Scholarship to Korea, Winter Semester 2011

ASEAN Millennium Leaders College Student Exchange Program 2011

The ASEAN University Network (AUN) in collaboration with Daejeon University (DJU) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Korea are now ready to launch the ASEAN Millennium Leaders College Student Exchange Program between the Republic of Korea and ASEAN Nations 2011

Scholarship Information:
Full Scholarships covering tuition fee, room and board, roundtrip ticket, and living allowance, will be offered to 30 students from ASEAN Nations who interested to study in the fields of Social Science and ICT at Daejeon University for the year 2011-2012. The program is developed for international exchange students and classes will be taught in English.

Students will be given a chance to attend a 2-month internship programme at the leading organizations in Korea, namely United Nations-Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN APCICT), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Korea-ASEAN Center, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Korea Nuclear International Cooperation Foundation (KONICOF), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, etc.

Admission Requirement:

Applicant must be a citizen of ASEAN nations and currently enrolled in College or University.

Undergraduate students majoring in Information Technology (e.g. Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical/Electrics Engineering, Communications Engineering or IT related major) or,

Undergraduate students majoring in Social Science Studies (e.g. Economics, Business, Public Administration, Political Science, International Studies) and Korean Studies

Applicant must has an excellent academic record (Should be in the top 10% of their classes)

Applicant must have a good command of written and spoken English.

Applicant must have a good medical record.


Timeline:
- Application Deadline: July 10, 2011
- Scholarship Announcement: July 30, 2011
- Arrival Date (Fall Semester): September 1, 2011
- Scholarship Period: September 2011 - June 2012

How to Apply:

Interested students should contact their International Relations Office for the application package.

Individual applications will not be accepted.

Applicants must submit the completed package and required documents to the AUN Secretariat through the International Relations Office of their University.

Students must send 1 copy of their complete applications to Daejeon University via mail.

Check with your University’s International Relations Office for result of selection process.

Participating universities are:
Ateneo de Manila University
De La Salle University
University of the Philippines


For more information and/or application form, please contact the AUN Secretariat at pornpen@aunsec.org

Spa in Seoul

Only two weeks are left before the spring semester ends. Exams. Papers. Stress level: 100, Word count: 0.
OMG.
I had to do something to at least make my body feel relaxed. I hope my mind follows after the matter.
It took an hour and a half to go to a spa in Apgujeong, Seoul that I saw on TV. It is owned my Lee Mi Na, a Korean news anchor. As is expected of spas, the ambiance is very relaxing and the minty scent just adds up to the relaxing and "happifying" feeling. The attendants are very courteous, too. They ushered be to wait on the couch for a while and served me a good brew of jasmine tea. I changed my clothes to a white robe and had a foot bath. I got an hour-long massage and facial, which were really, really super nice. I can't describe with words the tactile satisfaction I got from it but it was sooOo good. I'll go back there again for another detox session.

They offer various services (different kinds of peels, slimming, Oxygen treatment, Power Massage for Men,gold face pack, etc.) but I only availed the basic facial and massage.

How to go to Spa d' El:
Take the orange line. Get of at Apgujeong Station (after Shinsa Station). Take exit 4 and walk straight. After around 30 steps, you'll see Body Shop to your right. Go straight ahead and you'll see Global Plastic Surgery. It's a huge building and you won't miss it. Turn right. Walk for about 30 seconds and you'll see a huge church (forgot the name but it's made of red bricks) to the right. Opposite that church is the Spa. It's located on the 6th floor.

피곤해서 압구정 Spa d' El 갔고 마사지 잘 받았어요. 진짜 좋고 만족이었어요. 스파 가는 길: 압구정역, 4출구 나가고 똑바로 가서 (한3분) Global 성형 외과 볼 수 있어요. 오른쪽가고 (한1분) 큰 교회 보고 Spa d' El 왼쪽에 있어요.

Behavioral Therapy to Change an Effeminate Child

You can read the full article by following this link.

What I think about this aside from pitying the man, is this:

Homosexuality was considered a disease in the 1970s and it was only recently removed from the DSM-IV list of psychological illnesses. The funny thing is, until now, the most widely stated parallelism between homosexuality and disease is that the former is no different from kleptomania and other behavioral disorders. To move the argument further, ask: Is stealing (being a kleptomaniac) a sin? Should it be treated? One can confidently retort, "Of course!". By extension, is homosexuality a sin? Must it be treated? It's difficult to run counter to the analogy. However, homosexuality being more pervasive differs itself from behavioral illnesses, which are confined to a relatively smaller portion of the human population." Why then, is homosexuality such a widespread and contagious behavioral abnormalcy! And those afflicted must be suffering self-denial as, like the man who took his life in the article, one should not act according to the behavioral congruency of being gay. Thing is, if one dissociates from one's nature, it causes neurosis, it extinguishes life, and it crushes the soul.

Gangnam to the World

If you're in a foreign country and you know that your time is limited, it is a big shame to spend a weekend in a swivel chair and facebook the day away. It wasn't the case for me, amid the weather being overcast telling me not to go out. I had to set out on a familiar subway route boarding the train from Yeokgok Station and getting off at Gangnam-guchong Station (강남구청역, dark green line), for the district tour organized by Gangnam-gu (강남구). Seoul has 25 districts (구) but it is only Gangnam, as far as my email is concerned, that has sent me an invitation to become an honorary publicity ambassador. It is also only in this district where you will feel an air of sophistication, much like when I visited Manhattan, with the district being dotted with huge business buildings, museums, and commercial establishments. The thing is, I did not feel detached at all from the cultural face that Korea is projecting to foreigners. The culture and tradition was there, intermingled with modernity and much more.

So we arrived at the city municipal office and waited for about an hour for the other participants. There was a bus parked just in front of the building and we rightly suspected that it's for the trip. Sure enough, it was. We were welcomed on board by a very nice tourist guide, a friendly bus driver, and a bag of snacks and a water bottle. Small as the snacks were, they made me feel that the organizers took our needs to heart. The water bottle saved my day.

There were a lot of destinations in the trip but I liked Kukkiwon the most. I thought, gosh, we're going to Korea's top Taekwondo academy, and Taekwondo being Korea's national sport, I must be able to get a glimpse of how jins train hard and execute to perfection Taekwondo routines. The well-built jins started to do Taekwondo moves to a tune, as if it were easy kicking almost to a split and doing the spins and still landing with great balance and composure. The choreography was excellent. But I wanted to see the apples juiced and ply boards splintered. Well, those came right after a sparring, which still was done to a very upbeat tune. Surprisingly, it wasn't just apples and boards, there were swords and bells, too. I was privileged to see such a performance done in a place where Taekwondo was originally founded (Kukki). The exhibitions include jins somersaulting and crushing the apples pierced by the tip of a sword 12 feet up in the air. You can say that that's accuracy. I guess they'd feel awful if their feet touches the sword. And there was this jin who was blindfolded and was just listening to the sound of the bell, using it as his cue as to how distant he is from the apples. With a sharp, powerful somersault, he brought the apples down, and so was the crowd of spectators. At the end of the performance, we were allowed to step in the court and take photos with the jins. I also picked a splinter of wood not as a souvenir but in order to test whether I can break it into two at home, and how painful it is to try.


There were other highlights in the trip like the Garden Restaurant and Samsung D'light. All in all, it was a rewarding Saturday. I got the chance to watch the jins and meet the honorable Mayor of Gangnam Shin Yeon-hee. The freebie didn't stop with the water bottle; everyone also got a USB.