Ucca Widyatna’s AIMS Student Exchange Journey at Chonnam National University (2024–2025)
Living in Gwangju, South Korea
So far, living in Korea has been amazing, way beyond my expectations. At first, I thought
Gwangju, being in the southern part of South Korea, would look like a rural area. But I
was totally wrong, it’s actually a metropolitan city with complete infrastructure and public
facilities, like buses, subways, trains, and even an airport.
The only downside is that, compared to Seoul, not many people here speak English. But
everyone’s still super friendly! It’s kind of funny, I end up buying things using hand
gestures most of the time, haha. I don’t see this as a problem though, instead, I take it as
a challenge to learn Korean so I can communicate better with the locals.
There are so many good restaurants here. On my first day, I tried naengmyeon, a Korean
cold noodle dish that’s usually served in the summer. Overall, it was good, but not really
my style. I also tried a big serving of fried chicken, which I highly recommend—there are
so many flavor options!
Chonnam National University (CNU)
At CNU, I’m taking four courses: Everyday Korean, Polymeric Nano Materials, System
Analysis & Design, and Marketing Management. Unfortunately, not all courses here are
offered in English, so the options can be a bit limited. The professors are great, though,
they’re fun and know how to make the class interesting with jokes now and then, so it’s
not boring. But the classes aren’t easy, it’s like back home at ITB, with tons of material
packed into one semester. So, cramming in a night (like we sometimes do at ITB) doesn’t work well here, because Korean students study hard, and you’d risk falling behind if you
don’t keep up. There are also tons of cool campus activities, on my first day, I got to watch
an orchestra, and I’ve also been to a campus music concert.
Mentoring Laboratory Program with AIMS
Since I got the AIMS scholarship, I’m required to join the lab mentoring program. I’m
working with a graduate student named Faizan in the Multiscale Molding and
Manufacturing (M3) Lab, within the Mechanical Engineering Department, supervised by
Professor Bong-Kee Lee. In the lab sessions, I’m learning advanced stuff, as it’s actually
a graduate student project about the synthesis and characterization of electrospun
nanofiber membranes. These membranes use anthocyanins and carbon dots extracted
from red cabbage for colorimetric pH sensing, aimed at smart monitoring applications. So
far, I’ve learned a lot about using the lab equipment.
Cultural Excursions
Thanks to AIMS, I also get to go on monthly trips to tourist spots. Recently, I visited
Hwasun Red Cliff, which was awesome. It’s a natural lake with a backstory about how it
was formed. CNU offers tons of free trips open to all international students. I also went to
the Naju Festival, where I watched the opening ceremony of a Korean kingdom
reenactment. One thing I really love about Korea is its culture. They do an incredible job
of preserving it, so there are beautiful historical buildings everywhere. I went to Busan
with some friends from Indonesia, and I can say it’s a really beautiful city. Traveling around
Korea isn’t too expensive, either. For example, I saved money with a Busan Pass, which gave me discounts of almost 50% on many attractions. So far, I’m loving studying and
traveling in Korea.