be taught by different professor and hence the exam format would be different. For my GEN6060 module, I managed to get a prof who loves MCQ exams while my friends, who was taught by a different prof, wrote essays for both their mid terms and finals.

(EDIT: I heard from a friend that NUS has reduced the number of map-able modules without charging a special term fee from 3 modules to 2 modules with effect from summer 2018! (So you can choose to take 3 modules at Hanyang, but you can only map 2 back to NUS). I am not sure how true this is so do check with your department or any emails from NUS you may receive!)

(UPDATE: I remember reading this from somewhere that we can skip 2 lessons per module for the entire semester and not get penalized (aka passing the module). Again, I am not sure how true this is so please check again.)

Morning class: ISS1041 Engineer and Society
9am to 12pm
Lecturer: KiPyung Kim

Firstly, there were different lecturers for the same modules, so it was important (or lucky) to get a lecturer that was chill. There were not many reviews about these modules, hence I am writing one right now and hopefully there will be students from the other classes who would write their reviews as well!

Honestly, Prof Ki Pyung was very chill. He provided lecture notes in pdf that can be downloaded from the hanyang portal (and no you do NOT have to print the notes out). His notes were very comprehensive, short & sweet and very well organized. Most importantly, the mid terms and finals were all 12 MCQs and 3 Short Answers (total 15 questions, 2 marks each). I was expecting the short answer questions to be writing at least a sentence, but no, it was just A WORD. Everything in the exam was covered in the lecture and notes, so it was not difficult to get full marks.

Basically, the module covered engineering ethics with a bit of project management because Prof Ki Pyung has a PhD in Project Management. If you are from Civil engineering (like me!), it should be easy because some of the things he taught were similar to the module CE2184. If you are not a civil engineering student, do not worry because most of the things taught were still about engineering ethics.

Why was prof KiPyung Kim chill?
1. Our first lecture ended in 15 minutes.
2. He always released us once he finished his lecture slides for the day. (usually 10.15am)
3. On the day we had our exams, he started the paper at 10am instead of 9am.
4. If you studied, the exam paper can be completed in 10 minutes although he gave us 1 hour.
5. MCQ and short answer questions!

If you are curious about my final grade, I got A (92/100). I just had good attendance (15% I think because I didn't skip any lessons at all) and did relatively well for exams. Although there was a 15% class participation, I did not speak a single word during class. So I am guessing Prof probably gave the full 15% to everyone. Hence, the tip is to not skip class and do well for exams. (or even if you are planning to skip class, get someone to mark attendance for you when the attendance list is being passed around during lesson; I do not recommend skipping lectures though, but then again summer school is to enjoy and play)


Afternoon class: ISS1056 Ceramic Arts
1pm to 4pm
Taught by professor Shin Mee Young

As Prof Shin did not speak perfect English, she had another assistant prof who spoke better English to translate for her. Initially, I thought we had to study the history of pottery because I saw the mid terms and finals component, but NO. This module was nothing but fun and relaxing. It was an extremely hands-on module where we made something (cups/plates/jewelry/bowls/free-and-easy) every single lesson. We even get to play with the spinning pottery wheel to make cups, bowls and vase. One thing to take note was that the product actually shrinks by 30% after firing in the kiln. If you are worried how your ceramics might turn out ugly, the professor actually told us that we were not graded entirely based on the appearance of our work; Hence it was alright to make ugly ceramics (like I did).

Everything about this module was great (and slack) except that we had to pay 50,000 won for the material fee (thats roughly about SGD 60). But it was totally worth it because it was fun, relaxing and we get to bring whatever we made back to Singapore! So if you are planning to take this mod, do not pack too many things in your luggage when you enter Korea. My friend ended up purchasing bubble wrap and boxing her ceramics to ship it back to Singapore (fly money fly).

Here are just some of the masterpieces my batch created:

Final Product

After 1st firing

Time really flies during ceramic classes, my friends and I were struggling to finish our work almost every lesson. I got 93/100 which was an A for my final grade. I don't remember having any mid terms, but our finals was making anything we wanted. Most of my classmates did figurines/cups/bowls/plates. Additionally, during my last lesson, professor Shin treated us to Korean fried chicken and Pepsi!!


Evening class: GEN6060 Principles of Management
4pm to 7pm
Lecturer: YunKi Kim

I have never seen such a happy-go-lucky professor before until I met Prof YK. I feel that it is very difficult to survive an evening class, hence I am very fortunate to be in Prof YK's class. He was very entertaining and really understood what most students want (come Korea is to play right?). Prof YK was also very experienced in both the workforce and teaching, he even wrote a book on investment banking and economics. Honestly, he was so chill that he even told us if we attended class we will get 100% in exams, if we do not, we will get 70%. However, don't be fooled! You still have to study for the exams if you want to pass. One thing to take note was that there was no bellcurve and the passing mark is actually 60%.

For both mid terms and finals, we had 40 MCQs. The good thing about the exams is that it is non cumulative, so whatever that was tested in mid terms would not appear in finals again. Everything that was tested was covered in the lecture notes pdf he uploaded on the Hanyang portal. The mid terms and finals were held in the same classroom we have our lessons; I am not sure if I can say this but the prof told us clearly not to cheat (aka if you cheat, don't get caught). To be honest, almost all the questions were just a simple recall-and-answer question, so it was not a tough module.

There was a textbook for this module, but everything he tested could be found in the lecture notes pdf, hence my friends and I did not purchase the textbook. There is also 20% catered to presentation, which is just topics and case studies found from the textbook, which Prof YK brought to class every lesson. We just took photos of the relevant pages we were supposed to present.

There was also 15% class participation but my friends and I did not speak a single word during class as usual. However, this did not hinder us from getting A+ for the module. I got 96/100 just by doing decently in mid terms, presentation and finals (no I did not get full marks).

Tips/ advice/ tricks

I think that such a timetable arrangement was the best as I ended my morning class early for lunch, spend the entire 1pm-4pm making ceramics (and time really flies during ceramics) before attending my evening class which also ended early for dinner.

Because Hanyang did not charge per module, I really recommend taking 3 modules (the maximum you can go). The fees were the same even if you choose to take 1 mod or 3 mod, and you only have to pass each mod. However, if you wish to have more time to explore Seoul/Korea, or you want to party, then just take 2 modules.

Accommodation

For my summer school at Hanyang, I chose to stay at the off-campus dorm called Roseville which is located just beside the main gate of Hanyang University. Roseville was an all female dorm that was located right beside Smartville, the off-campus all male dorm.

I chose Roseville over on-campus accommodation as there was a fridge in each room and no curfew. Although the website states that there was no toilet in each room of the on-campus dorm, my friends who stayed on the on-campus dorms told me they did have a toilet in their room. However, they did not have a personal fridge or washing machine like Roseville. They had a shared fridge (which I didn't like because people might steal your food lol) and shared washing machine instead.

I feel that Roseville's location was very strategic and centralized, with the closest subway station (Wangsimni Station) being 5 minutes walk away, GS25 convenience store 5 seconds walk away and Hanyang Uni main gate 20 seconds walk away. It was truly the safest place I had ever stayed in where there was a police station opposite Roseville and Hanyang University Hospital beside. However, the downside was that the buildings (school of business & Hanyang women's university) where I had my lessons were a 15 minutes walk from Roseville. Not to mention that Hanyang University had way more hills than NUS although it was not as big as NUS.

Something that shocked me was that there was no elevator in Roseville, so I was glad that my room was on the 3rd floor. My friends who stayed on the highest 5th floor carried their own luggage up the building when they checked-in. So try to choose rooms located on the lower floors (2nd or 3rd). Also, the building owners and permanent residents who stayed in the basement were not all girls. One of my dorm-mate was worried about Korean boys entering the building until the Residential Assistant told us they lived in the basement.

In my opinion, Roseville did have everything I needed -- hot water shower, microwave oven, pillow, blanket, bed sheet (more like a thicker blanket Korean style), air-con, mosquito net at the window, washing machine, hangers in cupboard and refrigerator. The only thing that I wanted but they did not provide was an electric kettle. My roommate and I ended up drinking mineral water purchased from GS25 (Korea's 7-eleven). My mother kept reminding me that it was not the healthiest to drink too much mineral water, so I mostly get water from water coolers and dispensers around school (also it's free).

I felt that some rooms in Roseville were slightly more spacious than the others. Each room had a number for example 101, 304, 506. The first digit is the level while the last digit represents the unit number. So 306 just means 3rd floor unit 6. I felt that units number 5 and 6 were slightly less spacious than 1, 2, 3, 4. Unit 6s were facing the stairs, so if you want to walk 5 steps lesser, choose unit 6.

EDIT 1: ON CAMPUS WASHING MACHINE (thanks Liling for this edit): My friend who stayed at the on-campus dorm told me that they had to pay 500 won or 1000 won (she can't remember exactly) for each washing machine wash!!

EDIT 2: COST & CHECK IN FOR ROSEVILLE (thanks Vick for this edit): In 2017, I paid 600,000 won for my off-campus accommodation, moved in on 1 July around 2pm and moved out on 30 July around 5pm. I am not sure if we could move in earlier, but the last day for us to move out was 30 July. For the on-campus accommodation, it cost 500,000 won.

EDIT 3: WIFI AT ROSEVILLE: On Hanyang website it stated that there was no wifi at Roseville, BUT THERE WAS!! and it was pretty strong, I could even play dota on my laptop. Also, the website states that only room 202 and 302 have induction cooker and sink, but my friends in 306 had an induction cooker as well. I stayed in 302 and there was an induction cooker but no kitchen sink. But it was not an issue because there was always the toilet I could use.

EDIT 4: CLEANLINESS (thanks Amalina for this edit): It would be good to bring or buy air freshener for your room and cupboard. Although my room did not smell odd, my friend's room (unit ending with 6 eg. 306) that was facing the stairs encountered smell from our neighbors cooking on the 2nd floor (They cooked curry). Additionally, due to the weather, our rooms was too humid and our Residential Assistant told us to purchase dehumidifier from the emart (aka Korea's NTUC Fairprice) but we didn't wanted to spend that extra money so we ended up opening the windows of our bathroom.

Canteens in school

There were a few canteens in the university but the one that my friends and I frequent was the one at Hanyang Women's University (because it had the cheapest food in the uni like 3500 won).

These were the directions I took to the canteen which I felt was the shortest and had the most shelter (I wrote this to the best of my ability as someone who has Short Term Memory, so please understand!)

To get to the canteen from the School of Business,
1. Go to B1 and walk along the corridor until you see stairs situated along the middle of the corridor.
2. Walk down the stairs and you should see a convenience store CVU for U, CU (it's a convenience store, something like 7-eleven) on your right.
3. Turn left and take the elevator/stairs down to B1.
4. At B1 walk in the direction of the the carpark, then turn right and walk straight until you see an exit/opening on your right
5. Walk to the exit and walk straight, you should see some stairs
6. Go down the stairs halfway and you should see a glass door on the right that leads you to Hanyang Women's University.
7. Open the glass door and walk straight all the way until you see a slope on your left.
8. Walk down the slope and then turn right.
9. Walk straight and turn right when you see the elevator.
10. Take the elevator down to B1. (you are on level 3) Take note that the elevator on the right does not stop at the 3rd floor, so you got to press for the lift on the left.
11. Once you exit the elevator, turn left and then left again, you should see some exhibition/ history of hanyang written on the walls on your right. Turn right and walk along the exhibition.
12. Walk down the stairs/slope and you should see a cafe in front.
13. Walk towards the cafe and turn left. Once you can turn right, turn right.
14. Walk straight and you should be able to see the machine to purchase food coupons.
15. The canteen is just beside the food coupon machines.

There was another canteen at the Ecology Building, but food there was slightly more expensive (around 4,500 won or more). However, the portion was larger and had more side dishes. I only ate at this canteen once so I had no recollections of the directions there :-(

End of part 2.