SEOUL: When Mohammed Al-Keshan left Makkah to study at South Korea’s top university, he found himself not just 8,000 km away from home, but also in a place where everything seemed different from what he was used to.
Al-Keshan was already 32 when he started his dentistry residency at Seoul National University in 2017. He neither knew the language nor culture — and at that time, there were not many other students in Saudi Arabia with the experience of pursuing medicine in South Korea.
“Then, there was loneliness and homesickness. The courses were more intense (than in Saudi Arabia), and it took me about two to three months to adapt,” he told Arab News.
“It is not easy to learn at this age and to adapt to the culture. But the Korean people are very kind and smart. They gave me a lot of advice and were very helpful.”
Al-Keshan became one of the pioneers in a growing medical exchange program under the Saudi and Korean ministries of health that places a special focus on dental sciences.
