Skip to content

By gwrobinkim

As I reflect on my community here abroad, I can’t help but laugh a little. It’s a true mix of what I expected and what I truly could not have imagined.

1. Home Away From Home

First off, my most intimate and close-knit community here in Seoul is actually comprised of GW students! Three of my friends back at GW are also studying abroad here in Seoul, yet we are all scattered in different schools - Ewha, Yonsei and Seoul National University. It’s hilarious when we show up at SNU events and the other students find out that I don’t even go to SNU, yet I’ve made so many friends there! It’s also funny how I actually have more friends at Yonsei and SNU than I do at my own school, whom I've met through my GW friends. 

It’s fun spending the week with fellow exchange and local students at Ewha, even from Yonsei and SNU, and acclimating myself to the diverse group of people. But it feels so good to meet up with my GW friends on the weekend, whether it’s in 신촌 (Sinchon) near my campus or 낙성대 (Nakseongdae) near theirs. It’s comforting to know that I’m able to share the same experiences with people I know I’ll be seeing back home, with people that will understand my references and be able to share the same stories.

...continue reading "Defining Community: Comfort"

Hi everyone!

This week I wanted to talk about something that's a little more personal.

My parents immigrated to Boulder, CO for their graduate studies and that's where my brother and I were born and raised. Although that means I grew up without ever really having family nearby and only saw my extended family 4-5 times when we took family trips to Korea, my parents did their best to raise my brother and me in a traditionally Korean household. That meant Korean food, speaking Korean to my parents, celebrating Korean holidays, etc.

When I was younger, I didn't really have a problem with saying that I was Korean when I was in the US and saying that I was American when I came to visit Korea. Because for me, that's what I was - Korean and American, just situationally I would identify with one more than the other based on what I knew people assumed.

However, now that I'm older and have a more solid understanding of my identity, there have been scenarios that have been more difficult to answer during my current stay here in Korea. At first, based on the way I dress and do my make up and hair, people could definitely tell that I was not from-from Korea. But they recognized that I was Korean, because when I walked into stores or cafes, the employees would greet me in Korean. Now that it's been a little over a month in Korea though, I've figured out how to assimilate more and as a result, came across some more unique circumstances.

...continue reading "Korean? American? Korean-American??"

By jlee4946

Having been born and raised in a traditionally Korean household, there weren't too many things that were culturally shocking when I arrived in Korea. However, since this is my first time really living in Korea for an extended period of time and not staying with relatives, I've gotten to know what it really is like living in Korea. I didn't think there would be such a difference but I now have many things to thank my Korean roommate for.

One of the biggest differences for me personally is the complexity of dealing with trash in Korea. For one thing, there are no trash cans around the city! People just carry their trash all the way home. And some stores/restaurants even have signs saying not to throw away trash that you brought in from outside. Though somewhat annoying since my bag ends up holding all my trash, at first I thought it was a positive thing because maybe people would feel more responsible with throwing away their trash instead of littering. I commented on the lack of trash cans when speaking with a Korean friend from Seoul National University, and he seemed surprised, as though he never really thought about it. But in his case, he remarked that maybe if there were trash cans in public, there would be even less trash on the streets which I thought was interesting since his view of it was so opposite from mine.

But wait! I can't just come home and put my trash from my bag into the bin. I don't live in the school dorms so I'm not sure how it works over there, but people here are really good at recycling. Maybe I've just been slacking off in my recycling habits back at home, but in the US I sort my trash into recyclables, such as plastic and cardboard, and then everything else is just regular trash. And the trash bags in the US are those huge white or black ones that fit over the huge rectangular plastic bins that you and your roommates watch fill up, hoping someone takes it out eventually.

...continue reading "The Unexpected Struggle"

By jlee4946

Hi everyone! So this week is actually a really long break in Korea because of 추석 (Chuseok), Korean Thanksgiving. So while the holiday is technically 10/3-6, 10/2 is a Monday so the government made Monday a holiday, and then 10/9 is 한글날 (Hangeul Day) to honor the creation of the written Korean language. Therefore, basically Koreans have 10 days of vacations that started Saturday, and I took advantage and am currently in Hanoi, Vietnam! But here are some of my favorite Korean foods that I'm excited to eat for the rest of the semester:

• Fish cake (오뎅): for me, it's not necessarily the fish cake itself, but more of the environment of standing around the street food cart eating fish cake off the skewers, drinking the soup and conversing with the cute lady in charge of the cart. It's probably one of the things I was looking forward to the most about being in Korea and I wanted to wait until wintertime when it's really cold but gave in 2 weeks into my time here.

• Spicy rice cake (떡볶이): this is a dish that is served as street food as well as in proper restaurants. The first 떡볶이 I had in Korea was from this little restaurant next to my aunt's apartment complex and even though I'd had 떡볶이 hundreds of times over, nothing can quite beat the 떡볶이 in its takeaway box (other than my mom's).

• Korean sausage (순대): this is another dish that is often served on the streets and if you couldn't tell, I really really like street food. 순대 is basically a Korean sausage stuffed with various ingredients such as vermicelli noodles. It's definitely less meaty than American sausages and hits the spot when looking for a midnight snack.

...continue reading "5 Food Favorites from Korea!"

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's already been nearly a month since I scrambled to get my suitcases' under 50 lbs the night before my flight to South Korea.

I think I have been having an abroad experience slightly different to those around me, as I have all of my extended family here in South Korea and as a result, have visited Korea several times in the past. Because of this, I believe the difficulties I have faced are unique to my experience as well, as they are for everyone's unique experiences.

Having been born and raised in the US but having spoken mostly Korean with my family my entire life, I've come to be accustomed to the traditional Korean culture and mannerisms. Therefore, an aspect I've come to notice is in general, I am treated as someone from Korea, for example when I enter a store or a cafe. However, this makes things slightly awkward when I order something and my slight American accent makes an appearance, or when the cashier asks me something that I've never heard of since I've never checked out of a store using Korean. In cases like these, my first reaction was to just nod or shake my head and pretend like I understand what's going on. However, after the first few weeks, I've come to understand what they were asking and answer appropriately.

...continue reading "Introduction to Korea"

Me: Hi, my name is Robin Kim!
(S)he: Hi! Your last name is Kim? You must be Korean!
Me: Yeah, I’m Korean American!
(S)he: Oh, cool! So you were born in the US?
Me: Uh… Well… I was actually born in Japan.
(S)he: Oh… so you’re Japanese?
Me: Well, no. I’m Korean American! I'm ethnically Korean but born an American citizen.
(S)he: But you were born in Japan…

...continue reading "Defining Self: My Middle Ground"

By riakkim

As my time in Korea has increased and I increasingly acclimate to Korean society, I have felt a strong longing to meet and chat with 교포들, "gyopos," a term used for Koreans who didn't grow up in Korea. Perhaps because the glow of being in Korea has begun to fade and I feel that surreal-ness fading with it, I still have not been able to make any close "Korean-Korean" friends, despite being proficient enough in the language, and instead building close friendships with Korean-Americans, Korean-Brazillians, Korean-Australians, etc.

I've found that the gyopo community here is really its own within Korea, just as it is back home in America, both feeling that they don't really belong in either place, lending me to my post title, perpetual foreigner. I can't deny my American childhood despite growing up with Korean customs, and its frustrating to be treated coldly by many of my Korean peers as well, as Koreans can be very cold, particularly to foreigners.

Yet finding my gyopo community within Korea has also been more rewarding and comforting than my Korean-American community back home, perhaps because of the short period its been and many are only here for a short period. Yet between schools and my church community, I feel that the gyopo here feel like an even tighter community, using a mix of English and Korean as we usually do, and perhaps even looking like a group of normal Koreans on the streets, yet the mutual understanding and feeling of being considered "not a Korean" in Korea and "Korean" anywhere else in the world perhaps has a stronger effect than I ever could have imagined.

...continue reading "Perpetual Foreigner"

By riakkim

七寶/Qibao Traditional Boat Village

I'm sure you've all heard of it- China's Great Firewall, that blocks most everything convenient to Americans; our social media, video streaming sites, to our beloved Google. The obvious answer that I hear around this is "VPN!," but it was hard for me to really fathom how suffocating and suppressing it really was on the inside when I arrived in Shanghai.

The small things I really take for granted back home and in Seoul- like all my social media, all my chatting apps, Google (and not Bing), YouTube, WordPress- they're all blocked in China, and coming back from such a controlled environment felt surprisingly liberating and entirely refreshing. Perhaps it's because I'm part of a generation addicted to their smartphones and used to information, it was frustrating to not only have slow internet, but to even use sites such as Bing in order to find more information. Even when planning my brief visit towards Macau on my way back to Seoul, or trying to access my airline tickets on Gmail- everything was quite difficult and roundabout- taking far more time than it should have.

...continue reading "Great Firewall + Shanghai"

By riakkim

After months of quite cold weather, spring has finally arrived in Seoul. While the nights are still chilly and the weather is still fickle, the moods of everyone seemed to have brightened with the better weather. Springs songs abound, and popular spring songs such as Busker Busker's Cherry Blossom Ending, HIGH4&IU's Not Spring, Cherry Blossoms, or Love, and Roy Kim's Spring Spring Spring are making their yearly rounds.

The winter jackets have been stowed away as lighter clothes take their place, and its lovely to see pastels, florals, skirts and dresses take their place. And then there are couples, which can be seen even more frequently than before, wearing their matching outfits. And much like cuffing season in the US, there is much talk floating around about who has started dating with the start of spring.

좌천로망스다리 / Yeojwa Cheonro Romance Path

I spent the past weekend in Jinhae, a part of Changwon, located in the very southernmost part of Korea along the shoreline. It's the most famous area in Korea for Cherry Blossoms, and it has many areas filled with Cherry Blossoms and accompanying festivals. We went to the 여좌천로망스다리 (Yeojwa Cheonro Romance Path), the 경화역 벚꽃길 (Gyeonghwa Station Cherry Blossom Road), and 제황산공원 (Jehwangsan Park). Each one was filled with not only cherry blossoms, but stalls upon stalls of food, gifts, and vendors, while the path was full of visitors, all taking pictures, eating, or buying food.

...continue reading "Spring, Spring, Spring"

By riakkim

Study culture in Korea can be pretty intense, and I've found that Koreans primarily study in two places: cafes and the various study spaces around campus, such as the library. Unlike America, Korea has various places that are like a library study environment but without the books. Regarding these study places, they have a very intense atmosphere and are dead silent inside- even making a slight sound makes me nervous and uncomfortable, and they feel slightly sanitary at times.

There are distinctions between laptop-use areas and areas that are limited to books only, and most of the time students have stands that keep their books up so that they are easier to read (like a music stand, but for desks).

Another difference is that you have to reserve spots prior to entering, and you can extend your time or change seats this way, but it can be frustrating if you don't know the area well and I've found myself changing seats on this system so I can sit by a window but don't know the seat number. I've found its a good place to sit and concentrate when I have lots of work I need to finish, and despite its occasional sanitary feeling, I've found that the ones on the upper level of Samsung Hall are wide open and spacious, which helps to make it feel a little better.

Another place that Koreans used to study are these places with desks and a light, that are much like the cubicles you can find inside Gelman third floor- but these rooms only have rows and rows of those cubicles. They're open late night which is good, but because of the rising popularity of cafes many of those places are running out of business.

...continue reading "Study and Couple Culture"