Upon my arrival in South Korea there were two big cultural differences I noticed almost immediately: the first being the honorific society, the other being the insane number of apartment buildings.
    I am a big Korean drama fan and so I didn’t think all the bowing and courtesy would seem that different, but once I was witnessing it first-hand I was continuously surprised and unsure of what to do. Needless to say, many an awkward bow came from me before I grew more comfortable with and knowledgeable of the honorific society. My very first night in Korea involved me meeting some co-workers of my friend’s father. They were very courteous and bowed to me, and I, like a stereotypical international, stood there stupidly completely forgetting I was supposed to bow back. Luckily my friend’s mother quickly reminded me and I recovered myself. Also, because of this honorific society it is unusual for a student to be good friends with a senior. I have found this to be a huge culture shock because in the U.S. many of my closest friends are those that are a year or two older than me. Because of this, when I meet my seniors at Chonnam National University I greet them as a friend because I forget they expect a bit more respect than I am used to giving.
    As for all those apartment buildings, I did not really experience culture shock from them until my trip down from Seoul to Gwangju. On the bus ride down there was a portion of the journey, a few minutes outside of Seoul, where there was nothing but apartment buildings on either side of the highway. They continued unbroken for at least seven minutes of driving. I have even seen a few like this on the outskirts of Gwangju. Nowhere in the U.S. will you see as many apartments clustered together, not even in New York City or Los Angeles. Because of the overall size of these apartment clusters I have affectionately started calling them “Apartment Cities” because a few clusters have been as large as my hometown’s Inner City.
 

By Michelle McClure, Exchange Student, USA