Culinary Arts & Korean Culture
A Summer for Fun, Friends, and Your Future
Explore
Have fun discovering the pop-culture capital of South Korea and its eclectic food scene.
Network
Meet new friends and chefs. Build your own community.
Get Inspired
Launch your future today! Cook using traditional and modern Korean culinary techniques. Build confidence as a future chef.
The Destination
Welcome to Seoul, where palace courtyards, night markets, and Instagram-famous food stands all flavor the same day.
For centuries, Seoul has been Korea’s culinary compass—from royal court banquets that balanced five colors and flavors to today’s UNESCO-listed kimchi traditions. After the Korean War, Seoul entered a high-tech boom that transformed the capital into Asia’s pop-culture center. Today, neon K-pop billboards, whirring delivery scooters, and 17,000 espresso bars crowd its streets alongside symbols of tradition like jade-roofed palaces and earthen jars of fermenting gochujang.
The variety of food is endless, especially in markets like Gwangjang and the neon canyon of Myeong-dong, where you can crunch your way through “mayak” gimbap (bite-sized seaweed rice rolls), rainbow bingsu (shaved-ice sundaes), and dalgona candy (honeycomb toffee from Squid Game). Belt out K-pop hits in Hongdae’s neon arcades or join the crowd cheering street-dancer buskers under flashing LED signs. For a total change of pace, slip into a hanbok (traditional dress) and wander the candle-lit courtyards of 15th-century Gyeongbokgung Palace, watching the city’s glass towers rise just beyond the ancient walls.
Cultural Awareness
CIEE wants all our students to feel welcomed, supported, and empowered to succeed while studying abroad. No matter where you choose to study abroad with CIEE, our staff will be on hand throughout your program to provide advice, resources, and support.
Social feed above may feature posts from all CIEE Study Abroad programs, including college programs.
Sample Itinerary
Top Rated Activities
Overnight in Andong
Travel to Andong, Korea’s Confucian heart. In the UNESCO-listed Hahoe Folk Village, you’ll wander past 600-year-old clan houses and outdoor platforms stacked with jangdok, earthen jars quietly fermenting soy sauce, gochujang (spicy red-pepper paste), and other age-old condiments. Watch a traditional talchum mask dance, once a satirical performance that poked fun at aristocrats during ancestral feasts, bringing the village’s history of ritual, humor, and scholarship to life right before your eyes.
Join a hands-on workshop to cook Andong jjimdak, a soy-braised chicken dish with glass noodles and vegetables famous across Korea, and sample the region’s signature salted mackerel. Visit or even sleep over in a hanok, a traditional wooden house with paper doors and an open courtyard.
Gyeongbokgung Palace Tour & Hanbok Experience
Step out of Seoul’s subway and straight into the 14th century: Gyeongbokgung Palace sits in the city center, its jade-tiled gates framed by glass towers. Slip into a rented hanbok—a bright silk-like jacket and full skirt or roomy trousers tied with long ribbons. Scores of visitors do the same (wearing a hanbok even waives the entry fee), so you’ll blend right in as you watch the Royal Guard-Changing Ceremony. Drums boom, and soldiers in crimson and cobalt uniforms march beneath dancheong patterns—five sacred colors (blue, red, yellow, white, black) painted on beams to ward off evil and honor nature.
Inside, explore throne halls, lotus ponds, and Sojubang, the royal kitchen. Court chefs once used those same five colors and five flavors—spicy, sweet, sour, bitter, salty—to balance every royal meal, a philosophy still seen in modern Korean banchan (small shared side dishes) plates.
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Eligibility
- Participants must be 14 years old and above.
- Program open to all current high school students: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors.
- For scholarship eligibility requirements, please check our scholarship page.
- Please note: South Korea maintains strict regulations regarding medications brought into the country. We encourage student families to consult with their doctor and research whether the student's medications are legal and available in South Korea.
For more information, refer to the detailed Program Essential Eligibility Criteria.
Dates & Fees
Application Fee
$25
Program scholarships and tuition include iNext Travel Insurance, but do not cover the cost of flights. Find additional details about what’s included with your tuition.
More questions? Find answers, get application support, sign up for virtual presentations or contact us!
Program |
Application Due |
Start Date |
End Date |
Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program Summer Session I 2027 3 weeks | Start Date | End Date | ||
| Program Summer Session II 2027 3 weeks | Start Date | End Date |
Ready to change your life?
What's Included
Interactive Classes
Housing
3 Meals/Day
(Dietary Needs Accommodated)
All Ground Transportation
(Once In-country)
Optional Flight Chaperone
(Flight Cost Not Included)
Pre-departure Advice and Orientation
Access to WIFI
(No international data plan or SIM card included)
All Cultural Activities and Excursions
Comprehensive Medical and Travel Protection
24/7 Emergency On-site Support
Our Staff
Philip Jung
Center Director
Program Leaders guide and support our High School Summer Abroad participants through every step of their program.
Get Started
1
2
Connect with your Teachers or Parents
Share your plans and confirm you're on track to meet all required steps to go abroad.
3
Contact Us
Send us an email if you still have questions or need information about enrolling.
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