LIFESTYLE: Life Of A Latina In South Korea!
- Style Like Sofia
- May 6, 2019
- 3 min read
Little did I know that I would be spending my first two years of college in South Korea!
My plans were to study abroad once I got used to my college and my major. I was aiming to study my first full year of college in the United States and go off my second full year abroad. That was until I received an unexpected offer! I had applied to FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) to their New York City campus, which I was in love with! I believe they noticed how I had already studied in Asia for a summer program and offered me to study at their newly opened campus in South Korea for my first two years. My FIRST YEAR abroad?!? I was honored for the offer since I knew it was something incredible to be a part of, but I knew very little about living in South Korea. I knew that knowing BlackPink and a couple K-dramas was not going to be enough for this new adventure! I was speechless... I had a battle between studying in Korea or staying close by in the US for my first year, and then going off when I felt ready...
"Studying fashion takes passion and determination. It is a very hard field to be in and it is all about being confident with yourself and wanting to do GREAT things!"
It was not something I had planned out but then again I had already learned that spontaneous opportunities like this one are the ones that would shape my career the best. So I decided to accept this amazing challenge and left to Incheon, South Korea in August 2018. My first semester in fashion school was full of work, long hours in class, and little sleep. Because I am majoring in fashion design, most of my classes are 5 hours long and I would basically end my school day around 5 or 6:30. After that, I would have to get homework done, which would take me hours to complete. I can't say it was easy because it was not! It was tiring and hectic, but it made me grow so much as an artist.
It took me a couple months to truly get used to my workload and create a whole new routine for myself. Not being able to speak the language is kind of a barrier since the reality is that not a a lot of people at stores, taxis, and the metro really speak English, which made it very challenging for me to get around. I definitely made incredible friends and visited the beautiful Seoul and its historic monuments. Incheon, where my school is, is about 2 hours away from Seoul, which is the capital. This is sometimes challenging because most of the fashion aspect of South Korea is in the capital. However, I definitely travelled a lot to Seoul and went to incredible places and events like Seoul Fashion Week! Incheon is more of a working city and is still being built, which makes it very technologically advanced and a beautiful city. It also has several universities around the city, which creates a nice college atmosphere at night.
Check out some pictures of my campus and Incheon!
(The architecture is unbelievable!!!)
While living in South Korea was hard for me culture wise, it definitely inspired me to learn more and become more connected with this new culture. I am currently working on learning some Korean (so wish me luck!). I will make it my goal to also explore more cities on my spare time and create unforgettable memories along the way so I can share them with you guys. Everyday has its positive and negative things and I am truly very far away from my family in Florida, but this adventure is all about learning and growing. Nothing is easy at first and I will do it my best to turn these two years into an unforgettable adventure! I am so proud to say that I accepted this new adventure and will be emerging myself into a new lifestyle and culture. NEVER doubt yourselves! Good things will come. All you have to do is believe in yourselves and work very very very hard! :)
If anyone wants to share any stories about their trips to South Korea and experiences or simply would like to recommend me any k-pop or k-drama please feel free to contact me or comment down below!
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Also, if anyone has any further questions about South Korea, my school, or how it is like living there feel free to ask! Stay tuned since I will upload more about South Korea soon...
-SLS
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