10 days in korea

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: 10 days in korea 🇰🇷 

i can officially say that i have solo-travelled now. i wouldn’t count my stay in san francisco or my shorter trips to la or copenhagen as travel. my goal for those “solo trips” was never to explore and immerse myself in another culture. this time it was, and it was exhilarating.

i spent 10 days in korea completely solo. i wasn’t with an agency planning my itinerary, i wasn’t traveling alongside any friends (i only knew one person in the country at the same time as me), and i was entirely in charge of my day. 🗓️ 

my goals with san francisco and tanzania were pretty clear: build to get more technical, and climb mount kilimanjaro. what could i possibly achieve in korea in 10 days? i wasn’t trying to conquer a mountain nor ship a new product to users, i simply strived to explore a new culture and make friends out of 0 prior connection.

i sure did that.

i was in my element in seoul (except the fact that the country wasn’t compatible with early-risers — all of the cafés open at 11am 😭). reading from my kindle on the fabulous public transportation, going on morning runs around yonsei university, and grabbing a sweet treat at new cafés every day became small joys that made my experience so lovely overall. besides the shining tourist attractions to check out in each country, i believe experiencing life like a local in another country is where the true charm is.

how do people in other parts of the world live? how does safety and the social climate differ from mine? how does that translate into the food people eat, the clothes people wear, and how respect is expressed? it’s one thing to research it online, and another to see it for yourself and practice it.

i found that the language barrier wasn’t much of a problem, contrary to popular belief, but that’s also probably because i was in seoul the entire time. all of the subway stations were in english and many restaurants had english menus as well. when they didn’t, it wasn’t a bother to whip out my papago translator app (highly recommend, even many locals have it).

rapid fire highlights (you know the drill 🧯):

• café hopping! so many sweet little treats = so much joy.

• doing a dance class at 1 million dance studio with tina boo. i was obsessed with their youtube channel in middle school, and it was surreal actually being in the space.

• obsessing over all the cute trinkets and jewelry for so cheap at dongdaemun bead market.

• finally meeting caroline in sejong and eating so much delicious food together (bingsu is now one of my new fav top 3 desserts). 🍧 

• trying tanghulu and walking around hongdae street with new friends.

• all. of. the. photobooths. omg.

• rushing to a 7eleven after walking along han river in the snow to make some hot chocolate with a new friend.

• eating at a michelin star restaurant with a vegan course and trying their speciality: bojagi bibimbap.

• opening a fridge door and finding a fruit-themed speakeasy with delicious food and even cuter drinks. 🍹 

• trying on a hanbok at the gyeongbokgung palace (pics here!).

most of all, i was so glad i made friends for a lifetime just within 10 days. my biggest worry going in to this trip was not being able to connect with others — i’m more than happy spending time with myself, but i wanted to put myself out there and form friendships from 0 prior connection at all, which i honestly have never done before. in fact, my group of best friends came to be because i copy pasted the same message to a bunch of them on instagram in 8th grade (it was along the lines of, “hey, i’ll also be going to hb next year … blah blah blah.”)

💀.

clearly, my fear of being lonely was still at the forefront then.  

i’ve never actively cold-approached friendship in real life. it’s always some group event where i stumble on a great conversation, i reach out online, or they’re friends of friends. there’s always a touchpoint of some sort beforehand. there was nothing this time, and it still all worked out better than i could have imagined.

love ya korea. 💋 

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