American Celebrity In Korea

So I have been here about a week and one of the things that has been very interesting and surprising to me is that Koreans tend to stare at me everywhere I go and they are always taking pictures of the other students and myself. It's almost as if we were some famous band and everyone wanted pictures to show their friends later on. I think it may have to do with the South Korea being a very homogeneous society, so the people here aren't used to seeing people who aren't Korean, especially people such as myself who are white and have lighter colored hair and blue eyes, which is at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the typical Korean who has black hair and dark brown eyes. It is also common for younger aged girls who are handing out flyers to run up to us, hand us one, and then run back to their friends giggling. It's kind of funny and doesn't bother me, but it almost makes me feel like an animal in a zoo who is constantly being gawked at for doing nothing special in particular. 

Other than the paparazzi-esque behavior of many Koreans, another notable thing about my interactions with them is that they are extremely nice and polite people, but also very shy.They are always patient and willing to help me, which is sometimes difficult considering I don't know any Korean beyond the simple "Hello," "Good-bye," and "Thank-you." I say they are shy because you never see strangers interacting with each other or making small talk on the buses or trains like you would in the U.S. Furthermore, when my friends and I went to a club the other day, it reminded me of a middle school dance. By that I mean, people weren't really dancing together and those who were seemed to be very awkward and uncomfortable.

The last type of interaction that I wanted to mention, was my experience with the students of SNU. All of them, including students not in our class who we met on campus one way or another, were extremely friendly and willing to talk to us about anything we had questions about. The students seemed a lot more outgoing than many of the other people in the city of Seoul, which may or may not have to do with the fact that they were all drinking makgoli (a korean rice wine) in between classes in the middle of their campus which enabled them to loosen up a bit more. The students also all spoke English remarkably well, which I believe was another factor that enabled us to communicate very easily with them.

All-in-all I would say the people of Korea are very nice and welcoming to foreigners, although it seems it is somewhat difficult to make friends given the nature of their culture in which it is considered rude or bizarre to strike up conversation with a stranger, even if it is just for simple small talk. I hope to continue meeting new and interesting people on campus and will update you as my trip progresses.