Hi Everyone!

I’m Norah Phillips-Pinkney, a junior at Pitt Business studying Information Systems and Korean. Currently I’m studying both business and Korean at Korea University through the program Tean by WorldStrides. During the past couple of years I’ve developed a true passion for learning Korean and expanding my knowledge of the culture and history. I’ve always had an interest in learning about other cultures mainly through documentaries, museums, and the future possibility of visiting said country. Though I wasn’t completely set on studying abroad in South Korea when I first started university, I knew from the start I was going to study abroad. After taking my first Korean language course freshman year I was settled on the fact I was going to study abroad in South Korea in the coming future.

While studying abroad students typically finish out their general education courses, but since I was able to complete all of my arts and sciences gen eds. freshman year my course options are fairly limited. But thankfully I still had my core business classes, so currently I’m taking Management Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Intermediate Korean 2, Intermediate Korean Speaking and Introduction to Korean History and Culture.

There were a fare amount of options that would allow me to possibly start studying abroad in South Korea, I chose Tean by WorldStrides. Tean is a study abroad program service that provides students the opportunity to study in universities around the world. Aside from being one of the more affordable options financially, Tean also provides more “bang for my buck”. With multiple program excursions and dinners throughout the duration of the semester, including a trip to Busan, one of the other major cities in South Korea, and a trip to Tokyo Japan. They also provide a lot of assistance throughout the entire application process, whether that be with housing (which is provided with Tean), course enrollment or our visas.

Last summer I previously interned at the Philadelphia Housing Authority in the information systems department, working primarily with Jennie. I’m still exploring my potential future, whether that be seeing what options I could consider career wise or thoughts of graduate school. Currently I’m considering going into operations in a language learning software company or possibly becoming a study abroad advisor.

Yesterday, March 1, 2025 marked my first full week in Seoul. Korea University is located in the Anam neighborhood of Seoul, though KU is a little further out from central Seoul the comprehensive public transportation system makes it really easy to get all around Seoul. I live in CJ International, one of the international student dorms with one roommate, she’s pretty quiet but we live together pretty well.

Being born and raised in a major city it feels relatively familiar being here, despite the fact the buildings and streets look different or the language I’m hearing may be different the city doesn’t feel that foreign to me. What was a bit shocking was how many of the same type of stores there were within walking distance from each other, like coffee shops, convenience stores, PC cafes, study cafes, etc.

Even though I’m 6,808 miles away from Pittsburgh there are some things that don’t feel that different, like the HILLS, and school pride. Since the Korean peninsula is very mountainous it’s expected that the hills would be insane, if you thought cardiac hill was bad, the hill up to my dorm is worst. But on the positive side the school spirit here is almost contagious, since school hasn’t started yet I’ve mainly seen school spirit with people wearing their school varsity jackets everywhere, cheering orientation and just with students walking around campus. One major difference is the size of the campus, compared to Pitt KU is massive.

Though I’ve only been here for a week I think I’m really going to enjoy my life here, making new friends, experiencing new things, improving my Korean, and potentially seeing what my life during graduate school would be like here.