Meet Helen, Our KGSP-Doll!

The time to apply for KGSP Undergraduate 2016 is around the corner and I was thinking of featuring my friends' KGSP stories here to motivate applicants! The world should know how awesome our half year in Korea so far :)))

Now let's meet my first friend, Helen aka Yudith!

Yudith is our batch' second maknae as she was born in late 1997. When I first met her, I thought she was very quiet and sad but maybe she was just tired from her loooong journey from Peru to Korea. My impression changed as we were in the same class this semester and she turned out to be a very cute, attentive and caring classmate!

We call her Helen in class because Helen is much easier to pronounce and write in Korean. Her nickname are reporter/기사, because her close friends say she asks a lot of questions, and doll/인형 because she is so young and cute.

Let's find out what makes her brave herself out to depart the 2 days of super long and tiring flight from Lima, Peru to Seoul, Korea!

Yudith~! How did you apply for KGSP?
In my high school, there was a teacher that inform us about scholarship opportunities. At first, I was discouraged and pessimistic about it, thinking that Korea is really far, I will leave my family and many other reasons. But then my friend encouraged me by saying, "Asia is advanced in technology. So you can learn a lot from there and come back to Peru to improve things in this country"

That became my motivation of studying in Korea, to help my country in the future.


It's really nice to have such teacher to inform you about the scholarship ㅠㅠ did many people apply?
There were 3 students from our school applying for KGSP. We had 2 seniors before me that got chosen to be KGSP grantee too.


Ah your high school must be a really good high school~ How many people got interviewed in Peru?
There were 10 people, they selected 3 but in the end only 2 people were chosen as final grantee.


So what was the hardest part when applying for KGSP?
(without hesitation) Choosing the university and major! I first took the psychology test to determine my talent and field that suit me best. Based on the result, the teacher said I should take Industrial Engineering, Business etc. I decided to take Industrial Engineering as there are many jobs in that field in Peru.

Then I searched for the school. It was hard to find the information, whether to choose university in the capital or in other cities and many other factors to consider. In the end I chose SNU, Yonsei and one other university that I can't remember. Yonsei and that university accepted me. I picked Yonsei.


You said your expectation of how you saw Korea as an advanced country before coming here, but what was the thing that you didn't expect and shock you the most?
The language! At first I couldn't even pronounce Hangul. It was really stressful and confusing. Language was really hard.


But now you are really good, only in 6 months! Did you talk to fellow Spanish speaking friends? Do they have the same problem?
Yes yes, they do have the same problem with the letters and pronunciation.

(re: Yudith came with no Korean knowledge, but she passed TOPIK Level 2 in 5 months and coping up well in Level 2, she didn't seem to have problem in class. I think she studies really hard! :D)


Lastly, what is the best thing of being KGSP scholar so far?
Meeting people with diverse culture. Talking with people from Malaysia, Indonesia is really different with talking with people from Chile, Colombia etc. I really like to know and learn about different cultures and stories. It's really nice and interesting!


Fun facts: Yudith graduated from high school in December 2014 and left for Korea in February 2015. I said I envy her for being so young (17 years old!). She said, "No no no, it's not fun. I can't go to some places like jjimjilbang and other"
I can totally relate to this as I am 18 and I still got rejected when trying to access some services in Korea, like postpaid phone and internet banking in one particular bank because the legal age here is 19 (or 20 Korean age).

Also, Peru to Seoul is 16,296KM in distance and even the shortest possible routh would take 25 hours. But Yudith took flight from Lima to Seoul with long layover in Amsterdam, making it even more admirable for a 17 years old girl.

I then wrapped my fun morning 'kepo' session with Yudith. It's been only 6 months but she is totally immersed in Korean culture now. Her favorite Kpop group is Teen Top and she eats like Korean! I often meet her in Ewha's famous Kimbap stall and she also eats Kimchi really really well. She adapts really well and enjoys her life. She doesn't regret coming to Korea. :)))

Let me know if you have questions for Yudith! Oh, also let me know if you wanna hear stories from specific countries! Thank you~