My trip to South Korea~!

Tomorrow for the first time I will be flying to SOUTH KOREA!! and I couldn't be any more excited than I already am. Just imagine going to a place you've always wanted to visit and a place you've heard and seen so much about. That's how I feel right now. Everyday I get asked 'Why do you like Korea?', 'Why do you speak Korean?', 'How did you learn Korean?' So I thought I would write about it in this blog post. 

Why do you like Korea?

I first got interested in South Korea back in 2010 when a close friend of mine shown me Girls' Generation's Oh! Music video. It was nothing like I've seen before, everything was so perfect. It was probably the first time seeing such a high quality music video and the most entertaining I've seen up to that point. In Korea every aspect of the music video is important from the music, to the choreography, the visuals and even the set behind them. Every little detail is essential. It was like a new world! K-Pop world to be exact. I then went home and began looking into this group a little more and listening to other songs and watching some of their other music videos too. I also got interested in other K-Pop acts such as five member boy group SHINee and soloist BoA. After that nothing could stop me and I began discovering new groups every day and got more and more interested in the culture and the language itself and not just the music.

How and why did you learn Korean?

I started learning Korean in 2012, because I love to sing and I wanted to sing along to my favourite K-Pop songs. That's how it started at first so I began learning the Korean alphabet system.  Compared to other Asian languages there isn't as many characters in the Korean alphabet so its easier to learn and memorize. At the time PSY had a huge hit with 'Gangnam Style' which I'm sure everyone knows the song but not many people know that PSY is Korean and Gangnam Style is actually a Korean song. Because of his success at the time many Koreans took this opportunity to teach K-Pop fans Korean through YouTube so I watched a lot of videos as-well to help with my pronunciation and learn new words and phrases at the same time. I also watched a lot famous celebrities in Korea on variety shows and in dramas which helped learn the language since you learn more of the lingo and how they actually speak to one another.

Even though I could read Korean, I didn't know the meaning behind anything I was reading! So I downloaded a Korean dictionary to my phone and began looking online on how to structure sentences and I started learning new words everyday which helped me improve a lot. I than began to feel more confident speaking to Koreans in their language and being able to actually make Korean friends. 

How has Korea impacted your life?

After being introduced to Korean music and culture I've been giving many unique opportunities such as when I was in college and had to choose where to do my placement I came up with an idea to do it at a radio station and introduce K-Pop music to Manchester. This was at ALLFM which is a great radio station in Manchester which plays all kinds of music. I used to play 2 Korean songs a week and then went up to 3 songs a week after a few months. Everyone at the radio station liked it and found it interesting and I got a lot of positive feedback from family and friends and it was an amazing experience. 

I also began taking better care of my appearance and becoming interested in fashion and just realizing new dreams of mine and new interests I never thought I would have.  I do feel like the person I am today is because of my love for Korea and it has helped me in a positive way and made me a better person for it and I'm very happy right now with the way I am right now.

What are you going to do in Korea?

Well since it's my first trip there's a lot of things I want to do. I can't wait to go shopping in Myeongdong which is full of cosmetics, skin care. restaurants and street food! I can't wait to explore Seoul and visit Korean landmarks such as the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Seoul tower! I will try my best to keep you guys updated on my trip through my Instagram! I will also be vlogging my trip to Korea so I can't wait for you guys to see.  Stay tuned!

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Thank you guys for reading and can't wait to blog about my trip to Korea when I get back! I will be reviewing lots of Korean comestics and skin products and what I bought when I was away so look forward to that as-well!

Alex :-)