Beyond Expectations
Lee Cheng Kang Darren from Nanyang Technological University
My experience in
KAIST CAMPUS Asia has been a very fulfilling one. I have made a lot of new
friends in this program and had a lot of new experiences as well. I was
surprised by the number of activities, outreach, and networking events in this
program, which has helped to bridge barriers between students of different
nationalities in the program and made this an enjoyable and fulfilling
experience.
However, I did not
choose this program because of the activities offered. I chose to join KAIST CAMPUS
Asia as it connects students and professors together for a research experience.
Having the program supporting this process of connecting students and
professors together reduces the time and stress when finding a research
opportunity. Furthermore, I had visited KAIST previously in a short (1 week)
learning trip and enjoyed the serenity and beauty of KAIST. While these were
the reasons that I joined KAIST CAMPUS Asia, the program has exceeded my
expectations.
The best part of the
program are the friends that I made along the way. Most importantly, the
program hosts the first interaction between new and old inbound students
through, allowing students of different nationality to break the ice. It was
because of the lunch planned by CAMPUS Asia that many subsequent fun
interactions and trips occurred as well. Furthermore, the Korean Buddy assigned
to us by the program provided us with a lot of help in terms of administrative
matters and we also had a lot of fun meals and times with the buddy.
Beside that, I had
also enjoyed the trips that were held by CAMPUS Asia Program and the Korean
classes as well. These allowed me to immerse in the Korean culture while being
in a research program. These activities prevent the entire experience to be
purely about research and made the entire experience more well-rounded.
While KAIST CAMPUS
Asia is typically a 1-2month program, they had kindly extended the duration for
me to allow me to perform my undergraduate thesis with the program. This has
allowed me to experience so much more than what a typical student can
experience. Thereby, I am extremely grateful for the entire experience.
Due to this experience and program, I am considering graduate studies. I am even considering doing graduate studies in KAIST and in my current laboratory. Thereby, this has been a very fulfilling experience and possibly life changing as well.