My KGSP STUDY EXPERIENCE

by God’spower Okpala

저는나이지리아에서온대구대학교기계공학과졸업생고스포어입니다. 
Hello, my name is OKPALA GOD’SPOWER and I am a 2013 KGSP scholar from Nigeria. Just graduated with a degree in Mechanical engineering from Daegu university, Daegu South Korea. I will discuss and write about all my experiences, falls, victories, memories etc. Hoping to be able to connect and inspire you.

                It all started back in 2012, I was in my final year in high school, I was called upon by our then English and Biology teachers to come for a brief discussion. Well I wasn’t the only one called, we were 20 students that gathered that day. And the teacher told us that our school is going for a competition and we want to select 3 students to represent us in that competition. We were given a book to read about South Korea. I myself thought it was just a normal quiz we do every day, but I studied hard for it for a week. First, we competed among ourselves and the best 3 was selected. Thank God I was one of them, and we had to start preparing for the zonal and regional competition.

First competition day, I woke up excited, nervous and ready because I sincerely love challenges and at the same time I still didn't know it was a scholarship competition. For the zonal competition my school hosted it. I came to school and it felt like a normal school day because I also had to attended classes and all. After break time, we were called upon and we went to the competition hall, when I entered the hall, I was shocked because just on the wall I saw a huge flyer on it “KOREAN GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM” was written. This got me scared and more nervous because first, I didn’t know it was an abroad scholarship program and I started having lots of thoughts like, what if I lose this opportunity, I will regret for the rest of my life.  But we went in, the competition kicked off and we were victorious.  We also went through to the finals and my school came top.

      The competition was before WAEC, so after the competition, I had to study hard for WAEC, I passed and was ready for my next life challenge. Then comes the preparation stage, I had 6 months before leaving for South Korea, I used that period to spend time with my family, friends and also travel around Nigeria.

   Coming to South Korea…………………..

  A lady by the name Muslimat and I( we were both KGSP scholars) left Naija(Nigeria) from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, we had a connecting flight at Dubai,  we spent 22 hours at Dubai airport waiting for our connecting flight. There we met out fellow KGSP scholars from Ghana, it was really cool because they came to us and asked, “hello, are your guys KGSP scholars too?” and we said yes and later we realized that we were all posted to the same school. And we arrived South Korea and the biggest challenge of our lives started…

    The challenge…..

  One of the conditions of the scholarship was, that we must study Korean Language fore a year and there after start our course studies also another challenge was we were to study our courses in Korean language. Now imagine this, an Igbo man like me, study a language not relating to African language but Asian and to be specific, Korean. I was up for the challenge so at the same time I was excited. I started the language studies just few days after arriving Korea. My readers, it wasn’t easy oh. But the amazing part of everything amidst this challenge was, I had the opportunity to meet and make friends with different people, with different cultures and tradition. This opened my mind and I began to see things in a different perspective. I studied had and became better at Korean language and now I am good at it.  네나한국말잘한다...ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

  I graduated from Korean language institute of Kyung Hee University and started my Major at Daegu University. At this point, I started making use of the opportunity I had, I travel every holiday to different countries and experience lots of cultures and way of life. Now travelling expanded my mind, I started to think differently. All my classes were in Korean and I was the only foreigner in my department. Through hard work and by God’s grace, I passed every level with good grades. There were times Of course when I thought about giving up on everything, but I had to look back at where I came from, my family and also the opportunity Korean cultural center gave me, it gave me more courage and helped me excel. And through hard work, I was able to get an extra scholarship from my school for the best foreign student in 2 semesters, and I also got a summer school scholarship for 2 summers in Romania. Finally, I am a Mechanical Engineer.

            You have to see past the challenges that face you today and think about the benefits after overcoming such challenge. For example, I am now and expert in Korean language and that is a huge plus.All these were achieved through hard work and persistence. looking back from where I started, back then at GSS Nyanya secondary school, it seemed impossible, but nothing is impossible, and you can achieve anything you dream of. Just persist and believe in yourself.