It has only been three days since landing in Seoul, and I have already had a wide variety of experiences. I landed right in the middle of rush hour, and what I thought would be a straightforward bus ride to the hotel turned into a two-hour sequence of nonstop hard turns and sudden brakes. Arriving at the hotel incredibly car sick and grateful to be on the ground, it’s safe to say that Seoul completely blew my expectations out of the water.
The first night, the entire cohort went out for Korean BBQ together. The food was cooked by one of our servers, and the wide variety of meats, vegetables, and side dishes were all incredibly good. My personal favorite dish for that night was the pork belly. After the meal, we walked over to a nearby Baskin Robbins for dessert, and the menu was completely different from anything back home. After dessert, my roommate and I made it back to the hotel, passed out, and woke up at 6 AM the next morning completely confused thanks to jet lag.
One of the most surprising things so far has honestly been the food prices. A full sit-down meal for around eight dollars was not something I saw coming. I knew Seoul would be more affordable than the States, but the combination of the quality and the price has been a lot to take in, especially as someone who eats out pretty much every day.
My first day at Youdongsan was a solid introduction to what this summer is going to look like. I met up with another intern at the Starbucks in the basement of the building, and we called the CEO to come pick us up, which was already a pretty different experience from anything I have done before. We headed up to the top floor, a shared office space with other companies, and got introduced to the whole team. The environment is formal and the team is small, so the whole thing felt a lot more personal than I expected. About an hour in, we got set up with keycards to scan into the building.
Around 11 AM the team took us out for Gukbap, a Korean dish where cooked rice gets submerged in a hot, savory soup. It was simple and really good, and the fact that the team made that kind of effort on day one said a lot about the workplace culture. After lunch we came back and jumped straight into our first project, researching potential real estate investment companies that could benefit from Youdongsan’s proprietary tool, LenderShield, which is an AI that helps investors analyze potential assets.
The company specializes in asset-backed finance, focusing on investments secured by real assets like real estate and stock-based assets. I knew the fintech investment space would be a challenge, but being inside it in South Korea has already added layers I did not fully anticipate.
A few things have stood out to me as genuinely important skills to have here. Communication was brought up repeatedly on my first day. The team was very clear about never hesitating to ask for help, no matter how small the issue. That landed differently for me given the language barrier. I downloaded Papago to help with that, and I have been a lot more intentional about how I express myself in general, just trying to be clear rather than assuming anything gets lost in translation.
Punctuality was another quick lesson. I showed up about thirty minutes early on the first day and honestly felt good about it. Then we got up to the office and the entire team was already there, already working. That puts things into perspective fast. The professional culture here is more structured and hierarchical than what I am used to in my previous experiences, and there is a real emphasis on respecting seniority in a way that goes beyond just being polite.
More than anything, adaptability feels like the skill I am going to sharpen the most this summer. Everything is new, the work, the culture, the language, and being able to stay composed while figuring it all out is something I am actively working on every day. My experience in Puerto Rico last year showed me how much you can grow when you stop fighting the discomfort and just embrace it. That is the approach I am taking here.
Overall the last few days have been a lot, but in the best way. I am slowly adjusting to Seoul and looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week brings!
