First impressions of South Korea or how it all began

Many people asking me about Korea, about how I get here, about life, culture etc in Korea. And so I decided to write that article and to share my experience and life in South Korea.

My story started in 2007 when I came to Korea for the first time. I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the Youth Global camp. So it was my free lucky ticket!

Mini park in the airport Incheon

It was the height of summer, and in Korea there is very high humidity, especially in summer. And all my life I lived in a country with a dry climate, I was not quite used to the Asian sauna. Do not have time to go out, as already dreaming quickly get into a cold shower.

At the airport, we were met by the camp organizers and taken to the hotel. From Incheon Airport to Seoul, take 2 hours by bus. In Korea, there are special limousine buses that take you to almost any area of Seoul. But I will tell you about the transfer from the airport or to the airport later.

I am not gonna go into details about the programme, and actually I don't remember all of details. But I would like to say that that week in Korea was full of emotions, activities, positive feelings and memories.

Summer. Rain season. And we arrived in a small town, more precisely a village, in the south of Korea

In South Korea, as in many other Asian countries, every summer there is a so-called rainy season. Usually it is at the end of July and lasts about a week. It rains almost without stopping. I would even say, do not rain, and showers. On the street, not puddles, and the sea. And in some regions of the country there are even floods.

We had a lot of ice breaking activities.

One of the most memorable was fund raising. We were divided into groups of 15 people and we needed to sell coffee and sweets on the street. And with the money we went to a cafe, eat ice cream! By the way, coffee is an integral part of everyday life in Korea. On each street there is at least one coffee shop. Although usually on every street that no building, so a coffee shop.

Every day we tried different Korean dishes. Some of them were terribly sharp ... After each spoon, I had to drink a liter of water.

But here is it, a well-known bibimpab

On the last day of the camp, the organizers gave us a farewell evening with an entertainment program. One of the rooms was artistic. On an empty canvas, in a couple of minutes, we created such a drawing:

and then...

I have no idea how they did it ... The artists did not reveal their secret to us.

There were also representations of tekwondo players, each performed trick of which was steeper than the previous one ... No words, there were only emotions.

And, of course, this evening did not go without performing traditional Korean instruments:

Please check my new channel

@irisworld

---

If you have any questions about Korea don't hesitate to contact me here or via instagram

More articles about my travel adventures you can find here

---

Original versions