What’s your hyper-fixation? From playing with my ‘skip-it’ in elementary school, to learning marching band music in high school, mastering my masters, marking items off of my 30 by 30 list, it seems every season of life has it’s own hyper-fixation. My current one is travel, and in a more specific, general way, my current hyper-fixation is Korea.
But why? People ask me that a lot. The simple answer, is that it’s a pandemic hobby that stuck. Probably because the speech therapist in me is enjoying the challenge of learning a totally foreign (to me) language. And maybe the urbanite in me that enjoys learning about other cultures.
I think Korea became a hyper-fixation for me because access to it has drastically changed in the last decade. The amount of food, entertainment, and educational resources available from Korea is a direct result of its economic growth and globalization, something South Korea has proactively pursued. My discovery of it, is just the result of good marketing. 🙂
But I think the best way I can describe it is that Korea feels a bit like the multiverse. If you aren’t familiar with this sci-fi concept, it’s the idea that there could be countless versions of you, simultaneously living in parallel universes, but never crossing. Being in Korea feels like I’ve stepped into an alternate universe, one with it’s very own rules and history that exist entirely independently of mine, because it does. But learning Korean and going to Korea, it’s shapeshifting my life in very interesting and delicious ways.
Visiting and learning about Korea totally shattered my stereotypes of Asia. Having visited Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, I had this idea that Asia was mostly tropical, with extremes of poverty and wealth, leaning more to the poverty side. Perhaps a little dirty. With cheap, spicy food and cheap, but nice hotels. I had seen enough in the media to know that there were places like Singapore and Tokyo that were very modern, wealthy, and clean, but it didn’t really sink in until I experienced it for myself.
So far I’ve spent around 5 weeks on the peninsula, over the course of 2 summers. This summer I went for 10 days, and went back after a week for another 10 days! I watch a lot of Korean TV. I’m even learning Korean, taking classes and private tutoring in variations over the past 3 years.
From these experiences I have learned that Korea has a very old, well preserved culture (and history) that somehow fast-tracked its way to the future. It is a clean, quiet country, unless you’re walking down a pub street, which is the only place I’ve heard Koreans raise their voice. It has ancient wooden homes and palaces surrounded by tall glass sky-scrapers and clever considerations, like massive umbrellas for cross-walk waiting zones. Because it was modernized within the current generation and because the population values respecting public space (two features New York lacks), trains are efficient, public bathrooms are clean, and it’s one of the safest countries in the world.
That last point, safety, plays a big role in what it’s like to discover Korea on foot. There are some- many- places of the world I would love to learn more about, but don’t feel safe doing so. Korea, isn’t one of them. In Korea, you have the freedom to be curious, to follow some stairs to see where they lead. To try street food without fear of its side affects. And because it’s the multiverse and nothing is like home, everything is a discovery. How to pay your bill in a restaurant. How to pay toll in a toll booth. How to use chopsticks and a spoon together. How to greet with a bow. How to handle typhoon rains. How many mountains Korea has! Because Korea is so safe, all those strange things, become an adventure. And I love it!
Other things I love about Korea: the general values of politeness, how cute everything is, the scenery, the food, peach iced tea, the convenience of the convenience stores, that not everyone speaks English but that most of the major signage is, how walkable everything is, that someone will always help you if you need it, but that most things you can figure out on your own.
So that’s why South Korea is on my travel itinerary again for 2024. Because I love it. And I love sharing it with others. Who knows how long this hyper-fixation will last, but as long as I’m actively learning Korean, I’d like to keep visiting. If you’d like to join me, check out my summer 2024 group trip option. If you’d like to take yourself, stay tuned for some travel blogs of my trips so far.
Trips by Camille 