What Would You Rate Living in Korea As a Foreigner?

On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea? I have become a lot more self-conscious about when I go out as a woman as well. I think the way you dress like... And I kind of discovered the dark side of this entertainment industry. like how harsh it is. Because Colombian people is like, “Hey, can I help you?” “Let's go. I will show you. I will walk you to your bus.” What's up, guys Welcome back to my channel. Today, I asked people “What would you rate living in Korea as a foreigner?

” - Hello - Hello Could you introduce yourself? Yes, I'm Chloe. I'm from France. And I'm 18 years old. How long have you been in Korea? I've been in Korea since January now. What do you do in Korea? Right now, I'm working in I'm going to teach children English. But you haven’t started yet? No, not yet. Before I was working as a dishwasher. There are a lot of countries other than Korea then, what brought you to Korea? Why did you choose to come to Korea? Why not? I mean, of course, K-Pop and ev

erything has a lot of impact in the world. So, it's one of the factor that made me come here. But after discovering K-Pop, I discovered country in itself and like the landscapes and everything like this. - So, today's topic is living in Korea as a foreigner. - Yeah On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea? Oh, it's kind of hard because it depends on what you're, you're based on. But overall I would put... An 8.... 7 or 8. Why did you give it 7 or 8? The first point I'm thinki

ng of is the safety here. Back in France, I cannot really go outside by myself as a woman at night or stuff like this Because I'm too scared to meet mean people. But here in Korea, I can go out at 3 am, 4 am, midnight just to go to the convenience store and nothing happened. So it's very good. But also, I think here there is too much like pressure. - Pressure? - Pressure like on the people living here the beauty standards, how they look, how they feel, how everything. Do you think the Korean

beauty standard actually affects you? For the makeup part, no. Because I don't wear makeup at all except mascara sometimes. But the way I dress, yes. When I was in France, I was not dressing like this at all. And the way I behaving in the street, in the subway or stuff like this, I'm like... But in France, I'm more comfortable and more like myself, I can say. But here, it’s not like, they're not suppressing yourself. You can be yourself but in another way. it's kind of hard to explain. But th

at's how I feel. Where you from? And how long have you been in Korea? I'm from the UK, London. And I've been in Korea for 4 years, on and off. But first time, I came here like 8 or 9 years ago. Then what do you do in Korea? Just working on an art projects, preparing pictures for an exhibition in the US. On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea as a foreigner? - I would say 7. - 7? That's pretty high. Could you explain why did you give it 7? Yeah. To be honest, during my expe

rience I had pros and cons pretty much good and bad experiences. I would say I really love the atmosphere in Korea and it's really nice to live here. But the worst thing, it's a little bit difficult to integrate yourself into the society as a foreigner. I mean, you can have friends, Korean friends but these days after the pandemic, it has changed a little bit. It disappointed me, but... it happens. How has it changed before and after COVID? Well, I would say before the COVID, people were just m

ore extroverted compared to after 2021. I can see people are more introverted. So, I would say Koreans really hang with Koreans only. Maybe it's just my problem, but in my case I get a lot of friends, but at the same time I get a lot of blocks. I don’t know. I don't feel too pushy myself. I’m just focusing on like collaborations and friendships. But it doesn't really work out these days. - You said Koreans become introverted. - Yeah. And do you think it's only towards foreigners or even towa

rds everyone? Good question. Mostly towards foreigners. I think they pretty much happy with themselves but it's also because the cultural movement went global, right? Korean people really enjoy this new success and new lifestyle with like global success. So they have the confidence to do their own thing. So, they don't really need any foreigner help anymore. Because they can do the best by themselves. It's hard to rate. But I would give it like in general I think 7 out of 10. Just for example,

when I was staying here as a tourist I been a little bit working in this entertainment industry, which I had the chance to be like a background person in like K-dramas or movies or sometimes maybe even like TV shows. And I kind of discovered the dark side of this entertainment industry. like how harsh it is. So many people are coming here to Korea to try this entertainment industry and there's so many people already applying for this visa. That's why it's also kind of difficult to get the vis

a. Sometimes they're taking advantage of it in a way that there are so many people they can just reduce the salary because they know that somebody else is going to take it. So, the salaries in this field drastically reduced over the last, I don't know, maybe 5 years. When I was also talking with some other actual actors, I could hear this kind of story. So in this way, this might have been like a minus, but it's just like in this industry. More and more foreigners are moving to Korea so there m

ust be more supply in the entertainment industry than demand. Even this K-Pop and K-Drama is globally getting more and more known and people are really drawn towards it. Many times I can hear stories they’re coming here not only because of it, but it's like the initial interest and they just get to like this country in this way. And this is how the entertainers, the number of them kind of raised because of it. It also kind of like ruining the industry in a way as well, because once you pay less

, especially those that are talented, they also get damaged. because basically their work also kind of getting, I think, reduced maybe. - Could you introduce yourself? - Yes. Hi, I'm Abby. I'm from the UK. Hi, I'm Milly. I’m also from the UK. How long have we been in Korea? I moved here in May, so very recently. But I came here for a week's holiday in February. I really liked it here. - So, it's been like 3 months? - 3 months, yeah. Very short time. I've been living in Korea since 2021 but I'v

e been living in Seoul since March of this year. Before Seoul, where were you? I was living in the South. I was living in a city called Suncheon, which is near Busan. Isn’t it kind of countryside? Very. Very much countryside, very few foreigners. It was a great experience, but just very drastically different to being in Seoul. On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea as a foreigner? I'm very new, so I think I've still got a bit of rose-colored glass view of things. So I would

say I'm 10, honestly at the moment. I really enjoy my time here. I think compared to the UK, the transportation is really good. I've found there's more things to do like going to cafes. busking which is great as well. So for me, that's really enjoyable. What about you? - For me, I think 8. - 8? I think because I've got the countryside and the city perspective, so I've seen how my life was in the countryside and that was a lot more stressful than being in the city. So I kind of lowers my scor

e a bit. But I really like busking and cafes being from England, a lot of things close really early. Whereas here in Korea, I could still go to like a cafe or something at 10pm. Minus is because if I'm thinking about when I lived in the countryside I had some issues medically it was very hard to trying communicate doctors or just to get into hospitals because a lot of them, they'd see a foreigner coming in, and think “I don't know any English. I can't talk to you.” So they would turn me away

. I think the only thing that I would say that is more to minus is I have become a lot more self-conscious about when I go out as a woman as well. I think the way you dress like... This is very out there for me today. I don't feel fully comfortable. So I think that is something to bear in mind because I think visually people are very they put a lot of importance on it. Then what about living costs, like renting fee or groceries? Do you think it's expensive or it’s better than the UK? We’re lucky

our 학원(academy) pays for our accommodation. But then as a teacher, your pay can be on the lower end. I'm first time anyway, but the only thing that shocks me living cost wise is groceries are expensive here. Fruit especially. I love fruit and 5,000 won(=4USD) sometimes for just some bananas and then 8,000 won(=7USD) for grapes. That’s sad. I wish it wasn't, but... Can you introduce yourself? Hello, myself Ashutosh Kumar Pandey. I'm a Ph.D scholar in Yonsei University. I belongs to India, Varan

asi. I've been here from last two and a half years. How has been your experience in Korea so far? Until now, It's pretty good. A little bit hectic schedule because of coursework and little research pressure. it's same as other Ph.D scholars and nothing different. But in terms of related to enjoyment and other things, yeah, it was really good. On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea as a foreigner? As a foreigner, I will grade 9.5 out of 10. Just only 0.5 I reduced - because of

the food. - Food? Yeah. It's my personal choice. I'm a vegetarian, so that's why I consider for vegetarian people. It's a little little difficult. Not too much. But if you are familiar with the cooking, then it's fine. But in terms of safety, security, expenses and earning, it's pretty good country. As a Ph.D scholar, I don't face any difficulty in overnight walking Sometimes I go to my home around 2am or 3am but everything is fine, no problem. And even I saw many women and girls, they very

freely they move. And very safe for... especially for women, it's a very safe country. - Even at night, right? - Yeah, even at night. When it comes to Ph.D course, I heard a lot of people say it's kind of tough or too much time they are in lab for research. So, what do you think about this? Are you okay with that? It's difficult. In my country, we say like if you are doing Ph.D, that means you are partially married. Right? Now your every decision is controlled by your professor. So, what profe

ssor wants in your manuscript, he wants that only. So, for that, to make him happy, you need to work hard. Where are you from and how long have you been in Korea? 저는 콜롬비아 사람입니다. That means I'm from Colombia. And I have been here since April, so 3 months now. So, what do you do in Korea? I'm part of the international Cooperation Project that exchange public officers. I'm a public officer in Medellin that is my town. And since Medellin and Chuncheon has an agreement. I'm working for 6 months here

in Chuncheon City Hall. On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate living in Korea as a foreigner? There's many good things. And also the cultural crash for me has been really difficult. So, I will say a 6. Why did you give it 6? Could you tell me about good things first? The good things is security. I as a woman, I can walk without feeling harassment completely free with my bag, for example. And that's something really valuable, because sometimes in Latin America, in Medellin you are always in

alert to not be robbed or not be like catch it’s like release to go out in the situation of Korea. And that's a really good point. The other point is that in other countries it’s not normal to have a water disposal everywhere and here, it’s everywhere. I mean I can go to a restaurant and serve to myself water if I need it. I was in a museum today and they had also a place to have water for free. And for me it's like, “Wow.” Korean people should appreciate that. Then what about the negative si

de? What's the minus of living in Korea as a foreigner? We're not many South American people in Korea. Since that, we don't have people to talk in Spanish with. And sometimes you use the English if you have that, but many many Koreans don't use English. I don't know in Seoul but in Chuncheon, that is a smaller city. And I've had a lot of elderly people. They don't want to talk to you in English and sometimes they prefer to ignore you. And that feels not good. They prefer to go out of the elevato

r or they prefer to like, turn around. It's like, Hey, I'm just asking for help. For example, when you show them the translator. It might be because, of course, I'm in a smaller city. But that's really hard because Colombian people is like, “Hey, can I help you?” “Let's go. I will show you. I will walk you to your bus.” - But not in Chuncheon? - Not in Chuncheon. And what about working culture? Compared to working culture in Colombia, what's the biggest difference and what's the good and bad thi

ngs? Especially the office I’m working with is the international Affairs Office. They have too much work for just 3 employees. They always have to do everything from the strategic decision and planning as a professional and clip the papers and go and pick up the presents for their reunion for the meeting it's really stressful for my coworkers. I have seen them really like crashing down. Sometimes I go to the office and they’re staying in since the last day. I'm like, Oh my God. That does not h

appen in Colombia. it's really difficult to try to say people like Hey, take it easy, it’s your job is not your life.