Author: Judith Villarreal

Friends of travelers know this truth more than anyone else: traveling changes a person. If you’ve met someone after they’ve spent time abroad, chances are you met a much different person than had you met them before they boarded the plane to live in Korea.

Congratulations on putting yourself out there and beginning your new project! I’m sure the emotions whirling inside of you are almost too strong to contain. I, myself, know the feeling which comes with starting a new blog to document your adventures in a new place. My first blog ever was actually started in South Korea, and I also went through all the mix of emotions. Excitement, inspiration, motivation, and (unfortunately) fear.

If you’re a person who enjoys escaping the mundane and ordinary tourist attractions, then this is definitely the list for you. Far from usual, these places located throughout South Korea have made headlines for being strange and unique.

Being an expat in Korea you get is wonderful and completely full of fun and interesting experiences. Some of these experiences are more common than others and you can expect to have them at least once during your stay. Here are my 7 experiences every expat in South Korea has.

While I fell deeply in love with the culture and lifestyle I experienced in Korea, there were a few things I couldn’t help but miss back home. As I stated in my previous article 5 Things America Can Learn From Korea, I love curiously discovering the wealth of differences that thrive in different cultures.

After my time in Korea ended, I began to miss certain aspects of daily life in the land of morning calm. While there’s no such thing as a perfect culture or country, I do believe that there are aspects of each country that come as close to perfect as a society could possibly get.
My favorite things about Korea were non-existent in my own country. These 5 are things I think America should pick up from Korea!

If there is anything more true about traveling abroad, it’s that you get to know yourself much better than before you left home. Of course, the whole getting to know yourself part isn’t always going to be about hooking up with sexy Italians and eating gelato á la “Eat, Pray, Love” and other wanderlust filled books. Sometimes the things you find about yourself abroad are terrible, and sometimes they’re just boring – like the pet peeves you’ll find abroad.

In case you missed the Korean wave, you missed the fun and upbeat obsession that is K-pop. Short for Korean pop music, K-pop isn’t just a hobby in Korea, it’s a full on religion complete with devoted followers and concerts to “worship” at around the calendar. If Psy’s pop hit “Gangnam Style” is the only thing that comes to mind when you think of Korean pop music, then you’ve clearly never had the chance to live in Korea before. Here for your convenience is a nice and tidy list detailing all the most important aspects surrounding the cult that is K-pop.