If you want the tl;dr first: POSTECH feels like a science park that accidentally became a university and then decided to be a small city with better food. The days are long (in a good way), the nights are optionally gym o’clock (because yes, it’s open 24 hours), and the people—students, profs, staff—are the kind who’ll walk you to the building instead of pointing in a vague direction. If you want the longer take, welcome to my running diary of the last couple of weeks.

Welcome Week: structured chaos, but wholesome

We kicked off with a welcome week that blended orientation talks with games that actually worked as icebreakers. The international office and our PBUDs (POSTECH buddies assigned to exchange students) ran everything like a pit crew at a Grand Prix. One day we were hoarding clues in a campus-wide scavenger hunt; the next, we were learning how not to set the chemistry building on fire. Between sessions, PBUDs handed us mini crash courses: how to buy the right transit card, how to refill cafeteria credit, how to decipher the washing machines (a greater test of character than any midterm).

They even chaperoned us in a group to apply for our Alien Registration Cards (ARCs)—which is the bureaucratic rite of passage in Korea. Doing it together meant no one had to brave the forms alone. It felt like a school trip, except the permission slip was immigration paperwork.

POKA War in Daejeon: where rivalry tastes like victory snacks

Last week we bussed to Daejeon for the POKA War—POSTECH vs. KAIST—which is part athletics showdown, part cultural festival, and part extremely organized shouting. We packed into stands with face paint and banners; the chant rhythm burrowed under the skin: “P-O! P-O! P-O-S-TECH!” It’s surreal how quickly you start caring about sports you barely knew the rules for. I arrived a neutral civilian and left a self-styled tactical analyst for football.

Louder than strategy, brighter than face paint

Between matches, a local PBUD insisted we see the city’s big garden (the kind that makes your camera feel suddenly professional). Think sculpted ponds, curated trees, and long paths where the breeze edits your thoughts. We posed, obviously.

Green rooms for big conversations.

A campus that makes you walk, then rewards you for it

Back in Pohang, POSTECH’s sprawling campus is a daily invitation to wander: pine-lined roads, clean bike lanes, modern labs with glass façades, and lawns that look like they were vacuumed. The library is sunlight and silence; the maker spaces hum with printer arms and cautious optimism. Shuttles loop in predictable rhythms, but half the time I walk just to pass the little art pieces and the stray cat that sleeps like an undergrad after midterms.

 Physics on the timetable, poetry on the footpath

24-hour gym: the happiest mistake you can make at midnight

The gym doesn’t close. I repeat, it doesn’t close. If you’ve ever said, “I’d work out more if only the gym stayed open,” POSTECH calls your bluff with a smile and a bench press. There’s a quiet fraternity of late-night gym-goers—grad students shedding code-gremlins, athletes calibrating engines, exchange students discovering that squats are a universal language. Pro tip: stretch on the balcony afterward; the campus looks cinematic past 1 a.m.

People who turn a map into a neighborhood

The PBUDs are the unsung heroes of this arc. They’ve rescued us from dead phone plans, navigated us to bus terminals, fixed printer drivers, and explained—patiently—why some cafés won’t let you camp for six hours with one latte. Every time I thought I had a “small” question, a PBUD had a neat, three-step answer and a meme to go with it.

Local students in general have been absurdly friendly. You’ll be squinting at a sign, and someone will appear like a side quest: “Do you need help?” Five minutes later you’ve learned the best tteokbokki within a 10-minute radius and made a plan to go climbing.

Fuel: nutritious, affordable, dangerously repeatable

Cafeteria food here is affordable and shockingly good. You get a proper, balanced tray: rice, protein, soup, a vegetable side, and a rotation of banchan that keeps things interesting. Some days it’s bulgogi with a gentle sweetness; others it’s a bibimbap that lets you pretend you invented mindful eating. You leave full but not weighed down—clean fuel for classes or gym or both.

KRW well spent, energy well placed

Daily cadence: lab notes, sunset notes

A day here stacks neatly: classes or labs; a quick coffee with someone you just met but will probably collaborate with; a campus walk that stretches because the sky asks nicely; then gym, or game night, or an event you wandered into because the poster was cute. Evenings sometimes end with a convenience-store picnic—triangle kimbap, yogurt drinks, and grand discussions about whether we should start a film club or just keep promising to.

Tiny frictions, quick fixes

Yes, there are micro-challenges—new apps, new sockets, the eternal hunt for the right bus stop. But someone always swoops in with help: a PBUD, a staff member, a stranger with a better data plan. The campus is large, but the social distance is small.

Why it already feels like home

I think it’s the combination: a campus that breathes, systems that work, food that nourishes, and people who show up. The POKA chants still ring in my ears; the Daejeon garden is now a mental screensaver; the gym lights are a promise that tomorrow can begin at any hour you choose. And somewhere between an ARC stamp and a late-night protein shake, POSTECH stopped being a place on a map and became a place I live.

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