안녕하세요 여러분! Hello everyone! =D

If you don’t know me (and I’m sure none of my fellow Geobloggers do), I’m Ryan. I’m an upcoming senior from Penn State majoring in IST. I’m going to 서강 Sogang University for the Fall semester.

Here’s my story:

My fascination with the culture of Korea started halfway into sophomore year — that means I’ve only been into the culture for less than two years. This usually makes people laugh when I tell them this, but I discovered Korea… through Starcraft II. (0.o)

Yeah, who would have thought that a video game would change someone’s life to the point of living abroad? Starcraft is an american game perfected by the Koreans. By being a bigger fan than I am a gamer, I gained respect by watching pros stream their games from Korea. 

It was the Spring break of sophomore year when I decided to sit down and learn basic words, like hello and thank you. From then on, day by day, I learned a little more. :3

I never had plans on travelling to Korea, until January of this year. Amazing how much I’ve changed in a year and a half~~

Yes of course, KPOP (Korean pop music) was also a big discovery for me. I got instant satisfaction when I saw my own progress by hearing a few words that I’ve learned in the song — mostly 사랑해 (‘sa-rang-hae’ = I love you). To this day, most of the music on my playlist is KPOP or Korean Indie. I’ll be talking more about that through Geoblog. ^u^

Anyway, on to my trip. I leave in THREE DAYS! =O 

I can’t believe it.

I’ll arrive in the Incheon airport and then travel around the country alone for a week, meeting some Korean friends I met at Penn State. =D Thank you friends!

When the semester starts, I’ll be taking all gen.eds. Finding IST classes at a university with only 30% of the classes taught in English? Yeah right~

In this series of blogs, I plan to inform and entertain. My goals? 

-Prove or disprove Asian stereotypes. — Ex: Are Asians really bad drivers?

-How can you survive in the city of Seoul — Staying overnight at 찜질방s (Saunas also used as mini-hotels)

-Providing pictures of the beauty of Korea — Pictures of me Gangnam Style-ing inside the district of Gangnam!

-Sharing what I love about the culture — Why SNSD is my favorite group xD

I’ll try to do some video logs, too. I’ll send out another blog hopefully before I arrive.

Also, today’s blog has been brought to you by the letter 가 “Ga” 

~~~

또 만나, 친구들

Until we meet again, friends

~Ryan