By TED STABILE
Contributing Writer
To preface, I’m sorry to friends and family who must have assumed the worst after my article hiatus. However, you’ll be happy to know I haven’t been nabbed or indoctrinated and true to form I’ve come at the last minute to provide a sentimental sparknotes version of my time abroad.
From the moment you land in the Incheon Airport and set foot on South Korea’s metropolitan soil there’s a cornucopia of all kinds of people you’ll meet. Just to name a few:
At Korea University, you will make buddies with the “KUBA buddies,” bilingual/trilingual students at KU both local to Seoul and beyond, who will help you acclimate to the delightfully jarring pace of life in Seoul. You’ll meet hobby fanatics and impassioned actors, dancers, musicians and all else in between with on campus student organizations. With over 100 clubs, you’ve got magic, martial arts, and all else in-between.
In Anam you will meet workers and cooks at your ever increasing list of places to eat that will start to know your name (In its Korean pronunciation of course). You’ll find sushi and ramen hardier half-siblings udon and kimbap and savor every type. Kimchi, to the worthy, will fill a nutritional and flavorful void in your American heart. To compliment this, Anam at its core is a college district, so a variety of other Asian, Indian and foreign cuisine is a short hike away from the dorm. I say hike since Korea is a land of hills, of which your dorm is placed at the top of Anam’s highest. Here, everyday is leg day.
From Dongmyo at the hall of street vendors to Yongsan and their electronic savants you will meet bombastic market stand owners who at first seem they’re friendly to entice you to buy their wares, but are earnest and instead want to entice you to stay to practice their English and give you a sample of their life story.
At the DMZ, you’ll even find politically charged sights and government funded art installations that can’t be done justice by the words of a foreigner.
For the history buff, there is an assortment of veterans, tour guides and older generation locals in the Dongnimmun district who are normally more than happy to educate foreigners on Korea’s extensive past. For the adventurous, in that same district lie two of Seoul’s greatest mountains, Ansan and Inwangson, so friendly mountain men and athletes are a delightful dime a dozen.
All throughout Seoul you’ll meet middle aged and older locals, perhaps even monks, spiritually battered by the toils of life and all the wiser for it. Some still consider foreigners a rare sight, and a smile, a wave, or even a spur of the moment small gift goes a long way. Balloon animals are a terrific conversation starter.
During the nightlife, you may meet ephemeral friends who your dynamic ends the same night it starts. To compensate, the activities and world you’ll explore and the stories you’ll tell with every encounter will make your study abroad journey complete.
Almost like fantasy fiction, in the hustle and bustle of MyeongDong shopping districts and underground subway markets, you’ll meet wayward travellers and world roamers with tricks and trinkets galore. They’ll leave an impression on your memory, but feel free to record their performances for sentimental safekeeping, though it’s custom to leave a small tip if you do!
As you may recall, one personal mission of mine was to visit the Seoul Animation museum. Sadly that window closed as the venue is undergoing renovations until after I return home. A few blocks away from the museum lies Seoul’s cartoon street, which is the home of Korea’s own Studio Ghibli, the grand artist shop of “SamBakZa,” whose animations, such as “There She Is!” has stood the test of time. I had the extreme fortune to meet Mr. SamBakZa himself, Keun-young Kim, who invited me into his studio to share lovely memories of the animation process, early 2000’s internet landscape and Adobe’s notorious bugginess all over delicious homemade lemon tea; an experience that above and beyond made up for the museum’s flakiness.
Should the stars align, you may very well meet a star or a K-pop idol and brush shoulders with actors on the streets of Gangnam. I don’t have much of a taste for hubris, so I found the rapport of taxi drivers and heart-on-their-sleeve everymen more rewarding, and a testament that dancing, balloons, soju, or a combination of the three can shatter any language barrier.
Outside of locals, I can’t overstate the breath of diversity you’ll have in your fellow ISA student body. You’re bound to meet more students from across the planet from all walks of life in a week then you would in five years back home. Your 9th grade history teacher was actually woke, cultural diffusion is the key!
Seoul is where bashfulness dies, and I am thankful I had the opportunity to experience it for a dynamite semester.
I’d like to take a moment to thank some outstanding individuals: To the Germans who taught me to Ice skate, and who I tutored Python, To SamBakZa, for making one of my childhood dreams come true, To my Tibetan friend Martin who enabled my indignation to the Chinese government, To my Californian vietnamese friend Ty for our lovely lunch dates and hot takes, To the members of Gorimadang (KU’s version of Strose’s very own Geeks of The Round Table), I’ll cherish the games of Go! And the UN model of waifu cold wars and artist peer reviews. To Wolf and his groovy band of e-sports commentators who introduced me to the ravenous world of Korean e-sports and kindled the growing fire of the Smash Bros scene with me. To my Finance professor and his affinity for Yogi Berra, and finally to my ISA crew who each filled this eccentric cornucopia with so many cherished memories:
From the bottom of each chamber of my New York bound heart: Thank you. Thank you all so much. I’ve rambled on enough, but to say goodbye is to kiss fatalism on the cheek, where a kick in the teeth is more warranted, so instead I say, to the friends I’ve made abroad and to the ones back home in NY:
“See you again soon!”
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.