While living in Korea there were so many things that I found impressive about the Korean culture and lifestyle that were kind of different from what Iโm used to.
First is the Korean Nightlife
there are many things and activities that you can do in Korea, even during the Night! For those of you who are night owls like me, itโs perfect.
So Itโs midnight, And youโre hungry? it doesnโt matter. Because there are many restaurants, shops and convenience stores that are working during the late night.
Wait It gets better! you can actually enjoy a lot of places at night when you feel bored such as bars, nightclubs, PC rooms, karaoke rooms, and game rooms that operate 24 hours.
Furthermore, no need to worry about transportation since here, public transportation runs late at night as well. Subways operate until midnight, as for Buses you can still take some that run even after midnight time, And for taxis, they are just convenient anytime, anywhere, and the best part is that the prices are just fine! you can even use the kakao Taxi app to get one. You just need to input information about your current location and destination and you are ready to go.
And lastly, the most important aspect of nightlife in Korea is that you get to experience it safely. Nightlife here is really safe comparing it to other countries.
I have experienced living in Busan city and Seoul city as well. And was always able to enjoy the nightlife or even early mornings, and still return home safely.
Korean coffee Culture
Second is the Korean coffee culture, for some of you this may seem normal but for me, it was a life-changing aspect.
Before I came to Korea, I didnโt use to drink coffee at all and I didnโt even enjoy going to coffee-shops, but thanks to the Korean coffee culture, I started falling in love with coffee and coffee shops.
In the past few years, the Korean coffee market has grown rapidly and Seoul has become the city with the most coffee shops per capita in the world.
Whatโs so unique about the Korean coffee culture is:
- First the unique design or theme for each coffee shop. When you go to a cafe, the first thing youโll notice is the interior design or the theme of each coffee shop. there are various different pretty designs and different themes.
- Second, in Korean coffeeshops, you can find the most aesthetical and visually pleasing desserts and drinks as well. Sometimes itโs too pretty that you donโt wanna even eat it!
- Third is that simply a coffee shop in Korea is not just a place to drink coffee. But you can consider it a place to meet friends, to study and even work, you can actually spend a lot of time there making yourself comfortable as you would in your own house. A lot of coffee shops provide you with self-service water, covers, and power plug sockets are everywhere. Therefore, the price of the coffee may include the price of entry and the time you spend at the shop.
Korean lifestyle (work hard play hard)
In general, Korean people work hard to achieve anything. no wonder the country was fastly developed. You can experience this culturistic aspect in many fields like studies, work, and even leisure time. Korea ranks second as the country with the longest working hours in the world.
This long working hour culture begins at a young age. Korean children spend 14 hours a day in classrooms between regular schools and academies. Through this process, Koreans often face stress and self-esteem inconvenience. Therefore, the suicide rate of Koreans can be high among OECD countries.
However, through such a culture of hard work, Korea was able to overcome poverty caused by war and made noticeable economic progress. On the other hand, they have created a unique Korean play culture to relieve stress and take a break from hard work, especially on the weekends. The spread of nightlife amusements and the cafรฉ culture I mentioned earlier, the alcohol drinking culture, karaoke & gaming rooms can be said to be an example of the โplay-hardโ concept.
Korean beauty or appearance concept in the culture
When walking through the streets of Korea, you can notice that people, in general, are visually good-looking, most of them wear trendy clothes and perfect makeup. Or else you may be able to spot a lot of advertisements for beauty products and plastic surgeries. Not only that, but you may also hear a lot of comments regarding your appearance. This shows how important appearances are in Korean culture. Of course, this passion for appearances is not only in Korea, it is also present everywhere in the world. Because it is human nature to pursue beauty.
However, the way Koreans take care of their appearance is on a whole other level. And it is said that such manner comes from basic courtesy. Like the more you stylize and take care of yourself, the better the impression you leave on others.
Finally, As you can see working hard, playing hard, and taking care of appearances Korean societies seem to be always trying to do the best in every way. And those people who live so hard have made Korea its unique culture.
