Things that make me happy in Korea

Hello guys !

It's Friday afternoon, I'm sitting in my favorite cafe, on my favorite spot, drinking iced milk tea and decided to write little something here before I head to the dance studio in the evening. During simple everyday moments like these I realize how much I love my life here. So, inspired by this positive Friday-afternoon mood I decided to write a list about the things that make me happy here in Korea. There is going to also be a list about the things that make me unhappy here in Korea, 'cause let's face it life here is definitely not all sun shines and rainbows! I don't want to use the words "hate" or "like" in this situation because, well, no matter how much something might annoy me I have decided to move here by my own and I just gotta deal with all of it, the good and the bad. So instead I'm gonna use softer expressions. Things that make me happy in Korea it is then. Let's go! 

Ps. at the moment playing SNSD's "You think" on repeat. This month's girls' kpop class is practicing this dance so it plays in our studio 24/7, plus our hip hop teacher also teaches girls' kpop class, so she uses this song as our stretching song every damn time..I love it hahaha (Random fact: this song was written/composed by a Finnish singer / youtube person SAARA. Go check out her version, too, It's amazing. I absolutely love and adore that girl, she's a perfect example of how going for your dreams pays off. I'm a huge fan of hers). 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY IN KOREA

  

1. Seoul is huge.

I am a small city girl, been my whole life, yet I've always had this craving to live in a huge metropolitan city. I guess small cities have their own charm to some people, but to me small cities are nothing else but a bunch of people who know each other and talk shit about each other. Especially if you're different, you'll never fit in. You'll get picked on. You'll be judged. And that's what my life practically has always been on some level, never completely fitting in. In Seoul I feel free. You never know who or what you run into, you never know what happens. People are different, they go their own ways and the amount of diversity in this place.. You never feel like you do not belong (excluding the fact that you're a foreigner, but this post is about positive things!). There's so much to do, to see, to experience here, I don't think it's possible to get bored here. 

2. This country never sleeps

I come home from hip hop around 10PM every day. When my class ends at 9pm, there's one more dance class after that, and it's full of small kids who most probably do not have time to attend a dance class earlier than at 9pm. When I take the subway, it's full of people. From young girls in school uniforms to old ladies carrying groceries and business men carrying their laptops going home from work. When I walk that short distance from our subway station home grocery stores, hair salons and pharmacies are all still open. Two old ladies chat with each other while getting their hair done. Some kids run across the street. AT 10PM ON A WEDNESDAY EVENING. In Finland that would never happen. Nothing's even open after 9pm. In Seoul you can sit in a cafe until 1am, or go clothes shopping in a H&M store at 11pm. Or go to a night market that is literally open the whole night. Or if you start craving McDonald's at 2am? You can get it delivered to your house. Or walk to the closest convenience store, which are open 24/7 by the way, and get snacks in the middle of the night. It's never too late or too early for anything in this country, and people never sleep, it seems.

3. Transportation is super easy and convenient 
In the city I'm from You call a taxi if you want one. Then you wait. Or you take a bus, we have them about 5 in our city (exaggeration, I know). In Finland we have a subway system only in the capital city, lol. I remember when I went home for a vacation this summer, and we went out with our friends, and in the morning I needed a taxi home..I was so confused when I remembered I need to call one instead of just waving my hand and getting one in 2 minutes. I'm not sure if there's more taxis or regular cars on the streets of Korea... Almost every other car you see here is a taxi. Plus it's ridiculously cheap to ride one, too. A taxi ride from Gangnam to Idae, those areas are practically on the opposite sides of Seoul, costs me 10 bucks. In Finland I travel 5km (3miles?) and it costs me 20 bucks. Funny, right? Buses go everywhere in this city.  The subway system runs from 5am to 12am everyday, there's trains going under and above the ground and literally every other minute. Going around is so incredibly super easy only thinking about it makes me happy, lol. One ride is about one dollar and you can travel pretty long distances without having to pay any extra. It's amaaazing, thank you Korea. 

4. Kind neighborhood Grandmas 
We're moving away to a different neighborhood soon, and as happy as I am about it, one thing I definitely will miss is the older ladies in our neighborhood who work in the food mart right next to our house, who every morning and evening wave at us and tell us good morning, ask us how our school and daily life is going, and silently watch after us from the distance. With my mom on the other side of the world having people who care and look after you (besides your friends of course) feels pretty nice. They worry about our health, scold us when we bring street cats inside our house and let them bite us (lol) and give us free fruits when we visit their mart. Help us when we're sick or when we have a stalker coming every night behind our window. I am truly thankful for them, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that when I move, I will find this kind of people again from my new neighborhood as well and will be able to bond with them.  

5. Korea is not only skyscrapers and highways
Korea has breathtaking nature, parks, rivers, mountains.. I have been here for a really short time and studying most of the time anyway, so I have yet to fully experience the beauty of Korea's nature. Even the busiest streets e.g in Gangnam are usually lined with trees and such and besides looking really cute it also makes you feel...fresh? It's not only like concrete and tall buildings. I don't know if this makes sense to some of you, but people living in Seoul will probably understand what I mean. Not to even mention Han-river and the parks along it, or Seoul Forest, or Jeju-do, or the beaches of Busan..I can't wait for next summer and a proper summer vacation and to be able to visit all those places. I'm not really a countryside type of a girl but in small portions I do appreciate that kind of places, hahah. 

6. People
People here in Seoul make me really, really happy. Can't emphasize this too much. Thankful for all these dorks everyday. Wouldn't survive sane in this country without them. 

7. Food 
Can't emphasize this too much either, lol! Even though most of the time my mouth is on fire because everything here is so spicy, I love the food here. I don't actually think I know anyone here who wouldn't like Korean food.. What is there to dislike, anyway? Okay, raw meat is definitely not my thing but besides that, delicious !  From convenience store kimbap rolls to the food they serve in the restaurants, yes please! 

8. Cosmetics & skin-care 
This is an obvious one, isn't it? Korea is known for its obsession with people's appearances, which is something I'm definitely gonna mention in the list of things that make me unhappy here, but I gotta admit I'm happy for all the great skincare & makeup products they have here. There's like a bunch of cosmetic store chains and they all sell the weirdest yet coolest skin care products and the cutest possible makeup and it's just a heaven, especially for a person like me who is obsessed with makeup anyway. I am trying very hard not to visit those stores very often though, or I will leave them being (even) poor(er) and 3 bags full of their products. 

9. Entertainment in every possible way 
From street performances to huge concerts, or running into a random drama being filmed on the street, or listening to the radio at home while doing homework, or watching Korean entertainment, music & comedy shows, or just movies and music in general. I'm a huge sucker for stuff like this. The fact that I'm gonna study media industry and I want to work in it in the future might have something to do with this. I want to see how everything works behind the scenes, so like when I see drama or some sort of program being filmed, normal people freak out about the celebrities but my first reaction is "oh so that's how they do it!" or "now I get how they do that thing". I want to visit music bank or inkigayo pre-recording for one reason - I want to know how they film and compose those shows. I don't really know what, but there's just something special about Korea's entertainment industry. I've been trying to put it into words for 3 years now to explain it to someone what I find so intriguing about it, but I'm still working on it, hahah. 

10. Culture & customs
While this is also something that's hard to deal with at times, most of the time I find myself really enjoying the way people think and do here in Korea. It has been super easy for me to adapt into this culture and I think it's because I already lived in Japan, so there's a lot of stuff I'm already used to and that's grown into me, such as bowing 80% of the time and handing out stuff with two hands, small daily things like that. But I keep learning new things everyday and the more I learn the more I fall in love with this culture. Especially the way this country is so Asian yet so Western. Also I absolutely love the cafe culture here. Including it here instead of mentioning it separately because culture is culture. You can sleep, read, study, work, do your friend's nails, your own makeup etc. in a cafe or just sit there for 10 hours straight and no one is gonna say anything about it. I love it. 

11. When something here goes viral
It literally goes viral. Few years back it was Frozen's "let it go", it was playing everywhere, even at the clubs. A Disney ballad playing at clubs?  Now it's Minions. From Minion burger sets to Minion themed merchandise - those little yellow things are everywhere. I find it adorable how Koreans "fall" for things like that and then the whole country is all over it. Social media here has a really strong effect on.. a lot of things. 

12. Korea's sense of fashion
Koreans are veeery fashionable people. Here it's okay to mix a classy dress with Nike's sneakers or wear baggy shoes, high heels, a simple print tee and a snap back. I admire the way people dress here - it's bold, fashionable and fresh. I walk on the streets picking up fashion inspiration everyday. People dye their hair the weirdest colors, do their makeup their own way and don't care about what others think about it. There's room for all kinds of styles in here, and everyone's welcomed to dress and be just the way they are without getting any weird looks. There's also sooo many options to choose from when it comes to shopping. From designer clothes to small street vendors, you can literally follow any fashion style here, because they have everything here. 

The list goes on and on, but for now here's some things from the top of my head on a random Friday afternoon. My tea cup is empty and the sun is starting to set down. Time to go home to eat something light for dinner and then heading to Gangnam to the dance studio to practice our Trini dem girls choreography. 

I hope you all have a good weekend~ 
xx,
Julia