Jano Vasquez-Jaffe ‘26

The following post was adapted from a conversation between Jano Vasquez-Jaffe ‘26 and Nela Loftin ‘28, an intern with the Global Engagement Office (GEO).¹

Jano is an Engineering major with a minor in statistics who studied with CIEE in Seoul, South Korea. Jano describes Seoul as an affordable, dynamic city with something for everyone, even if you don’t have prior knowledge of Korea or Korean language.

What can you share about your program?

I studied abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. I’m an engineering major with an electrical focus.  I took one course toward my engineering requirements while abroad, an architectural design class that taught us how to use CAD, Revit, and 3ds Max. This class was my favorite because we had a final project where we designed and built houses and learned how to present them.

That said, I opted to take most of my engineering courses at Swarthmore rather than in Korea. I wanted to use my time in Korea to really learn about the culture. I took a couple humanities classes, like a poetry class and a class about how social media influences Korea. 

How would you describe Korea to someone who’s never been?

Korea is a wonderful country to study abroad. It’s really laid back; everyone’s super friendly.  Almost everyone speaks English, or at least some English, so it felt easy to adapt to Korean culture.

Seoul is an amazing city. There’s so much to do. It’s like New York City but everything is cheap. I would spend on average maybe 6-8 USD on a meal. And it’s super easy to get around there.

Seoul is also extremely safe. You can be walking around late at night just by yourself. You definitely don’t want to be walking around Philly late at night, but in Korea, that is no problem. There were no pickpockets or anything. Night life is really great in Seoul; I had a lot of fun going out on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s a great environment. No one treats you like a foreigner. 

Can you tell us a bit about Yonsei University?

Yonsei is a huge university. They have tons of classes taught in English. There’s like 2,000 or 3,000 full time international students at any given semester, so it’s very easy to find others who speak more English than Korean. 

There are classes more geared towards Korean students and classes more geared towards foreigners; I recommend taking both. I became friends with some Korean students and grabbed lunch or dinner a couple of times. CIEE also offers programs to connect you with locals. 

Most of my closest friends were other international students, but it was very diverse. In other popular study abroad locations, I likely would have seen a lot of other Americans. But in Seoul, some of my closest friends were German, Dutch, Australian, and Canadian. 

What types of things would you do in your free time?

There were board game cafes that I would go to with my friends, which were super fun.  Obviously, karaoke is another big one. Noraebang is what it’s called in Korean. There were so many beautiful neighborhoods to explore and new restaurants to try.

There were also lots of study cafes in the Sinchon area, the neighborhood that Yonsei University is in. A drink costs a couple of dollars and since the cafe is meant for studying, it’s very quiet. They have nice chairs and little nooks and crannies. They are really great environments to go study. 

Do any specific memorable experiences stand out?

The public transport in Korea was incredible, so I was able to travel often. The trains and buses can take you everywhere, even around Chuseok, which is the equivalent of our fall break. 

My friends and I went to Busan which was super fun. We also went to Sokcho and did some hiking there. The view from Seoraksan Mountain was great. 

I also took a day trip to a small town called Jeonju which I recommend. It’s a small traditional Korean town, and all the buildings were in traditional Korean style. It’s more of a touristy town, but it’s really nice. There were so many great traditional food spots to eat at. I had food at a bibimbap place that had been there for over 100 years. You can take a train to Jeonju in the morning and come back in the evening. The city was beautiful.

Any final words about your experience?

My advice would be to take advantage of public transportation. When I first got there, I mainly focused on academics and didn’t explore the area much. It wasn’t until later in the semester that I really started exploring the city and going to new areas.

The high speed trains were truly something else. They were always on time, and they could take you anywhere. You could purchase a climate card for around 50,000 won which is equivalent to 35 USD. The climate card gives you unlimited bus and subway access. I could explore so much and easily stay within the Swarthmore Stipend. The transportation is easily the best I’ve ever had. 

I recommend using Tik Tok or socials to find cool places to go. And don’t be hesitant to try new things. Even if it’s a weird looking food, just try it. Be really open minded and willing to try new things. And definitely travel a lot around Seoul, it’s a wonderful place to be.

1. The views and/or opinions represented in the GEO blog belong solely to the student(s) and do not represent Swarthmore College; students are not liable for any errors or omissions in the personal experiences they share ↩︎