youth culture: a trophyfish perspective
hello everyone! tara here with a request from the lovely @cool-notes. so i’m here today to talk about the youth culture in korea. now a disclaimer before i continue with this: i’m most definitely not korean in anyway so please do not take this as gospel. i was merely a visitor in their culture for a semester of school and tried to take in as much as i could as a foreigner. so this will mostly cover things i experienced and noticed while i was there
now onto the post! i feel like i was a little bit on the older side being a senior in college at the time and the second oldest of my friend group and the oldest in my clubbing trio. i was still 21 then so maybe i just think i’m lowkey old lol (i’ll be 23 in january)
the culture surrounding college students in seoul is very study focused. everyone was very much motivated to do well in school and very meticulous about how much time they would spend with friends and with their studies. many of the koreans i had class with and were friends with kept very neat schedules. if you want to hangout, definitely make sure they have room in their schedule. there was rarely ever a time where someone would have to cancel on you either, so be sure to be ready to meetup with them.
now don’t get me wrong, they sure know how to party in seoul but school and work is what you encounter during the daytime. you will see so many people about campus with their books, studying hard either solo or with one other person. you will find bigger groups out on the green or in cafes.
something you will also notice about young folk in korea are the crazy amount of couples. dating is very popular over there so don’t be shocked to see couples roaming about with either very well coordinated or matching outfits. seriously, they are everywhere. so much so you question the validity of relationships because it just seems trendy to be dating. at least that’s how it felt for me as an outsider looking in. i was also very, very, very single and still am... also there are just so many places in seoul that could easily double as date night spots.
what ties so much of the youth culture though is food. you will definitely see restaurants and cafes with groups of friends sharing a couple rounds of drinks and great meals. this is where people really get close to each other. so much is shared between friends as they play drinking games. lots of drinking games. what is really great is that everyone really takes care of each other in these situations and drinking is very different from how we view it here in the states. people don’t drink to get totally wasted, they drink to socialize and to feel a nice buzz. granted, i have gotten totally wasted with koreans before but it was definitely not planned lol i believe the only time we ever planned to get totally wasted was during mt. the entire hug club went out into the countryside and stayed in a large house, had bbq, and drank a ton because there was nothing else to do but drink and chat.
now when people aren’t preoccupied with studies and work, the partying commences! clubbing was also a big part of the youth culture while i was there. as soon as thursday night rolls around, you will find koreans going out, drinking, and dancing the night away in clubs and bars. now i’d say be wary as a foreigner going clubbing because you will definitely have people trying to creep on you because you’re not korean. also, if you are going to some of the more popular spots you will have people dancing up on you and touching you because you will be packed like sardines at times. koreans go just as hard partying as they do studying.
also everyone is just very stylish and good looking (or i’m just a sucker for well dressed dudes lololol) which made me have to put in some effort lol
i feel like there is so much more i could add to this, yet this has gotten quite long. if anyone has any specific questions about these aspects of being young in korea, please feel free to ask. i hungout with a very mixed group of people so i probably have some not average experiences but man oh man was korea great.