February/March Recap
Picture update from the last two months and some Korean media recommendations!
안녕하세요~~
February went by like a flash, so please forgive me for missing the monthly update! It’s been an incredible start to the year so far and things are just about to ramp up quite fast.
As for the last two months, they’ve been a blur! I’ve been eating at many of the DC restaurants on my bucket list and fully enjoying the warmer weather, including the brief cherry blossom season! I’ve attached a few photos I took last weekend at the Tidal Basin here in DC.
I’ve also been taking every opportunity to listen to Korean experts speak at the local universities, this time I had the opportunity to attend a talk by the last Prime Minister Nakyon Lee (이낙연)! The more I learn about North/South Korean relations, the more interested I become and the more I want to learn. I’ve been learning North Korean vocabulary and studying up on their current affairs too so that I have more research options open to me when I eventually start this graduate degree program. Yoomin (in the photo above) also connected me with a very unique and interesting graduate school in Seoul that exclusively deals with North Korea topics, so I’m going to dig deeper into that school and prepare for an application to that school when the time comes.
In other news, I’m heading to Seoul right now! I’m sitting in the airport lounge now as I type this and I couldn’t be more excited to finally visit Korea. I’m meeting with some graduate school officials and a realtor, and I hope to figure out where I want to live and go to school once I move to Korea in June. I also timed my trip to take the TOPIK test (a Korean language proficiency test) at a university in Seoul before heading back to DC, as it’s near impossible to take it in the United States and only offered a few times per year. I’ll recap this trip in the next monthly update :)
Since my last update, I now have two new teachers in my language school. I now have one on Monday through Wednesday and another one on Thursday and Friday. Every teacher I’ve had is quite different, and while it’s helpful to get different teaching styles and voices, the churn does get quite frustrating sometimes. One benefit to having different teaching styles and personalities is that they each bring different unique cultural practices to class! For example, my Thursday/Friday teacher has us do the traditional “gymnastics” stretching routine in the morning, followed by a more modern and active version. I really love doing this before class to get the blood flowing and to fully wake up, and I’ve been doing it on my own on days I don’t have her. It is tough to do sometimes when I’m wearing nicer business clothes though…
Vocab
My vocabulary routine has continued to work well. I’ve had 273 consecutive days of finishing my flashcards, and I feel that I have a sufficient vocabulary base to understand quite a bit of what I read online and in Korean media. I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing because it’s working.
Food
I’ve continued making or otherwise eating lots of Korean food! Below you’ll see another KBBQ night at my apartment and one particularly good Korean restaurant located downtown.
K-media
I’ve been basically only consuming Korean media these days (news, dramas, podcasts), and I have a few general recommendations that I think others might be into!
One of the most popular dramas these days in Korea is called “The Glory,” and it happens to be on Netflix USA too! It’s a captivating story about a woman who is plotting the ultimate revenge on her high school torturers and it’s just so satisfying to watch. It’s like The Count of Monte Cristo, but told through a modern Korea lens. I also watched this during my Korean class unit on school violence, crime, etc., so the show came out at the perfect time for me to reinforce vocabulary that I won’t use often.
As far as Korean music, I just haven’t been able to get into K-pop that much. I’ve tried the main artists (BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE, etc.), but the big groups just aren’t my thing apparently. I have found plenty of Korean music that I do love though, so if you want to check any out, check the links below.
IU: I don’t know if other people make this comparison or not, but to me, IU is like the Korean version of Taylor Swift. What makes her more personable though is all her YouTube content, especially over the pandemic. To get closer to her fans when she couldn’t perform live, she started some YouTube variety shows (IU Homebody Signal, etc.) that will charm anybody.
10cm: 10cm is currently my favorite “indie” artist in Korea. In America, it’d be closest to the “acoustic folk” genre, and it sounds nice even if you don’t understand the lyrics. I first found them through the drama I mentioned a few months ago (Our Beloved Summer) and I’ve been hooked ever since!
Day6: In terms of Korean rock, my favorite group so far is Day6. They also have particularly good lyrics compared to most popular Korean music. I haven’t found a lot of Korean rock that I like, but Day6 has easily made it into my rotation.
Bronze: Korea also has some excellent R&B and Soul music. My favorite right now is Bronze, and in particular their album Skyline. I recommend listening to them with good headphones or speakers to appreciate the funky bass lines.
That’s enough for now, I’ll have a big update next month after this trip to Korea!
Stay healthy and well,
Sean