Hey everyone! I am currently still in Korea as my program comes to a close and I wanted to talk about some things that I have noticed about Korean culture. Outside of our classwork, there are plenty of differences between life in the US and life in Korea but two things stuck out to me the most. These two things fall within the umbrella of very simple day to day tasks being eating and transportation.
To start, the culture around meals in Korean is much more different than people may think. To start with a very obvious one, Koreans do not tip. Unlike in the US where tipping culture is present in almost every meal, it is almost seen as disrespectful if you tip at a Korean restaurant. I noticed that almost every traditional Korean meal we had was to serve and cook for ourselves. This takes the “service” out of the meal which explains why tipping is not a norm. Another part of meals that I found different was that Koreans find it disrespectful if you leave food on your plate. Earlier this week, our teacher warned us that if we leave food on our plate the restaurant will charge us extra. Once again this is because of respect and that it is very disrespectful if you don’t eat everything you are given.
In terms of transportation, Seoul’s transportation system is very different from the US. Though the actual function of subways and buses are the same, the way they are presented is very different. To start, the subway system is very clean compared to subways I have seen in the US. There is not a piece of trash in sight and no signs of any homeless people which couldn’t be more different than the US. Another part of transportation in Korea that I found different is the noise. Strangely, on both the subway and bus, everyone stays silent. We were oftentimes the loudest people on both and I never really saw any Korean people have conversations on public transport. Respect comes into play here once again since being loud and leaving trash on public transport is seen as very disrespectful.
In both areas of food and transportation it is clear that respect has a large impact on life in Korea. Unlike the US, Korea values respect to a very great degree. Though the US is not entirely disrespectful, in casual areas like eating and transport, Americans can seem to let go of a lot of the respect they have for public property and people. I think this is something that we can learn from Korea and something that I am definitely going to take with me when I leave. I am so excited to see how I change from this amazing trip! Thanks for reading my blog!