It’s hard to talk about your expectations of living in Korea before ever having been to Korea, or even Asia for that matter. Everything I knew or imagined about what my life would be like I got from the internet. And not even reliable sources at that. Random snippets of information, like scattered jigsaw puzzle pieces, that formed a vague dream of me strutting around campus with notebooks in my arms and hair blowing in the wind, casually chatting with my classmates.
A quick Google search will tell you that Korea is well known for its modern skyscrapers, high-tech cities, fashion, and skincare, as well as its increasingly popular music industry. You can read all about the DDP and the food, maybe watch a few K-Dramas to prepare yourself, you can even make an entire presentation about Korea for your clueless relatives (can’t be only me, I’m sure), but in the end, Korea is not all Hongdae and Gangnam, not all skyscrapers and traditional markets - not all picture-perfect, like you’d imagine from your extensive research. In fact, living in Korea is kind of like dating. It’s a relationship where no one except for you two really knows or understands how you’ve found each other or how it’s possible for you to click so well, but a relationship where that doesn’t really matter because everyone can see that you are just so good for each other. And you can’t really answer the ‘why?’ question, but why would you want to? It’s not that simple when it comes to matters of the heart and your relationship, though bizarre to some, makes you happy. So at that point, does it really matter if you were obsessed with K-Pop, into learning the language or if your study abroad started as a prank on your mom? You’re here and you’re here with no regrets.
And so you can embrace living in Korea as a less shiny but more loveable experience. In fact, it is the imperfectness of it all, the disillusionment after having spent more than a month here, that highlights the truly important moments and makes it all about the small things that bring you happiness. The novelty eventually wears off, but the warmth of finding a home away from home stays.
Living in Korea is being a regular at restaurants to the point where they recognize you and remember your order. It’s finally seeing your professors and classmates in person, if only for the exam. It’s struggling through your first Gong Cha order in full Korean and not chickening out by using a kiosk. It’s taking a walk down the stream, wasting your time and not really worrying about having to leave the country next week. It’s going from ‘I get that kimchi is healthy, but why is it cold? I think I’ll pass’ to buying your first bag at the market in front of your house. It’s getting a total of five credits on your first-course registration. It’s bumping your head on the door when exiting the subway. It’s buying the last umbrella from a convenience store when caught in a storm downtown. It’s a learning experience where everything goes wrong, but it’s still so worth it, for you meet the best people along the way.
All in all, living in Korea was definitely not the college experience I expected. In fact, I don’t think any amount of preplanning could have prepared me for it. And yet, it was a college experience that I wouldn’t change. It’s the ‘flaws’ that made it special and that continue to make it wholesome every day.
About the Author
Maja is from Slovenia, and she is a junior at Korea University who majors in architecture.