Long Time No Blog...

I spent the last half year living and studying abroad in South Korea, having the absolute time of my life and I'm about to give you 5 reasons you why I think everyone should do it.

1. You get out of your comfort zone (and realise you love it)
Living in such a different culture, with a different language, without the safety of your friends and family back home is strange... at first. When I got off that plane in Seoul I felt so foreign, like I was an alien landing on earth and was seeing everything for the first time. Neither myself or Louisa (my friend and course mate) could read Korean yet and we had no idea about what or where anything was. It could have been scary at times, but to be honest with you even when it felt a bit strange and scary, there was always this excitement in the bottom of your stomach too. Its amazing how much satisfaction you get out of ordering food in the local language for the first time! Its seriously addicting and fun being out of your comfort zone!


2. You make incredible friends from different backgrounds
While I had done a bit of travelling/holidaying before, the closest I had come to making friends with people from other countries was just chats in hostels really. Now I have friends scattered across the globe and met so many amazing people with such interesting stories to tell. You get to do everything from laughing about stupid drunken escapades to hearing other peoples opinions on world news. It makes you even more aware how bad we are in the UK at learning languages, when several of my friends could speak 4 or 5, and I can only speak 1.



3. you see new places and cultures
living in a foreign country is so different from just going on holiday there, you experience so much more of its culture and what it has to offer! Also for me, travel from Korea to other asian countries was so much cheaper than going from Scotland, so I made the most of it and made a trip across to Japan and then also to Thailand. As well as of course travelling around Korea, including Jeju!


4. you develop as a person
You become pretty independent when you live nearly 9000 kilometres away from home. I don't even know how to describe the change you feel, but you just feel tougher, more resilient and proud of what you've done.

5. you will have SO much fun, believe me.
THE most important reason to do it. I can't put into words how much fun a semester abroad is. It so fun that when you get home you're going to feel like you've been on happy pills for the last 6 months and you are going to be looking for the next thing that can make you feel like that again!