Classrooms and Pics of the Cafeteria

Before coming to Sogang, I was very curious to know how classrooms looked. Would they be small 20-30 student classrooms, medium sized 30-50 students, or big lecture classes? My first impression was that they looked medium sized, but then I realized that they were were classrooms that could hold up 100+ students!!! My Marketing class for example looks like a medium sized class to me, but turns out there are about 100 students. I found it odd because my Organizational Behavior class holds up 100+ students too, but the classroom look super big and my Marketing class doesn't. As for my Korean classroom, it's actually a small room that holds about 20 students, but there are probably about less that 15 students in my class. The Korean Language Classes are always going to be in small groups. I really like that because the teacher can focus more on individual students who need help.

A little quick thing for those who will come in the future to Sogang. Sogang classrooms for the most part work on a assigned seat basis, even with 100+ students classrooms. Normally, where you sit on the first day of class will be your permanent seat. So if you want to choose where your seat will be, make sure you get to class early. Many Korean students will be waiting outside the classroom up to an hour before class starts to get good seats or they are trying to add a class. I was really shocked at how packed the outside of my International Trade class was 1/2 an hour before it even started. good thing my previous class ended early.

Another thing to know, getting in and out of class is on "A PUSH AND SHOVE BASIS!!!!!" I learned this lesson very well my first day of class at Sogang. Students here will push and shove you to get in and out of class. They won't even wait until the students get out of class, they will just go in while students are trying to get out. To top it off, all classrooms always have one side of the double doors closed!!!!!!! So there are a ton of students trying to get in and out of class through one door.....I was so confused by it because it makes more sense to have both open so one side can be for students exiting and the other for students coming in to class.

Lastly, do not get offended if Korean students don't hold the door for you, EVEN IF YOU'RE LIKE RIGHT BEHIND THEM!!! I don't know what's up here, but people will basically slam the door in your face, even if you are right behind them. It would annoy me so much because people kept doing it to me and the polite thing to do is hold the door for the person behind you or push the door out enough that the other person can come in without slamming it in their face. Oh well!

Here are a couple of pictures that I took just so you can kind of get an idea of how classrooms look in Sogang.






To end my post, here are a couple of pics for those wondering how the cafeteria (B1) looks.