Hello! I can’t believe my time in Seoul is already at an end.

My supervisor allowed my last day to be Friday rather than the following Tuesday, so I decided to spend my last few free days solo traveling to Busan. It was a very short trip – I took the train Monday evening and the early morning train Wednesday home. However, I think I was able to have a very fulfilling experience. I’m glad I went.

Monday night I took the bus to Gwangalli beach and watched the sun set. I had dinner, where I tried cold wheat noodles (I can’t remember the name in Korean), and it was very good. I walked around, did a bit of souvenir shopping, and called it a night. The ocean was absolutely beautiful. The area surrounding the beach was incredibly touristy with gachapons and claw machines everywhere. Since I’m leaving Korea soon, I figured it would be a good way to use my coins. I did not win anything, unfortunately.

I woke up relatively early the next morning and started out taking a cable car over the ocean. It was very beautiful. I took it both ways with a little bit of hiking to a scenic viewpoint in between. Next, I headed to Gamcheon culture village, which is a vibrant neighborhood full of brightly colored houses, art, and plenty of photo spots. Since I was solo traveling, I had to ask a bunch of strangers to take my photo. It was so, so hot. I felt like I was going crazy at points.

After that, I did a bit of shopping for Korean skincare and decided I wanted to go to Busan tower. On the way there I passed the museum of contemporary history and I decided to stop in. They had an art exhibit imagining Busan in 2050 and a temporary exhibit about Busan serving as the wartime capital during the Korean War. I thought it was very interesting and made sure to take my time. I did go to Busan tower right after and decided to sit and rest for a bit. Something I’ve been doing while I’m in Korea is taking a sketchbook wherever I go and drawing some scenery I find to be particuarly beautiful. I did that here.

I finished the night going to Haeundae beach and relaxing. I passed by a shop that was advertising live octopus and I decided to try it. Honestly, I think it’s the kind of food people only eat for the shock factor. I thought it tasted fresh, but there wasn’t a whole lot going on with it. I am the least picky eater ever and seeing it moving made me hesitant though, which is a first.

On Wednesday (today) I returned to Seoul and decided to spend the day going to my favorite bakery and favorite cafe. The cafe is called 1rin1jan and is located right next to Eunpyeong Hanok village, which is filled with traditional Korean style homes. I took my time there and made a drawing of the cafe, the scenery, and some people around. I chose that as my photo for this post.

As for how Korea defines ‘success’ I would say it is very different than in the US. At least at the company I worked for, it was significantly more efficiency-focused than many positions I’ve had in the US. If I had to put it simply, you can get very far in a Korean office by simply being reserved and doing your work very very well. This is very different from the US, which tends to prioritize extraverts and loud personalities (think of the ‘personality hire’ in every department, for instance) in many situations.

I would also say that success in Korea is measured more by how long you work. I witnessed many of my coworkers doing overtime multiple times a week, as it is almost expected culturally. It felt like to be a successful and productive employee in Korea your job must become your life, in a sense. This was a very new concept to me. I feel that work/life balance has become incredibly important in corporate America in recent years. Work from home also wasn’t a concept in my office at all. It felt a bit strange to me, especially since the work the software engineers were doing could have easily been done from home with the proper setup. One of my coworkers commuted for two hours each day, he told me. I was really surprised to hear that.

Although Korea’s work culture is intense, I believe this to be a very productive experience. I felt the highs and lows of living in a culture like this and am significantly more prepared to bring my expertise back to the States.

Until next time!