Seoul Searching - Culture

One of the things I was most excited for, and most nervous about, was how different the culture in South Korea was from the United States. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around what to expect. So here are a few things I learned:

1. It's very cold in December...I think the highest temperature when I was there was 20 degrees Farenheit

2. Public transportation is huge. I mentioned this in a previous post, but Seoul has an extensive subway system. Other travel methods are buses and taxes. Many people don't have cars because of the price of gas and limited parking

Seoul Subway

3. K-Pop is huge. It's a thing. I'd never heard of it, but it's basically like the Backstreet Boys on steroids. I'm not sure how true this is, but I was told K-pop stars actually have pretty terrible living conditions.

4. Street food. So, I was pretty nervous about the street food (no FDA regulations, DHEC, etc.), but it was really delicious. Tim is always way more adventurous than me and got a fried cheese contraption that was DELICIOUS.

Street food

5. Most Koreans don't have any religious affiliation. Prior to western influence, many Koreans practiced Confucianism.

6. In American culture, many people desire to own a home, but in Korea, many people aspire to live at the top of high rise apartment building.

7. In many traditional Korean restaurants, you sit on the floors (we had heated floors)

8. Soju (korean vodka) should be added to beer ***personal opinion***

9. The English alphabet has letters that, when pronounced, do not align with pronunciation in the Korean alphabet and other letters are usually substituted for others when referring to certain English words. The letter F is replaced with the letter P and the letter Z replaced with the letter J. For example, "pija" for pizza

10. Korean animation is very popular. It's very similar to anime (in my opinion) and can be seen throughout the country.

I'm sure I missed some important aspects, so share your thoughts!!

- Leslie