Settle down~

안녕하세요!!!

Welcome back, guys! Sorry for the late updates, it's been a really hectic week for me as I have to settle down with everything here. So, in this post, I will tell you about what did I really do for this whole week. 

Because I have been living in Korean for 4 months as an exchange student last year, so I kind of know where to buy or find the stuff that is cheaper and worth to buy. For me, Daiso is a really nice place to go if you wanted to buy stuff like the home appliance (hanger, dustbin, broomstick). But for the toiletries, you should get it at E-mart or Home Plus, because they usually have a promotion like 1+1, like you can buy 2 items with one price, and not to mention they have a lot of good brands there and it comes with big size so it will last longer. 

So, we went to home plus on our 2nd day here in Busan. Olfi roommates taught us on how to get there by bus as she is an undergraduate KGSP student that studying Korean Language at Dongseo. So nearby the Home Plus there is a Daiso, so Olfi went there with her roommates and Genio and only 3 of us that go to Home Plus (Kelly, Shila, and me). We had our lunch there as we are soo hungry by that time. After done buying stuff at Home Plus, we went back to Dongseo University. Because there is a lot of stuff, we take the bus instead of hiking those steep slope, but then the bus took us at a different part of Dongseo University as I mention in my previous post, DSU is really huge! even Kelly and I can't find the main entrance gate on our morning walk. We like walking around and Kelly started to ask the Ahjussi nearby us, as Kelly mention our dormitory names International House 2, the Ahjussi just laughed at us as the dormitory building is soo far from that places. Luckily there another Ahjussi that drive a truck helps us to get there, can you just imagine that we lost in our own university. We just laughed all the way to the International House 2. Thanks Ahjussi!!!

Kelly and I really like to have some morning walk, just walk at the nearest neighbourhood for 10-15 minute of walk and have breakfast at nearby cafe and then start to explore Busan again. Because we have a lot of free time before the NIIED orientation. So we go to Jagalchi Market and Gukje market. We do the same activity the next day but after the morning walk, we just ride the bus and go to Emart to buy something. 

 

You just can't predict where we go because we didn't plan at all, we just go and explore. On the Saturday, we decided to go to Gamcheon Mural Village, but on this trip Kelly does not go because she is sick, so Saima (my roommate from Pakistan), Olfi, Genio and I went there. It just not our luck as the temperature is really hot, and we kind of exhausted. We took some picture and walking around a bit then we went back to DSU.

The view of Gamcheon Mural Village

Olfie, Genio (both from Indonesia), and Saima (Pakistan-my roommates in DSU

Luckily Kelly is in good condition on the next day, so as usual we do our morning walking kind of things and get to the nearest bus stop and ride the bus to Busan Museum. The weather is so nice and there is alot of activity that we can do in the museum. By the way thanks god Kelly is okay with the history, so we really enjoy our visit that day. We even wear Queen Hanbok, do some stamping art and attending the tea ceremony.

Us trying to be the Queen 

That the ends of my amazing week before the orientation. I wish that I could share more picture here because there is alot of it. So, in the next post I will share about NIIED orientation in Seoul. 

Busan Here I Comes~!!!!

Hi! I wanted to tell you guys that I have arrived at Busan yesterday. I will tell you guys about my journey to Busan on this post. So my flight ticket to South Korea was at 11.30 p.m. on 21st of August 2017 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Luckily all the Malaysian student get the same date of departure. It was really good to gather together and get to know each other even though we already know each other from WhatsApp group.

By the way here is some of the picture taken at the airport :

My family and friends!!!!!! Thanks for coming!!!!! I really appreciate it!!!!!

We actually recreating back the picture we take at Incheon last year for our exchange student program.

By the way, for those future KGSP candidates, you guys should not felt worried about your baggage weight as we are a GTR (Government Transportation Request) customer for Korean Air. So, instead of giving 23kg for 1pcs, they upgraded to 32 kg for 1pcs. I think you guys will have enough space to pack as they also give us 12 kg for the hand-carry beg that excludes the personal item like laptop, purse or a coat.

My check-in baggage, hand carry luggage and laptop bag

So for my case, I will transit at Incheon airport and then transfer to another Korean Air to go to Gimhea airport Busan. My flight from Malaysia to Incheon has actually delayed about 30 min, the stewardess reminds us about our connecting flight, she suggested us to run to the gate after we landed at Incheon. We really shocked at that time, but we have to do it because we cannot miss our flight. When we safely landed at Incheon, we just grabbed our stuff and quickly ran to the gate, it was really hectic guys! because we needed to go through the scanner that scans our hand carry, not to mention we need to take out our laptop and it's kind of hard to do that when we don't have much time. Luckily we managed to get on board. It takes only less than 1 hour to get to Busan and when we arrived we waited for our baggage and search for our University signboard for the pickup process.

This photo was taken inside the Korean Air to Incheon and Busan :

Korean Air Muslim food is really delicious!!!!!

I was super excited to see this banner!!!!!!!

The first person that I met is Kelly from the Philippines and one of DSU staff, and after waiting for about 2-3 minute Dorri from the Barbados and one more Bangladesh student. Then the staff said we have to wait for another student, so we waited until the last person to get out from the arrival hall but no one showed up. Then the DSU staff decided that we just need to go. DSU pickup us by using a mini bus, just on the time to get into the bus the rain start to pouring badly.I was the one that arranges the baggage on the bus while Kelly helps me to transfer the baggage to the bus, poor Kelly as she was being wet because of the rain. It takes 30 min from Gimhae airport to Dongseo University by bus.

As we arrived at DSU, my first impression was like "Wow, DSU is really big" and what I can say is DSU is located at the mount not hill as the road that we take by bus is lead to a really steep slope road. I was wondering how those people live on such a steep slope because there is house around DSU. We are staying at International House 2 and the first thing that we need to do is to scan our fingerprint as it will open our main door as they use electronic biometric fingerprint door lock system. The housekeeper Ahjussi will give us the keys to our room and a set of bedding include with a pillow then we are good to go our room. There is no activity yet as not all student has arrived at DSU, the staff said once everyone is here then they will start with all the essential process such as applying for Alien Registration Card (ARC), bank card, student card and medical checkup.

So my first day at DSU is started with unpacked my luggage and cleaning my room. My room is so dirty like literally dirty, so I decide to go to Daiso with Kelly to buy some stuff and some cleaning product as all we know that Daiso is really cheap. With bits of help from my beloved boyfriend Mr.Google Maps, we finally manage to go there. On the subway, all the Korean Ahjumma and Ahjussi just staring at me as I'm the only one that wears hijab but I kind of get used to it as I have been in Korea for a semester last year. After getting our stuff at Daiso we went back to DSU, from subway station we just hike the steep slope to get to the International House gate. We were like dying to get up there, I stopped so many times as I'm trying to catch my breath, I really need to do some jogging or running to keep my body fits for this because I need to survive for 1 year.

Right after I arrived at my room, I just continued cleaning my room and bathroom. After done with cleaning, I take a good shower and went to bed as I just wanted to sleep, my roommate Saima from Pakistan arrived. She has to transit for 3 times to get to Busan, I knew she was exhausted by looking at her face. We just chat a little bit as both of us really need our beauty sleep.

Photo of our room, I think we might need to clean it and rearrange the stuff again :

I think that all for now!!! see you on the next post!!!! I will try to keep on updating my blog for you guys. Thanks for the reading!!! I hope that I can help you guys in the future.

Sincerely,
나비라 아미

안녕하세요!!! wait what?!?!

Hello, guys!!!

Welcome back, thanks for keep reading my blog guys. Seriously, you don't have to do it hahaha. So, for this post, I will share you about flight ticket. NIIED will give you an entry form information for flight ticket that you need to fill in and submit to them. On this form, you will be given two choices whether you want NIIED to purchase your flight ticket or you want to purchase it yourself. Don't worry, for those that want to purchase the flight ticket by themselves they can get reimbursement.

Entry Information form for Flight

So basically, after you have submitted the entry form, you need to wait for your flight ticket to be ready (for those that choose NIIED to purchase their flight ticket). The ticket will be distributed about 2-3 weeks before the actual departure date (so don't freak out! keep updates with the KGSP Facebook pages group).

But for my case, NIIED accidentally purchase a wrong flight ticket for me. The departure airport is totally different from what I have submitted to them. I'm really nervous that time, I immediately call NIIED and inform them about this error, luckily they can change it. I just got my flight ticket after all the KGSP applicant around the world gets theirs, you can predict how nervous I am at that time.

As you can see my departure airport is at Casablanca (Morocco) but I'm staying in Malaysia and my departure airport should be at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Finally, I got my flight ticket~!!!!!!! I'm so happy about it. For those that face the same problems like me, the first thing you need to do is contact NIIED and explain your problem and send a follow-up email to NIIED to keep you updated. 

Follow-up email example

So here are my actual flight ticket guys and right now I'm so busy packing my luggage.

My flight ticket :) South Korea here I come!!!

That all for now, guys!!!! will updates soon about departure and my language university which is Dongseo University :) thanks for your time.고맙습니다~!!!!!

Sincerely,
나비라 아미

Visa Application for Malaysian

Hello, guys!
Welcome back, really appreciate that you are willing to read my blog. So for this post, I will explain about visa application. I have been through this process since my previous exchange student program, so I really take this seriously as I have been through a lot of problems during the application process before this.

After you get the invitation letter from NIIED you can start applying for Visa.

Invitation Letter from NIIED

The first thing that you need to do is do some research about what types of visa that you want to apply and what are the document needed to be prepared. You can get all information about visa application at Korea Visa Portal (I will put the link below, so don't worry guys!).

Types of Visa, for those that already have TOPIK 5 or 6 they will start their classes right after arriving at Korea but for others student that have to attend language courses for a year, their visa types are D-4-1.

In this website/portal, you can get details about the document needed for each of visa types. If you
need a confirmation, you can send an email to Republic of Korea embassy in your home country. They will give you a precise answer as you will apply for the visa at them.

You can get someone to be your replacement or representative to apply for the visa for you if you are staying at Sabah or Sarawak or just can't go to the embassy. Just give your complete document and passport to the person that you can rely on or trust. As for me, I have been a replacement for one of my KGSP friends, Isna from Sabah, I never meet her but she trusted me to apply this for her. (Friendly reminder, mailing your passport and document maybe be dangerous!) 

Oh not to forget!!!! For those applicants that living in high tuberculosis (TB) risk countries are required to undergo a tuberculosis medical exam and obtain a Tuberculosis Test Certification for the hospitals or public health centers. You can get the medical form for TB test at the Visa website.

The 18 high-risk tuberculosis countries announced are:

Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam

Note: You can bring your previous X-ray film during your previous full medical checkup because the film is valid for 6 months or you can do other tests. 

After all the document completed, you good to go! The process is really simple, just bring all your document and the person in-charged at the embassy will give you a receipt as all the fee is waived by NIIED, no payment needed to be done. The process will take 3-4 days (depends on the country itself) and you need to bring the receipt that you received before when you wanted to collect your passport/visa. 

Example of TB Test Form

Here are the some of the important website that you can get information about KGSP (You can click on the text, it will bring you directly to the website:

• Korea Visa Portal
• Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Malaysia Website
• Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Malaysia Email

That all for now, I will update again about flight information.

Thank you, guys! 고맙습니다!!!!

Sincerely,

나비라 아미

• 
  

Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP 2017)

After graduated from university Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute UniKL MFI in Welding and quality Inspection, I was wondering what I should do next. After being thinking quite along and do some research by myself I was targeting in continuing my studies to the next level.

During my last semester, I was selected as an exchange student in South Korea. I met with a lot of friend from all around the world, and because of this program, I find out about Korean Government Scholarship Program because one of my friends is a scholar from this program. So I do some research about this program. What really attracted me to this program are the benefits of it. You will be fully funded for your graduate or undergraduate program! Seriously who do not like to be fully sponsored right? FREE learning, FREE experience and you would not regret anything.

What is KGSP???
KGSP is a scholarship program that been conducted by Korean Government. This program provided for Graduate and Undergraduate student.

So I try my luck by applying for this program, there were many stages of the selection procedure. Based on my experience what I can tell about KGSP is you should be patient as the selection will be quite long, you will be nervous all the time.

There were two ways to apply for KGSP. First, you can apply it at the South Korean Embassy in your home country or you just can directly apply or contact the University that you really want. As for me, I am a University track applicants as I apply directly to my University in South Korea which is KOREATECH. I would like to thanks, Ms. Selina as she is the one that helps me throughout this. You can get the contact info from the University website that you really like; most of the University website will provide contact information on their international or global department. Feel free to send them an email and ask about this program.

Why KOREATECH?
I have been there for my exchange student program on the previous year, and I really admire the University and their professor. Not to mention that they have an engineering department that really related with my bachelor degree major. 

Picture was taken during my exchange student program at KOREATECH

For university track applicant, the person in charge for the university will tell you about the entire document needed to be prepared and send to them. You can download the KGSP application form online or at the university website itself. After document have been submitted you need to wait for the follow-up email from the university about the interview, some university did not conduct any interview but they will inform whether you pass to the 2^nd stage for selection that will be managed by NIIED (National Institute for International Education). I have been interviewed using Skype by a KOREATECH Professor from my major, each university will give you different kind of question so be prepared, for an advice you should join KGSP Facebook Group, they will share you many tips and help you!

Example of University website that provides information about KGSP

My application form

picture before the skype interview (Seriously I'm really nervous that time)

The 2^nd round selection will be announced at the "Study in Korea" website. You just need to take note on the notice board on the website (for the record the results is usually being announced at
4 p.m. Korean time on the date that they have mentioned). Luckily I passed the 2^nd round selection, I was so damn happy that time! I still remember I’m on my way to Tokyo using the subway and all the Japanese were looking at me as I’m acting weirdly (being too happy is not weird guys it just not appropriate at the public because I were laughing then started to cry in joy, I don’t feel ashamed at all during that time).

So after you passed the 2^nd round of selection you should send your passport information and go for the full medical checkup. For the student that apply through embassy track, they need to wait for their results because they can choose 3 universities that they want during the application process so the university will be screening their document and conducted an interview for them. After all the process NIIED will come out with the final results. That results will determine whether you were in or out from this program.

 I made it guys!!!!!! I finally made it!!!!!!!  I still, can’t believe it!!!!!!

That all for now guys! Next, I will write about visa application and flight ticket. Till we meet again and please stay tuned! I will try my best to share everything with you guys (the future KGSP candidates!!!!)

Here are the some of  the important website that you can get information about KGSP (you can click on the text, it will bring you directly to the website) :

• NIIED website
• Study in Korea Website
• KGSP facebook page

Sincerely,

나비라 아미