Author: Judith Villarreal

We are joined once more by our South Korea expert Judith Villarreal who give us the second part of her two-part series about what to expect at an EPIK orientation.

There’s really only one thing you’ll need to know about EPIK orientation that can fully prepare you for your first week in Korea, which is EPIK orientation is basically freshman year university orientation all over again. There’s no getting around it, and there’s no use pouting because orientation is mandatory. Truth be told, it isn’t a terrible experience. Sure, you’ll still have those nervous jitters as you scout out the group of fellow newbies trying to figure out who your new friends will be, but your week won’t be all nerves and lectures. I’m going to go so far as to say you’re actually going to have fun. This two part article will give you some insight into 10 things you can expect to happen at your EPIK orientation.

All seasoned wayfarers know that the art of living like the locals isn’t built solely on the constituent of what gestures and words to avoid. These veterans are able to adopt certain rules and gestures just as well as they avoid those that would offend. This second part of this series offers 5 gestures to do while traveling in South Korea.

Cultural rules can always be learned the hard way during travels, but the transition to a new country is made seamless when research is done and the traveler already knows the dos and don’ts of the culture. In this 2-part piece, the top 5 dos and top 5 don’ts of South Korea cultural rules will be shared for all novice wanderers to take note.

We all know Valentine’s Day to be a beautiful day drenched in roses, wine, chocolates, and fairy tale-like romance…unless you’re single. Singletons around the globe dread the creeping date of February 14th no matter in which country they reside. For those currently unattached and living in Korea, the sobering awareness of a single’s relationship status in February tends to be amplified more so than in any western countries because of Korea’s “couple culture”.

Foreign men in South Korea, rejoice because this article is for your benefit. If you’re a newbie to the land of the morning calm, then there are a few things you should learn about Valentine’s Day in South Korea. Women, you might not find the holiday of love as appealing in South Korea as you do in your western countries. The reason being, Valentine’s Day is a holiday for MEN. You read that correctly.

Now that desk warming season is in full swing, I hope you were able to keep busy last week with the 5 productive activities to do at school during your free time. This week I have 5 more activities to share with you to prevent your brain from turning to mush during this long and lonely time at school.

In desk warming season it would be easy to just watch an endless marathon of movies and Youtube videos. In fact, this is what most teachers tend to prefer doing. Instead of letting my brain mush out for weeks on New Girl reruns and Facebook stalking, I prefer to stay busy and keep my mind occupied during this extra free time. I’m going to share with you 10 things I like to do during desk warming season to help keep me busy, active, and happy.