My first two months in Korea
In this post I will talk about my first two months in Korea. I'll briefly go over my experience with getting the visa, making friends and finding a place to live, as well as what kind of experiences I made so far. There will be future posts in which I will go into detail over some of the stuff mentioned in this post, like formalities, restaurants and experiences.
WORKING HOLIDAY KOREA
Hey, I’m Yul Schuhmacher! In August 2024, I moved to Korea for a one-year working holiday. While I’m here, I’m learning the ins and outs of life in Korea and discovering what it takes to settle in as a foreigner.
I arrived in Korea on August 22. But that's not where my journey began. I started studying Korean about 3 years ago, going to Korean lessons every saturday. Then, at the start of this year I finally decided to go for the working holiday experience and prepared for my visa application.
Before you get there...
To get a working holiday visa as a German citizen, you need to:
be between 18 and 30 years old
be in good health (although this was never checked...)
have a clean (none) criminal record
be able to proof you have funds to survive in Korea for the first few months
have a stay, flight and international health insurance lined up
The last point is a little bit annoying, because it requires you to book flight and accomodation BEFORE you know if you will even receive the visa. But as far as my research went, most people usually get the visa without any issues.
My first home
For my first accommodation I rented a room in a small "Studenthouse" or "고시원". My idea was that by sharing a kitchen and other utilities with house mates, I will quickly make friends. This turned out to be a horrible idea.
My room was very small, which I expected. It also didn't have any outside windows, the bed was horrible and the AC was centralized, so I could not set the temperature myself. This wasn't much of a problem for me though, as I was mostly out during the day anyway and the AC was set to a decent temperature. What turned out to be a real problem however was the soundproofing of the house (or rather, the lack of it) and the rules that came with it. There was a complete "no-noise"-rule, meaning that I could not watch videos with sound turned on in my room, talk to friends or family or even talk to people in the hallway or in the communual rooms, like the kitchen. So I ended up making no friends in the house and honestly, I wouldn't recommend the experience to anyone else unless you're on a super tight budget. Also, the mattress was the most horrible thing I ever slept on, it felt like a bag of stones and wasn't even long enough for my whole body length.
Friends
While I was not making any progress making friends in my house, I did end up making friends online. In Korea, just as well as in Japan (where I did spend 6 months a couple of years ago), dating apps like Tinder and Bumble can be used to make friends. In fact, it seems to be one of the most efficient ways if you're a foreigner.
During my second night, while I was feeling a little lonely and sad, while unable to call my friends or family, a South African expat messaged me and we quickly decided to go for a late night coffee run and walk around the city. This was my first real interaction with strangers in Korea and it defined how my future in Korea would look like. You see, before I went to Korea, I was under the assumption I would live in Seoul the entire time. I knew about other cities, but felt like I want to stay in Seoul, as it's probably the most modern and cool city to live in. However, that first person I met told me that all her foreigner friends prefer Busan over Seoul and that before I settle down in Seoul, I should visit Busan. The next morning I booked tickets to Busan.
My first trip to Busan
I arrived in Busan after being in Korea for just 5 days. My first impression was really good. Not just did I suddenly have a bed that was made for actual people, but the city also just had a good vibe to it. I don't know if it was just the depression of my first few days in contrast to the excitements of new beginnings, but I instantly loved Busan. I didn't do much during my two day trip. I mostly just wandered around, went near the beach and scouted for a potential appartment, which I then quickly booked. The main thing that took me by surprise, was that Restaurant costs were much higher than in Seoul, despite everything else being cheaper. I suspect this is because in Seoul eating out every day is much more common than it is here. It's still not super uncommon, but just not as common as in Seoul. As a result, I spent twice as much a day in Busan than I did in Seoul, for the same quality and quantity of food. Maybe I'm wrong about this, if so, please point it out to me.
Back to Seoul
Back in Seoul I decided to explore more, now that my time was limited (as I was moving to Busan soon). I was lucky to make some good friends quickly and I was introduced to many cool places I would have never went to on my own. I will talk more about special places in Korea, especially the more unkown gems, in a future blog. When my last 2 weeks in Seoul came to an end, I was almost a little sad to move away, but I was also looking forward to what I would experience in Busan.
Moving from Seoul to Busan
The actual act of moving was not super difficult, as I only had a large suitcase with stuff, a backpack and a bag, but it was still very exhausting and I wish I knew some stuff beforehand. First of all, no taxi in Seoul wanted to take the trip to Seoul's main station, so after 40 minutes of trying, I had to rush to the next station and take the train. Then, I struggled a lot with the station gates, as most are using one of those metal thingies you have to push against to walk through, which is impossible if you have a big suitcase with you. Only later I learned that every train track also has at least one gate with wheelchair access. This one is perfect if you're travelling with larger objects. It's often the one closest to the exits of the station. Finally, the long distance trains in Korea do not have a reservation system for luggage. There is limited space available for large suitcases and if you board too late, you run risk not getting yours into storage. Luckily I knew about this before, so I made sure to be at the station 40 minutes early and be at the track when the train arrived.
My first weeks living in Busan
This brings us to where I am now. I now live in Busan for about one month and so far it's been great. In the beginning I struggled a bit with the restaurants, but I have found my groove now and it's gotten much easier. I also already made some friends and I feel like most Korean people I meet around here are much more open to talking to me. In the internet I've often read that people in Busan are friendlier, but I wouldn't say people in Seoul are unfriendly. However, I believe people here are a little more curious about new people and more attentive to people who may need help. For example, when I was wandering the beach one evening on my own, an old man approached me and asked if he should take pictures of me that I could send to my family. It was a random act of kindness, he just saw I was alone and asked if he could do something for me. After he was done, he drove off. Stuff like that has happened a bunch here, but I never experienced it in Seoul. I will definitely try to tell more of these stories in future blog entries, as I collected so many of them already. So far, what I love most about living here, is being able to just decide it's time to go for a walk, and be at the beach in 10 minutes. Below you can see some of the impressions of my first 2 months in Korea, I can't wait to tell more about what I experienced so far.
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