Intern Abroad

• Business Administration and Engineering: Mechanical Engineering B.Sc.
• South Korea, Seoul
• Seoul National University
• 10/2025 – 10/2026

1. Preparation and organization of the stay

Gwanak-Gu Mountain
©International Office

– My former supervisor at an institute at RWTH has been working with this specific lab on some projects before and when I mentioned, I was looking for a stay abroad, he made the contact.

– Although almost every Korean learns English since kindergarten, they can´t speak it and are better at texting. Working in an English speaking environment in Korea is therefore more rare than common.

– If you visit the country under 90 days and don´t work/are unpaid, you don´t need a VISA, you need to fill out the e-arrival card

– I found my apartment via 33m2

– For insurance I just added a stay-abroad to my already existing german insurance

– Travel-Arrangements: International Airport is Seoul, Incheon. From there you can go by Airport Bus (10 Euros), Subway (3 Euros) and Uber (20-50 Euros)

2. First steps after arrival:

– My first night was in an hotel, so getting there was my first step

– Hotel-/stay booking over booking.com/Airbnb is much more expensive and you get worse quality. I recommend booking via local platforms.

3. Academic/professional experience:

I did a research internship, where I worked every day. I needed to find my own problem on which no one has ever worked before and then try solving it. I didn´t take any courses and wasn´t an enrolled student. I learned many skills the RWTH doesn´t teach you: Robotics, Sensors, working with hardware, working with Linux, real programming, ROS2…

4. Financing:

N-Tower
©International Office

– Rent: 500-800 euro ( if you are on a real tight budget, you can get a goshiwon for 200 Euros)

– Insurance: ask your German insurance company, mine offers a full coverage for 200-300 Euros for 3 months

– Food: you don´t really cook in Korea. Kitchens are small and shared by many people( in my apartment by 20-25 people). You always eat out. It is common to eat instant ramen in convenience, although they aren´t really nutritious. The University offers many different cafeterias and cheap meals. (Ranging from 1.000 KRW to 12.000 KRW). There are also Burger, Sandwich and Fried Chicken Franchises on Campus. For Dinner you can get many meals for 8000 -14.000 KRW(5 – 8 Euros). Water is always for free at restaurants.

– If you want to go out on the weekends, you should plan 30-60 Euros for one evening. (you usually go to multiple places in one evening)

– Public Transport is pretty good. Try to find a place in 5 min walking distance to a Line 2 station and get a climate card (you can get it at a CU).

– Unless you have a residency card, you won´t be able to get a Korean bank account. Transfers between foreign bank accounts and Korean bank accounts are not possible. There are often places (even Chains) who won´t accept foreign banking cards. So always have some cash or you can load a T-Money Card(from a Convenience Card) with some Cash at subway stations.

– 100 to 200 Euros per month for extra activities

– 100 Euros Buffer

– I would say with everything, plan the upper end of your budget estimates.

5. Leisure:

Seoul is really big. You often need 0,5 to 1 hour for your commute, so just explore all the areas. I also often asked AIs for Tips. This way I often went to places, often locals didn´t know. Many areas have a very distinct character with beautiful Cafés, Bars and Restaurants. Just explore. If you like some sporty activities hike up some “mountains” that are around Seoul or hike to some hidden Buddhistic temples. If you like shopping there are many department stores and malls. There are also ski resorts in 1 to 2 hours distance of Seoul. Clubbing isn´t really a big thing in Seoul, but Karaoke is. So definitely try this one out! For finding places and for your daily commute use Naver Maps (better for finding places) and Kakao Map (better for commuting). Google Maps, Apple Maps,… don´t work in Korea for security reasons.

6. What added value did the stay have for my studies/career prospects?

Starfield Library
©International Office

In German Institutes stuff often needs to be variously planned. Here they try to implement the silicon valley motto: try fast, break fast, improve fast. One thing I haven´t learned yet at my HiWi-Jobs. You are also completely independent and self reliant. If something doesn´t work, it´s your fault, but if something work, it´s your win. So this really shaped my understanding of handling engineering tasks. Just try it out, you´ll figure it out along the way. And this mindset I think should be more implemented in Germany and is something we planning Germans (haha) could benefit from.

7. To what extent does my stay abroad have a sustainable character?

You can realistically only get there by plane, but Seoul has this initiative for some years now to reduce carbon emissions by having a good public transportation (especially if you live near line 2). So completely relying on the subway and busses had a sustainable character. More Over South-Korea gets a lot of the fine dust by wind from North-Korea and China in early spring. Checking out the Air Quality and wearing masks, when it is bad, is recommended.

8. Conclusion:

Hongdae
©International Office

The stay was definitely worth it and I learned a lot regarding to my engineering capabilities. Living and Working in an completely different culture and language is an experience. The now in Germany discussed 4 day work week would be a joke in Korea and is more parttime. People often work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. I remember once coming to work at 7:30 am and seeing my colleague has already arrived. I asked him, since when he is here. He told me: 10. Me: Oh 10 pm? Did you work through the night? He then continued telling me, he has been working since 10 am yesterday. It wasn´t the last time, I saw him, doing this. So all-nighters because of deadlines and the sheer work load are a thing here and I also had to do it once. (I can relieve you a bit: the expectations for foreigner are lower) Koreans area very hardworking. And if you have the opportunity, I recommend it! It is lots of fun. (if you like some suffering along the way as well 😉)