Busan Campus Dreams: A Skywalk Over the Sea, Ginkgo Confetti & the Lecture Hall With the Best View in Korea

Happy Campus Asia Monday, my loves — and this week I finally crossed the water. Fourteen campuses into this series, and for the first time I left China entirely and landed somewhere I've been dying to visit since I started this obsession: Busan, South Korea, and the one university that owns the most dramatic piece of coastline in Korean academia — Pukyong National University.

Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Kyoto, Beijing, Xiamen, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Chiang Mai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan — that was the résumé. But PKNU has something none of the others can offer: a campus where the Pacific Ocean is quite literally your campus map legend. Darling, I packed my pleated skirt the moment I saw the photos.

The Skywalk That Hangs Over the Sea

Let's start with the icon. Tucked into the Yongdang campus, right where the hillside drops toward the water, PKNU built a curved steel skywalk that floats you out over the sea — glass underfoot, wind in your hair, the whole glittering curve of the Busan coastline beneath your sneakers. It became famous when dramas filmed here, and I understand the casting directors completely. Standing at the tip of that arc, hoodie zipped against the ocean breeze, waves exploding on the rocks below — you feel like the main character. I certainly behaved like one.

I wore my cropped navy hoodie and plaid skirt, leaned into the railing, and let the wind do my styling for me. The light in late October here is unreal — low, golden, generous. Every selfie looked like a film still. Some universities have quads. PKNU has an ocean deck.

Ginkgo Confetti & the Student Uniform I Couldn't Resist

Between the shoreline and the lecture halls, the campus paths run under long rows of ginkgo trees, and in late October they detonate into pure gold. Leaves falling like slow confetti, the air crisp and clean with that faint salt note you only get in a city built on the sea.

Reader, I gave in. I borrowed the full student look — crisp white blouse, loose plaid tie, pleated skirt, an oversized cream cardigan perpetually sliding off one shoulder — and strolled the golden corridor hugging a stack of textbooks I had zero intention of opening. Students streamed past me toward afternoon classes, and I swear half of them were trying to figure out if I was a transfer student. Sweetheart, I'm a permanent student of beautiful places.

The whole campus has that hilly, layered layout Busan does so well — buildings stacked up the slope, sea glimpses between them like the city itself keeps checking on the water. You climb a stairway for class and get a view most tourists pay for.

The Study Session That Never Stood a Chance

My favourite hour was the last one. As dusk fell, I ducked into the campus library and found a seat at the floor-to-ceiling windows — and darling, this is the part that broke me. Outside the glass, the sky turned ink-blue and Gwangalli Beach switched on its lights, the whole arc of Gwangan Bridge glowing gold over the dark water like a necklace someone forgot to take off.

I opened my textbook. I looked at the bridge. I looked at the textbook. Reader, the bridge won. Some study sessions are meant to become daydreams. I sat there curled up in my oversized sweater, pen idle, watching the city flicker on, and decided that getting absolutely nothing done had never felt so productive.

Cindy's Field Notes 📝

• Getting there: Pukyong National University's Daeyeon campus is in Nam-gu, Busan — a short hop from Daeyeon station (Line 2). The famous skywalk is up the hill on the Yongdang side, following the coast path.
• Timing: Late October is peak — golden ginkgo, thin crowds, that low honeyed light. Come an hour before sunset for the skywalk; stay for the blue hour when Gwangan Bridge lights up.
• Don't miss: The coastal skywalk (free!), the ginkgo corridor between lecture halls, the library's ocean-view window seats, and the short walk down to Gwangalli Beach for grilled scallops and soju afterwards — you've earned it.
• Wear: Layers. The sea breeze on the skywalk is flirtatious but cold. A cropped hoodie + plaid skirt was scientifically tested by yours truly. Bring shoes with grip; those coastal stairs get slick.
• Vibe: Salt air, honking gulls, ginkgo gold and student laughter — a campus that feels like a K-drama because, honestly, it has been one.

Fourteen campuses down, and the ocean has officially entered the chat. Seoul may have the prestige, but Busan has the view — and I know which one kept me out past dinner.

Until next Monday, dreamers — bring a jacket, and pretend the textbook is a prop. 🌊🍂

xoxo, Cindy