Meet:
Will Lee

Junior,
Business Administrations – Finance

Studied in:
Yonsei University
Seoul, South Korea


I would tell anyone who is thinking about studying abroad to go for it. Initially I was thinking about studying in Japan. I practice Judo, which is an Olympic sport, and Japan is very well known for Judo. I'm Korean, but my Korean is not very good. So it kind of made more sense to go to Korea. I was still able to practice Judo, learn my Korean language, and just kind of get back in touch with my roots.

The big thing with studying abroad is that you have to step back and play the role of being a foreigner. For instance, even though I am Korean, I felt completely foreign in Korea. And it's just learning to readjust to that.

I was really glad I stayed a full year. The first semester was just a lot of fun, going out seeing different places, meeting a lot of new people, and just being really active. Then the second semester was more about finally settling in and living life within another country.

I would recommend going for one year, but a lot people are nervous about that. I figured I'm just going to go there and meet other foreign students, and try to get involved and then I did. I met a lot of international students. We stayed at an international dorm and they really catered to the international students, which was great. I was with people from Germany, France, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Russia, and South America. It was a lot of fun.

The experience definitely helped me in the sense that it changes the way you think about things. It gives you more of a world view. I think you could really apply that to the business world considering how global everything is. But overall, in terms of experiences and changing the way that I think about things and the way I see things, studying abroad definitely helped me a lot.

It's kind of funny how you meet people who are older and they say that their one great experience in college was studying abroad. And looking at it now, I don't think I would really have another opportunity to do something like this later on. Sure, I can go back and travel, but the people that I met there and the experiences that I had, that's completely separate. It will always be that one year that I studied abroad.

At the same time, it takes a certain mind set I guess. You have to be very open-minded. And open to the fact that you're going to be a foreigner there. You're going to be a minority regardless of what you look like or how you think of yourself. That's very humbling.

It's all about being patient too–patience with people not understanding you and patience with trying to understand another culture. And that really helps out in terms of being in America too since we are very diverse here. I guess I wanted to experience something different and apply that to being here in America. Just the way I think and the way that I can talk to people. I also think that I am little more sensitive towards foreigners.

My parents were really happy I was going to study abroad in Korea. They didn't push me or never mentioned study abroad. In my sophomore year, I wanted to do something different, so I thought about studying abroad. Looking back now, it was a great decision.

I went through the CSU International Programs, and I cannot emphasize enough how good the program is. It's very affordable. Although I didn't need financial aid, I can understand that for some people it might be overwhelming. But, I don't know how many people I met when I was in Korea who were on financial aid. And they usually received more money because they were studying aboard.

The thing about studying abroad, it's not just about traveling to another country, you're completing your credits/units towards graduation, which I did. The only little setback was they didn't offer all the classes that I needed. So, that put me behind by a semester. But looking at the overall picture, it's one year of the rest of your life that you get to experience this. So, it's really worth it. Even if I had to take another year in college, I would've been willing to do that too.

We were constantly in contact with Cal State Fullerton; they sent us information, and if we ever had problems or questions, we kept in contact with them. I never felt like I was there completely on my own. They sent you reminders about your registration date, and they tell you that it's going to be a different time obviously so make sure that you're up and ready to register. Once I got back here, I was all registered for my classes. All I had to do was buy my supplies and go back to school.

I would support anyone who is interested in studying abroad. I would tell parents not to be worried, have faith in your kids and trust them. I met a lot of great people from different parts of the U.S. and also internationally. I feel like I have a whole new network. Within that one year I met those people and we all went through the exact same things, struggles, differences within the culture, and everything like that. Everyone will have their own study aboard experience that will be very unique to them.

I've been doing judo since I was 18 and I'm 22 now. I do compete, and it was very important for me to practice while I was abroad. I got to train everyday in Korea and compete with other universities on their first team, which is like varsity. It's a big team event and everyone is cheering you on. I was the foreigner on their team, and they were really supportive and that was great. I had a really great time.



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