Here We Go Again

We have been back in Korea for almost 3 weeks! We would of updated sooner but we had been having problems with our laptop until now and it has finally been fixed! A lot has happened in the 3 weeks we've been back, many things have also changed. For some reason we didn't expect for things to be so different, but they are and in a sense it feels like starting all over again! I think it has to do with all our friends being gone. Sure we have some friends in Korea, but all of our close friends from last semester have gone back to their home countries and so it's been hard for us to adjust to all the changes. On the bright side although many of our friends are gone  we've met many new people and made many new friends. This semester we're taking more classes, we also volunteered to teach again and have been busy with many school activities! A lot of things have happened in three weeks so we'll post the highlights!

 

We flew with Korean Air once again. It was much easier getting through the airport this time, but the flight still felt so long. I didn't get to sleep much and neither did my sister, so we arrived extremely jet lagged. The food was pretty good and the flight attendants always look so beautiful! We wanted to take a picture of them, but it was kind of hard!

Since we couldn't sleep much we spent a lot of time playing video games! Yes Korean Air has video games! There were so many to choose from! Our favorites were of course PacMan and Street Fighter! I couldn't get a better picture of the screen, but time went by a little faster while we were playing. 

Once we arrived to the airport our program adviser Jaehoon was waiting for us ! He got us a cab and off we went to the university. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and there was so much traffic it took us over 2 hours to reach the school! Above is a picture of our dorm, the traffic and the view from our dorms! Last semester we failed to post a picture of our dorm, but this is what it pretty much looks like! They're actually spacious with a lot of closet space and our very own private bathroom.

This was actually our first meal in Korea. Not quiet sure what it was called, but it was spicy sea food and really tasty too. This was also the first meal we had with our exchange group! Even though we've already been in Korea for a while we have the habit of taking pictures of everything we eat! Sort of like a food diary. 

The first week of September was our birthday and some of the guys from our exchange group bought us a birthday cake and celebrated our birthday with us! We celebrated our birthday for 2 days! We had cake, Korean BBQ and of course Soju. This has definitely been one of our favorite moments in Korea so far ! 

We have yet to take pictures of our new middle school students this semester! Although the first day we met we weren't told that we were suppose to teach ! It was a lot of fun though. A lot of our students from the past semester also signed up again and we were happy to see all of them. 

Applying for a Student Visa

Since we're going back to Korea we have to reapply for student visas so we thought we'd take the opportunity to make a post about it. When we first had to apply for student visas we were so lost and we pretty much freaked out about it everyday. We were confused about the requirements because we found different requirements every time. Finally we called the consulate, but they weren't much help instead I spent half an hour on the phone just so they could tell me to look at the website! Luckily our study abroad program ISA really helped us with the process. So now we will do the same too!  The second time around should be a breeze!  One thing we should mention though is that if you plan to extend your stay and you will remain in Korea then you can easily extend your visa in Seoul. There's no need to go back home to extend your visa. 

 You should apply for your visa 90 to 30 days prior to your departure date.  The first thing we learned was that requirements vary from state to state. We live in Texas and the nearest consulate is in Houston. We don't live in Houston so we had to do it by mail. The visas for exchange students or study abroad students are D-2 and D-26. The visa we applied for was the D-26 and we'll be applying for this one again, but we'll post the Texas Houston consulate requirements for both. 

Houston Texas Consulate also serves: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi 

These are the documents we needed 

(These first requirements are general requirements for every state.)

Visa Application 

Passport

One passport photo  (3.5㎝ x 4.5㎝) 

$45

Pre-paid and self-addressed envelope 

South Korea Houston Consulate Requirements: 

D2 VISA For students

• The Certificate of admission with original signature
• One Photocopy of Business registration from Korean university
• Official Sealed Transcript or Diploma  

D26 VISA For exchange students

• The Certificate of admission with original signature
• One Photocopy of Business registration from Korean university
• Official Sealed Transcript or Diploma
• One Photocopy of Agreement Letter

We got all the documents together and mailed it along with our passport and a self addressed envelope. The self addressed envelope needs to be express mail! 

This is what a D-2 visa looks like. 

The turn around time was about 5 business days.  You can find the visa application on your Korean consulate's website and sometimes you might need more documents than listed on their website which can be very irritating. To prevent any headaches I suggest you send them an email or call them to make sure. 

Below are links to the different Korean consulate websites and the states they serve. You'll be able to find the different requirements and visa application! 

Atlanta GA Consulate: Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virgin Islands

South Korea Consulate Boston: New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont

South Korea Consulate Chicago: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin

South Korea Consulate Los Angeles: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, South California

South Korea  Consulate New York: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

South Korea Consulate San Francisco: Colorado, Northern California, Utah, Wyoming

South Korea Consulate Seattle: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington