This is the last post, thank you for reading.
At the time of writing I’m on my way to Busan, having left behind Seoul for good.
To be honest, I can’t really categorize my feelings right now, there is just that realization that this adventure of studying abroad in a land far away from home has now ended. As my final 33-day voyage to Busan and Japan is starting, thoughts that conclude and process this past year are absent because I’m excited for the travel. Nevertheless, let me try to form such thoughts by summarizing what this year meant for me.
Above all, I’m both bodily and mentally healthy and didn’t screw up any serious things (yet): I will continue my studies normally when having returned to Germany, I didn’t break any law in any of the countries I’ve been to and didn’t throw away all my money. In short: When I return to Karlsruhe, I’ll continue my student life exactly where I’ve taken the break a year ago.
Travelling around the other countries was, just as Japan will be, a unique experience I am very thankful for having. This area of the world is not to be reached quickly from Europe, so eastern Asia will not be part of my future short-term holiday breaks. I’ve eaten well, I’ve seen unique things, met genuine people and heard and read stories that are well worth remembering. Moreover, I think that you benefit from every one of the sketchy, awkward, random and adventurous moments of such travels. If they don’t kill or terminally injure you or your standing in life, they add onto your personality in a good way.
I am not sure to whether my social behavior has changed as a result of the past 10 months. I have probably met half as many people as I’ve met in the 20 years before, I have had unique experiences with many of them and I have quite likely said goodbye to as many people as I did in Germany prior to coming to Korea. If anything, it is the sobering realization that you’ll sooner or later part ways with every one of your friends which will stick onto me. And while this can trick some into not invest in forging friendships at all, the more positive attitude is to just enjoy every moment with the people you get along with. That’s why former exchange students often seem to be more independent from their social environment. Nevertheless, the people I’ve met here will be an important part of me and my memories for the rest of my life and I hope to meet again as many of them as possible.
Finally, let me talk about Korea itself. I am unbelievably grateful for everybody I have come across in this country. While there certainly were things and people pissing me off, the overwhelming majority of people have been very nice to me and I enjoyed my life in Seoul on all but maybe three or four days. There are things I will miss as soon as I will have left Korea, such as a variety of foods, the entertainment available in the city and the abundance of convenience stores and restaurants in virtually every place. Put shortly, I’ve had a perfectly full and colorful list of all kinds of fun stuff done in Korea, and I even managed to keep my physical shape during that time.
On the other hand, Korea to me seems like quite a hard place to stay for anything regular studies- or job-related (I feel quite bad writing this, but that’s my impression). Under the current circumstances, I could not bear living one more month in the country. Let me explain what leads me to this quite harsh conclusion:
History has not been nice to Korea recently. When the Japanese occupied Korea in the early 20th century, most of Korea’s culture was obliterated and the people became badly treated strangers in their own country. After quite some unpleasant years, the country was finally set free after the second world war, only to suffer from the political division of the world into communist and capitalist countries and a war between Koreans and Koreans, just because the supervising countries didn’t like each other. The country split up into two parts, and both have not recovered since and perhaps never will. The North is obviously screwed (Fun fact: obligatory military service for men: 13 years, for women: 9 years). The south is screwed in the following way: Japan invaded them with advanced technology which was unknown to the Korean people because living in relative peace, they didn’t have the need to do research in that particular direction. This became a trauma, so that after the Korean War South Korea subconsciously decided never to be behind on technology and development again. While this transformed the country from a third-world country into one of the technologically most advanced ones in the blink of an eye, this came at the expense of one of the most beautiful things in life: I feel like there is no place for idle time. People are living the fast life, work hard then (if there is still time left) play hard. Breaks from the daily life are quickly filled up so that no time is unscheduled. Every second, your actions need to serve a purpose. In the end, arts, wandering thoughts and creativity in general are sacrificed for the sustain of a fast-paced society with material success being the ultimate and only goal. The impressions I got when studying at SNU all seem to support this claim. Therefore, I feel like studying or working in Korea is not my cup of tea, and as a result, living in Korea in general is no option for me.
All in all, I am still glad for every day I was able to spend abroad. I do not regret having taken this route, I do not regret having chosen Korea as this was an eye-opening experience in every way. I made many new friends, I got to know a country very different from mine and got to travel around many more, I built up an international network of people I appreciate and discovered new perspectives on life.
As expected, I had a good time.
The organization of a new web page is on my TODO-list for when I get back to Germany. I will keep this blog online until the new page is up, then I’ll restrict the access.