One Year Down, More to Come!
One Year Down, More to Come!
Exactly one year ago today I began my journey of a lifetime (or maybe one of many! Who's to say we only have one 'adventure of a lifetime'?). Just before midnight I boarded a plane to South Korea, with no return ticket (which later caused problems, but besides the point).
This journey was one of many firsts for me. My first time living alone for a long period, my first time traveling to a country by myself where I knew no-one at the other end, my first time attending university... I could go on and on. Basically I was heading into the unknown in many different ways.
I knew a lot about Korea before coming, but as I'm sure anyone who has traveled knows, all the books and information in the world can't prepare you truly for moving to another country.
I knew an inkling about Korean, but as anyone who knows me personally knows, even now I suck at the language. Enough to get around, but not enough to properly converse with anyone. I spent the first 5 days or so in a hotel by myself, finding my way around (via maps) and shopping for some things I needed before uni started. I met my first friends, and started to go out and about exploring Seoul.
After I stopped living off sandwiches (I was too scared to interact with people much!) and started using the public transport, Seoul suddenly became much more accessible. I started getting out, and I started to grow a lot as a person.
One thing that going on such a journey does to you, is change you. From the small things to the life-changing things (but isn't everything life changing in some form..?) I noticed myself changing, small things like being able to sing without being self-conscious at a noraebang (Korean karaoke which is both super common and super popular), to big things like learning how to balance every aspect of my life myself.
I spent the first semester of university in a dormitory with two American roommates. Despite conflicts within the room occasionally, I had a great time. My first experience ever living with complete strangers turned out to be great and I am both happy and thankful for the experience. Although at times I got pretty annoyed and just outright angry with my roommates, I learnt a lot about tolerance and patience.
University for both semesters has been a breeze (minus some classes and a few rather... strong-willed and I maintain, purely evil, professors), and I definitely am happy that I picked this university over some other options I had. The culture at Korea University is great, and the academics are to match. While I do think an education at a western university would be superior, I am still happy I chose to study here. I was always told that success comes second to happiness, and to this day I believe that.
When I speak to my friends back home and the relatively 'boring' university lives they seem to have, I am happy I came here... Korea seems like a party land compared to back home. I guess when you have the most academic country in the world, you need some outlets for energy and fun... Soju seems to serve that purpose!
These days I live by myself, I moved out of the dormitory last semester as I was forced out (there isn't enough capacity for all the students, so they tend to only accept freshmen in their first semester). Now I live by myself and have to do everything myself, I work 4 days a week doing English tutoring and working at academies. Of course many people live by themselves and live such lives, but these are just my experiences and thoughts while living here :)
Korea taught me to accept another culture (mostly). The reason I picked Korea was because of the vast differences in culture, and I definitely got what I wanted. Nearly every aspect of life in Korea is different to New Zealand, in some good ways, and some bad ways. I feel like now I can understand people much better than I could before (especially people from Asia and of course Korea), as I have seen how different their lives can be, and some of their daily struggles.
Certain aspects of Korea I love, things like the efficient transport, the always active city, the friendliness of people, being able to watch live Starcraft games (:P), and the food and drinks. Some aspects of Korea I hate, the rudeness of people at times, the lack of nature and outdoors, the relative 'sanitised' lifestyle (versus New Zealand) and definitely some of the possible corruption. But this is the same with every country, and no country is perfect. In fact every country is far from it. Do I like Korea? Yes! Would I live here for my whole life? No.
I feel like I have a far more carefree attitude (or some would say careless) than those around me, but maybe that was my upbringing. Other people plan their courses months in advance... I don't even plan mine at all. Some people try to plan what jobs they will have as soon as they graduate, or where they will live. I honestly don't care, as long as I'm happy. But I feel like this separates me a lot from many of the people here, it's just a difference in personalities and attitudes towards life. But it is definitely something I have noticed since moving here.
Besides all this deep stuff though, I have had an amazing time and discovered so much! I have discovered everything from the wonders of cat cafes, to the beauty of the Han River and Bukhansan Mountain. I have tried so many foods that I can't possibly remember all (and can't possibly name because some of them have stupidly complicated names.... Looking at you 불닭볶음면) of them. I have discovered the wonders of the electronics market and spent way too much money there.... Computer nerd + Photographer + Electronics market = Bankruptcy.
While I do miss many things about home (I am going to write about this sometime soon!), Korea has and will continue to be an amazing experience for me, and something I will never regret. A new world of experiences one could say. I have definitely changed (and I like to think, grown) as a person in Korea, and I look forward to the rest of the time I am going to spend here.
Now I just hope vacation ends and I can quit this stupid job.....
Thanks a lot for reading everyone. This was a little something different from what I normally post, but seeing as today is one year since I came to Korea, I wanted to do something special. I have so much more I could write, but I will leave that to another day.. If anyone even wants to read what I have to say :)
Everything here was my opinion so please keep that in mind! If you have any questions or comments about anything, please feel free to ask below! And if you want to know anything about Korea (from my rather opinionated opinion anyway) ask away! I will answer as soon as possible.
An interesting post. Travelling alone to a strange new country and starting studying under what must have been a bit of culture shock, you seem to have beaten them all. Good for you. Not everyone would have the courage to jump in at the deep end.
Thanks a lot for your kind words. It was definitely hard at the beginning (and to this day still can be at times), but it is definitely worth it.