As soon as we saw this question, we knew we wanted to answer it. We filmed this video yesterday, and the question came in probably less than an hour before we were actually filming. THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS!!!!! Usually we’ll mull different questions and topics over for several days before choosing one and filming. But not this week!

So many of the LIKE It videos we’ve been doing recently are about controversial topics that don’t necessarily portray Korea in the best light, and especially if we’re trying to answer the question honestly. This is another reason why we really like this question.

Honest to goodness, Korea’s really great for making friends! I Wouldn’t write it here if it wasn’t true. In actually we feel like we have a lot of good Korean friends! And in reality, not all of our friendships are specifically English-based, though the video does kind of make it seem that way. For example, Richard has a former student (now good friend) and they both speak in Spanish whenever they hang out because the man lived in Colombia for a while and his Spanish is much stronger than his English.

We’ve both made Korean friends in many ways. For me, I’m a little more reserve, and therefore I typically make friends through work, school and or when I’m introduced to them thru mutual friends. For instance some of my current classmates have become some truly amazing friends of mine! I’ve been studying there nearly 3 semesters now and some of those peeps are my friends for life! I already don’t know where I’d be without them. And after 3 years of college teaching, I’ve also kept in touch with plenty of former Korean and international students too.

Richard is far more adventurous in this department. He’ll talk to virtually anyone when he’s out. And in the course of 6 years living somewhere, you’re going to meet a lot of people (most likely) if you’re an outgoing person when you’re in public. Some of places he’s met people that he’s eventually created some sort of friendship with include:

– live sporting events
– special embassy parties
– Kyung Hee University campus
– from his classes (former students of his)
– karaoke (Nor-ae-bang)
– traveling around Korea
– restaurants
– bars
– subway stations
– in line for buses
– the beach in Busan
– while filming in public
(and actually many others)

If you ask us, it’s pretty darn easy to make Korean friends if you’re living in Korea! We really like Korea A LOT for this reason. I also think there’s something really special to making friends when living outside of your home country. The friends I’ve made, whether they are the ones I’m really close to, or others who I don’t get to see as often because everyone is just so busy, I’ll be friends with for life. I feel so blessed just thinking about it.

Thank you to Sanduni Madushani for asking us this great question! If you have a question about Korea we’d love to try and answer it for you. Drop a note down below, on our Facebook page or in the YouTube comments! ☺

Last week’s LIKE IT video: