Discovering Korea

Annyeonghaseyo friends, I am glad to be part of the Korean community.
This is my first time posting in this community and I am happy to join the contest.

My first impression of Korea was ROMANCE. You can’t talk about Korea without mentioning romance too. Korea gives a lovely and deep meaning of love, and if you have a strong heart your heart will become soft in no time. Yes, that’s the power of watching Korean movies consistently.

I knew there was a country called Korea back then, but I never paid attention to it until I was in high school and my sisters fell in love with Korean movies. From that day to date, my family’s movie history has changed.

I got to learn more about Korea from K-dramas, and since movies depict happenings in society, I still can't believe love in K-dramas happens the same way in real life.

Taking a peek once in a while to see the Korean movies my sisters watched back then kind of annoyed me. The cliché story lines turned me off and their portrayal of love made me feel a certain type of way.
I wasn’t into Korean movies like my sisters were, but I can tell you the names of some K-drama classics.

A few years later, after watching a Korean series on Netflix, my perspective about K-drama and Korea changed. I got to realize I was focusing on the wrong things instead of taking a deeper look at what the movies and the country stand for, I concluded fast.
These Korean series also made me realize that I had used just one genre in the entertainment industry to judge an entire country. I was wrong and I wish I could tender an apology to Koreans.

I gradually started watching Korean movies, not the hopeless romantic ones but the traditional ones.
Learning about how the Korean political, social, and historical systems operated back in the Joseon era has been wonderful so far. Their political and social systems piqued my interest as I am still yet to understand how years were named after animals, by the way, the year of the tiger is my favorite one😃

The more Korean movies I watch, the more I want to know about the country.

To crown it all, I had a Korean friend in Italy while I was studying, but sadly she left after we were done with our master's program. I was just a year older than her but this lady treated me like I was 10 years older than her. Very respectful and hardworking.
All thanks to her, we visited two Korean restaurants in Italy and it was nice to finally have a Korean meal. Again, I love how Korean meals come with different side dishes.

In conclusion, my impression of Korea started off not so great but right now I love Korea.

This is my participation to the Korean Hive Village Contest #9, you can join in the contest as it’s open to everyone.

Images are screenshots from my phone.