South Korea_An Amazing Cultural Experience

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South Korea: An Amazing Cultural Experience

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South Korea: An Amazing Cultural Experience

By Carlton Landingham II

My study abroad experience in South Korea has been one of the best experiences I’ve had. The mix between a brand- new environment and different cultures made it a truly unforgettable experience. I would encourage every college student, whether it's to South Korea or a different country, to study abroad with their school.

For starters, the general culture of South Korea was very different from that of the United States. What I found most notable about the South Korean culture was how clean they were. I remember walking the beautiful streets of Seoul, and there not being a single piece of garbage on the ground. Even though there are few to no public trash cans on the streets, the people still somehow manage to keep the streets clean. I appreciated this about the South Korean people. In the United States, almost every city you go to will be littered with trash. And to make this matter worse, public trash bins are everywhere in the United States. The way the South Korean people keep their streets clean has inspired me to do the same back home in the United States.

On another note, the places we visited were so beautiful. We stayed in Seoul for the majority of our study abroad experience and had a brief stay in Busan. Seoul was such a pretty and vibrant city. I was very surprised at the fact that Seoul managed to be metropolitan, while still having plenty of areas containing ancient Korean buildings and breathtaking nature. We were given plenty of time to explore the city on our own. My favorite thing to do during our free time was to visit Myeongdong Street, which is a huge tourist street in the city of Seoul. Here, there were plenty of big chain shopping stores such as Nike and Adidas, as well as countless smaller stores. Every store had a unique vibe and a plethora of shopping options. Apart from Seoul, we also visited Busan, which is the second -argest city in South Korea. Busan is an ocean city, which means it has a beach. The city reminded me a lot of Miami. The contrast between the beautiful beaches and mountains, and the many skyscrapers was such a beautiful sight. The hotel we stayed at was right by the beach, which was very nice because I was able to explore the beach at any time. I was very disappointed that I wasn’t able to swim in the ocean. It is nation-wide policy that no one can swim in the ocean until it is warm enough to do so. As a result, the beaches in Busan don’t open until mid-June. I found this very interesting, as in the United States, people can swim at a beach based on their judgment.

My favorite visit of the entire trip was our visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Palace belonged to a king who ruled a small area of Korea during the Korean dynasty in the 1400s. Here, we were able to see the palace that the King and his followers lived in during this period. I enjoyed this visit to the Palace, mostly because we were able to rent traditional Korean clothing and wear it while touring the palace. For my attire, I chose a bright red piece of clothing, similar to what a king would wear back during the Korean dynasty. The clothing fit like a robe, and had a symbol of a gold dragon on the front. The tour around the beautiful palace, along with the beautiful traditional attire we were able to wear, made this my favorite experience of my study abroad trip.

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to go to South Korea with Whitman as a study abroad experience. Here, I learned many valuable lessons. Not only from the companies we visited, but from the experience of briefly living in a new country as a whole. Throughout my life, I will never forget this experience that I was able to be a part of because of the Whitman School and its amazing opportunities. Once again, I will encourage every student to study abroad at least once in their college career. If you take my word for it, you won't regret it!

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