Culture Shock in South Korea(1)

As we all know, one will suffer from culture shock when he/she moves to another country. When you come to South Korea, you should pay attention to some things as follows:

1.Korean upholds Confucianism, respect the old very much. When the elder comes in, everyone should stand up, and asked the longevity. When talking to the elders, you should pick the sunglasses.
2.And sitting to be correct with the elders is very important.

3.Making noise and talking when having a meal is impolite.

4.Walking with eating and blowing the nose in front of others is rude behavior. Four is a taboo —in South Korea, four and death are Homophones. Four won’t appear in business, hotel especially hospitals, building date, beds, room number, number of the bed.

In order to overcome such culture shock, firstly being prepared is a very important thing, since the culture shock inevitable. Then we should learn some information about the culture of South Korea and some Korean before coming to this country. This information may be superficial. So when reaching this country, I tried seek out the local expat community. Because the people you meet in these communities will undoubtedly have more experience with the local culture than you. A lot can be learned by following their lead and observing how they interact with the locals.  

In all, most importantly, no matter how frustrated you become while living in your new country, keep smiling at the locals. No matter how annoyed you feel, remember that you are a guest in this country. Be polite.

And I'm really happy I learned some Korean forehead, because normally Korean are a little to speak English.

My amazing start!

안녕하세요!!Greetings from Seoul, South Korea. I have just spent a little over a week in Seoul, South Korea and wow, everything has been an adventure!

Waiting at the boarding gate in the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport by myself last week, I was unbelievably nervous. My both my parents are sending me off, will say goodbye to each other again.

After 7 hours, I finally arrived at the Incheon International Airport.

The first thing that came in mind was the weather. South Korea is HOT and HUMID. It was hard to breathe and my skin felt sticky. It is not the first time I traveled alone, but every thing are so fresh to me. Testing the Korean I learned by myself, it was not difficult to communicate with the people working at the airport. I felt accomplished and excited to start my adventure in Korea.

For my first night in Seoul, I stayed at a hostel in Hongdae, an area known for great nightlife. However, I was dead exhausted from my flight and decided to sleep early. The next day, I took a taxi to SUNGKYUNKWAN University, the university I will be staying and studying at for the next few months. During these first two days, I was quite lonely.  However, I found some classmates from China when I arrived at my dorm. They warmly accepted me to join their group and since then, I have been exploring Seoul with them.

I have already started my classes: Korean Cinema and Contemporary Korean Culture. They are very interesting! After my classes, I usually walk about 10 minutes off campus to eat dinner with my friends and catch up. On the weekends, we take the subway to different places in Seoul to sight see and experience Korean life. The city has been amazing. Everything is convenient: the transportation, food, and shopping.

However, monsoon season has started and we are not used to the bipolar pouring rain. Nevertheless, my friends and I have been loving Seoul.

Although my initial experience in Seoul was slightly discouraging and lonely, I have already created amazing memories in Seoul with a group of great friends and cannot wait to go to our school field trip to Busan this coming weekend!