I’m hesitant to begin this blog post with a cliche, but nevertheless I think it is fitting for how my first few weeks in Seoul have passed: the days are long but the weeks are short. In reflecting on my experiences it’s hard for me to believe that it has been almost two months that I have been living and studying in Korea because it truly feels like I just got here. I think in assessing the inevitable passage of time and my experience abroad I have three major takeaways from this point in my program: Korean is hard (of course), say yes to spontaneous plans, and take time to acknowledge how far you’ve come. 

I think that in every post thus far I have bemoaned one way or another about the difficulty of studying Korean, and recently the task has seemed even more daunting in having to deal with everyday bureaucracy completely in Korean. I’ve had to resolve my visa and registration tasks, my phone plan, university issues, going to the Apple Store, dealing with the bank, travel plans, and translation tasks for my friends who don’t speak much Korean when we go out to restaurants or shops. But I think this is where my third takeaway comes in: I have to stop sometimes and realize that even though these tasks can be annoying and stressful they represent progress. When I first started learning Korean two years ago even the everyday monotony was part of my dream of using Korean on an everyday basis. And now I’m doing it! A lot of my Korean progress has come in the midst of these difficult and complicated interactions and it has given me unparalleled confidence with my Korean study and continued motivation. Plus, it reminds me how much I take fluency in the majority language for granted in my everyday life in the United States. 

My second takeaway has been to say yes to spontaneous plans. South Korea is a small but mighty country in terms of things to see, places to travel, and food to try. I am often very tired at the end of the day, but recently I’ve been saying ‘yes’ to 10pm invitations from my friends to go get jjimdak or seeing movies on school nights. Just last week one of my friends sent me a Kakao message with rough itinerary of a long weekend trip to Busan in the middle of the semester and naturally I said yes. These are the memories I have treasured from my time abroad and once again remind me of how far I have come in the few weeks I have been abroad. I showed up to Incheon Airport with no friends and a lot of panic about what I had just gotten myself into. In just a few weeks I have people to text at ten p.m. and travel around the country with on a whim. 

It’s not often I take time to reflect, but I have truly grown so much in just a few weeks and I can only imagine how my reflections will be closer to the end of my program. I imagine the weeks will fly even faster than they do now.