Korean
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Hell week, or how my medical Korean got an upgrade
This week has without a doubt been THE toughest week I’ve ever spent on the Korean peninsula. And technically I shouldn’t really complain, because it was actually my husband who suffered the hardest ordeals during the past seven days. Last weekend he started complaining that his stomach hurt but his appetite was normal and he…
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Big Bang is back!
This week, Korean boy band Big Bang released their new album, and two singles have already reached several million views on youtube. I’m a big fan of learning Korean through songs since there are often so many cool expressions to learn from pop songs. I love learning slang (신조어) and cool expressions, although I’m under strict…
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Back to school
I’ve just finished my first week at Sogang University’s Korean level 5 program, and I thought I’d share my experiences with you. To summarize my first week in one word: WOW! Seriously, just wow! I’m amazed at how intense and effective the classes are. I heard so many good things about the Sogang language school…
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Entering Sogang Korean
As many of you know, Sogang University is famous for their excellent Korean language program. Their textbooks are sold worldwide, and I’ve heard several Korean learners praise the super-intense language program for the specific focus on building speaking confidence. Since I’m already working at Sogang, I thought it would be a pity to miss out…
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Kpop Friday, November edition
It’s been such a long time since I’ve done a “Kpop Friday” post. The song I’ll be introducing today is called “Blood, sweat and tears”, or in Korean “피 땀 눈물” (pi ttam nunmul). It’s perfomed by the Korean boy band BTS, whose members are famous for rocking their signature look of “fifty shades of…
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Could you speak up, please? Korean speech levels
This post is motivated by some questions I’ve received here on the blog. How exactly does age and social status determine how people speak to each other in Korean? Since this is a quite technical matter, I’ll try to make it as simple as possible using my own experiences from different situations and interactions here…
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Adapting to life in Seoul
I’ve almost been here six weeks now, and I’m happy to report that I’m adapting to life here more easily than I had imagined. Seoul definitely feels like home in a strange way, I can’t quite explain. While I’m doing the same kind of job as I did back home, I still feel that my everyday…
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Taking the good with the bad
My move to Korea continues to prove a quite challenging task indeed. Yesterday, I spent several hours at the, among foreigners much dreaded, Korean Office of Immigration. This is a necessary evil in order to receive my “alien registration card” (aww, doesn’t that word just make you feel welcome?) which is mandatory for all foreigners…
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Perks of living in Korea: Korean books
Korea is a nation of bookworms (fun fact, bookworm in Korean is 책벌레 – I guess some things are just universal). There are bookstores everywhere, and books are usually reasonably priced too. I’ve already purchased quite a few books here – hard not to when there’s a bookstore right in front of my building (yes,…
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Sofie in Korea
This ought to be the title of my blog the next year, because this is exactly where I’ll be! I’ve finally moved to Seoul, and I’ve spent the past few days getting settled and adjusting to the time difference. We’ve moved into a great apartment (quite large for Korean standards) right on campus of my…
Sofie to Korea 