And are they hostile to foreigners like the anons in the unpopular opinions thread said?

I visited Seoul for a few days in June last year, I really liked it but it may have just been in contrast to the place I was living at the time. It felt very fresh and I honestly liked the vibe of a lot of the places I walked around. Gangnam was kinda trashy (but I also ate some amazing food there) and I didn't like Myeongdong (the main shopping district), it felt like 90% of the people there were tourists from other Asian countries. I did love seeing the traditional areas though, and hiking to the top of Inwangsan mountain on a cool, cloudy day is my fondest memory (picrel). I enjoyed the historic stuff and the food and the nightlife outside of Gangnam. I would definitely consider staying for a longer time, but then I've already lived in a different Asian country (China) for a few years so I'm used to living in a different culture and from what I hear a lot of the attitude towards foreigners is similar in both countries. I wouldn't say they're hostile to foreigners for the most part. They have a lot of stereotypes that you have to contend with constantly since most people rarely meet foreigners, but ordinary people are usually very friendly. Often in a way that becomes condescending if you live there for a long time. No matter if it's China, Korea or Japan, even if you've lived there for ten years they'll act shocked that you've mastered the most basic skills like using chopsticks or saying hello. If I had the opportunity I would definitely live there for a few years though, it seems a lot more chill than China.

>>238 >Often in a way that becomes condescending if you live there for a long time. No matter if it's China, Korea or Japan, even if you've lived there for ten years they'll act shocked that you've mastered the most basic skills like using chopsticks or saying hello A lot of people would prefer that instead of going through negative discrimination and hearing xenophobic comments. You should be glad that dumb but well-meant compliments and some stereotyping is all you experience as a minority in another country.

>>232 you have to remember that a lot of people exaggerate the stories that happened to them in sk. especially if you're from a politically correct country like the us... then yeah you're definitely more like to get easily triggered by some stuff koreans consider normal (ie pointing out how fat you are, that you probably need to take care of your looks better and shit). i come from a slav shithole where people can be pretty straightforward regarding looks as well so i never cared for that much. it does happen though, just so you know. oh, and of course can't forget the dumbass stereotypes about your country/ethnicity ie all russians are prostitutes or all black people are thugs. but i encountered that in other countries as well and people usually don't mean it in a personal way, it's just that they don't really learn about other countries and need to be educated other than that, when i came for the first time as a tourist the locals were very nice to me and i didn't even need to approach anyone for help - people would literally see me look confused af trying to read the city map, then come up and try to help as much as they could in broken english. very easy to make friends with young people since a lot are actually interested in learning about other cultures and making intl friends (which might be normal for us but is not so common in a homogenous country like korea). i hear so many stories about shady korean friends and bfs, but honestly most of the time people just ignore the red flags. it's kinda obvious when a korean guy just wants to use you for a 2-3 month "white horse" experience, just don't let your yellow fever take over you lmao

>>254 >local looks at OP funnily while she's eating with chopsticks my racist experience in korea [6 travel tips before you go to korea] 10 minutes 1 seconds uploaded two weeks ago

>>255 >pointing out how fat you are is that really a thing they do on a regular basis? that's rude omg, if the person is unhealthy because of their weight you can remind them in once in a while but they sound like they do too much

>>260 heyy how did you edit your posts!! teach me

>>261 oh shit, pretend you didnt see anything

>>262 lmfaoo

for you nona i will pretend i saw nothing

>>254 >other people face worse discrimination so you should be happy about facing minor discrimination! come on anon, I'm allowed to complain about the constant background irritations in my life. OP asked about the experience of foreigners in Korea so I was trying to give a general picture of what it's like to live their for a long time. I clearly like living in Asia and would do it again, but some aspects of it do get irritating.

Okay I'm overdue on this. I went a year ago to Korea and stayed for around a month under a school program at a top 10 university in Seoul. I absolutely LOVED it there but I second guess a lot of it now because I was so naive. During my time there I was able to visit all sorts of historical sites, cities, businesses, tourist traps, with Korean people to help us get around so the experience was possibly the best one you could have as someone who spoke like zero Korean. Now my personal experience comes as a good looking white woman bc I think the way I was treated was a bit different than some of my classmates. Expect to be treated well there if you fit their beauty standards, if you're wondering about mine and other white women's 'looks' then think of the women who are selected for those videos where the Korean kids meet a 'foreigner' which is just generally thin, pale, brown/blonde hair, light eyes. I think this phenotype is what gets most recognized in Korea when they think of attractive foreigners. I've got like zero spatial awareness but I can recall how whenever I went somewhere, all eyes would be on me because I stuck out as a white person (and bc they overhyped my looks). One thing I remember is one day where we had three(?) events, I got picked as the audience member to come on stage or w/e for all of the them. I can assure you that I am not an exciting looking person (like a jokester or w/e), they just picked me bc of looks. Throughout the trip, Korean men would talk about me according to my classmates but I had no idea what they were saying. I was filmed by some guy who was following me around Namsan Tower but idk if he was Korean, since we did touristy stuff we also ran into a lot of Asian tourists from other countries. I had men follow me at a sporting event, COEX mall, and probably other places as well. Creepy men there will follow you but never approach you which I should be thankful for bc one night I walked back to my dorm drunk as fuck across my giant campus in Seoul and thankfully was not assaulted or anything. Yes that was extremely stupid but the point is that I didn't feel as unsafe as I do in America. I even spent days by myself traveling in Seoul and Busan and never felt unsafe. I wanna say that yes, they do kind of overhype average to attractive thin white people's looks (especially if you have lighter features like hair/eyes/skin). This is just my experience. One of my friends who is tall, blonde, and light eyed was also told by randoms that he was handsome and also got asked if he was Russian kek. Something I noticed is that they very clearly pick attractive people to do stuff like be in pictures and participate in events--do you all recall anything similar in the West? I really can't personally and was thinking that this might be because their culture is very looks focused. I'm a huge homebody in America so at the time I loved the attention bc it was totally not what I'm used to, but looking back, reading WOMAD and other Korean Feminist stuff I have to wonder how much of what was said about me was degrading. Sure I got picked for things and was treated well but I assume a lot of the men I was around were sexist as hell and were probably saying disgusting things about me that I couldn't understand. Oh I also was dumb enough not to remember to check for spycams. I peed in Hongdae station so I'm definitely on some gross porn site now. That being said I want to do a research study pertaining to Korea and would love to intern overseas to get insights on my studies. I would live abroad but I wouldn't stay there. Foreigners in Korea make it pretty clear that no matter how long you live there, how well you speak Korean, etc. you will never be regarded as one of their own.

>>21209 Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you happen to know how overweight white people and white people with darker features are treated? Cause you said you may have been treated differently than some of your classmates. Like if you're a brown-eyed brunette gal, do Koreans just ignore you in favor of blonde girls?

>>21209 >Foreigners in Korea make it pretty clear that no matter how long you live there, how well you speak Korean, etc. you will never be regarded as one of their own. Even koreans born in another country are treated like that.

>>21215 Sure! We had a girl who was very pretty imo but had brown hair and eyes and while she was complimented, I feel like myself and a few other classmates got priority for the token foreigner role bc of our lighter features. They definitely thought she was pretty though and that she was a model and tbh I don't think that they'll exclude you though if you're brown haired and brunette. I think generally men find western women attractive there but that stuff like light eyes and hair is fetishized or especially uncommon to see in Korea which is why they fawn over those features in particular. But there's other stuff obv that Koreans fawn over like nose bridges, head size, proportions, so I can assure you your world isn't gonna be over and you'll be ignored because you're a cute girl with brown eyes and hair. Men can definitely tell by your facial structure that you're foreign and will probably follow you bc of other stereotypes in general. The shittiest experience hands down that I have to include bc I want to make this known is the treatment of us versus kids of SEA heritage. I don't wanna out myself here but MNET was looking for "non Asian" foreigners to be in a program. There was partially a reason why they excluded them to do with culture and psychology but tbh it was also evident that when MNET and other people cast for foreigners they just mean white, hispanic, and black people. I don't have any experience with the treatment of overweight white people but I assume they're the foreigners that would automatically be assumed to be obnoxious bc Koreans have a pretty narrow perspective on how foreigners are. Either they think you're annoying and loud af (because everyone there is super quiet) or they think it's cool that you're visiting. Hope this answered some of your questions. >>21216 My point was that if you're Korean passing then people aren't going to constantly head turn to look at you. When you're visibly not Korean you stand out, people will openly stare. Obviously being a gyopo or non-native Asian in Korea sucks for other reasons but my input on that is irrelevant bc I'm white.

>>231 Went a few years ago with my parents and stayed for 10 days. If you don’t plan on talking to any natives and you just wanna visit, it’s pretty fucking great ! The streets are so clean, the “dirtiest” streets were in Itaewon btw, but as long as you just plan on visting historical sites and shopping malls etc you are fine. You can find good food everywhere and for cheap. In regards to how they treat foreigners , viewing you strictly as a tourist that is just visting, you get treated quite good!! I also remember being offered help by korean people without asking when looking lost (and older people too, I thought that they would “hate” us the most) . The assistans in the shops were very nice and spoke very “cutely” to me. I bought a bag and this cute lady helped me pick it and when I left we just kept waving at eachother and smilling, all the women there were very nice to me. Now keep in mind I was a none-threating innocent-looking teen, and also like 5’11 and from a slavic country, so I guess you could confuse me for a russian. Looking back, I think that the fact that I was mostly always next to my parents protected me in a lot of ways. If I were to go again, by myself, looking like a woman in my 20s, I would get a different treatment... But as long as you stay away from ... personal conversation? and just enjoy it as any other country you visit, you won’t meet any problems, I felt much safer there than at home in a way, it’s full of cameras everywhere, and there’s little chance of theaft. People just leave their belongins on the table and go out to smoke without a care in the world. They would leave their wallet and laptop and just step outside. Also, so many people smoke there, the ban they have going on tv seems like a joke. People smoke just like in any other country, idk why they try to seem holier than they are. Great country for short travel, but long-term..... I’d rather not...