The Finnish girl who lives in Korea

It was random and fun to meet Laura last year during one international event held by exchange students of our school in Helsinki. Laura is a 23-year-old lovely Finnish girl and a business administration student who loves Korean music and culture. I was partly surprised and happy to hear that she has just moved to Seoul to continue her bachelor at Hanyang University.

So we did some chatty and skyping about our lives in Netherlands, Finland and Korea to compare and share our stories. I enjoyed our conversation a lot perhaps because we both are open-minded females who are interested in travelling not only to Asian countries but also in general. Laura has been to Japan, Hongkong, Vietnam, Singapore, but only in Korea did she feel like at home!

What Laura loves about Korea

Korean music

Popular culture

Cute people

Nightlife (everything is open late)

Student life

Cheap prices

Beautiful mountains to hike

Busy city life

What the challenges were

Money, little saving

Expensive and hard-to-find places to live

Language barrier

Straightforwardness

(Korean are indirect)

Of course I must not forget to ask about my favourite topic: Korean food. 

*They have rich food culture here. Most of the restaurants serve dishes with lots of meat such as pork, chicken and beef, which is not vegetarian-friendly. They usually bring the raw ingredients and you make it yourself or they make the food for you. Korean cuisine is sweet and spicy compared to Finnish cuisine*, said Laura

I got couples of photos of Korean dishes Laura tried and favored

ddeokbokki

dakgalbi

Icy noodles Naengmyeon

kimchijjigae

Fried chicken

What do you advise to people who would want to do the same kind of travelling as you?

*In case of Korea, there are many people who want to go. If you are coming from a Western country, you should research, learn the language, and be familiar with customs before moving to Korea. Coming here for a short trip to see how the place is like would be good. It is possible to move alone.*

Iga Oliwiak - the girl who travels for music

''Every time you travel, remember not to take too many valuable stuff with you. Don’t worry too much and just enjoy the journey! And if you are travelling especially for the music festivals like me, you should actually “prepare” a bit which means listening to a few songs of the playing there bands (especially ones you don’t know) because you never know what you are gonna miss or regret not listening. And never, ever go into the mosh pit/pogo wearing sandals, EVER!”

Photo by Elliot Vernon

Those were couples of advices from Iga, an art student from Poland who has always been a big fan of metal music. This summer 2014, Iga has been to 2 festivals in Czech Republic (Made of Metal, Masters of Rocks) and the biggest open-air festival in Europe – Woodstock!

When was the first concert ever that you attend?

‘’I remember the very first concert I went to in my hometown was in the end of junior high school. Luckily I saw an offer of buying a coupon of VIP ticket for a concert in normal ticket price. I have never been to any metal concert so I just wanted to try it out. There were not so many people on audience and we could actually meet the artists and talk to them after the show. We were so excited that we even wrote and gave a letter to the vocalist afterwards. Then we were messaging each other for a while but we don’t keep in touch much nowadays.”

What was your best experience during the 3 festivals this summer?

''My best experience was being able to get to the backstage during last festival in Czech Republic and meet many artists there at the after-party. I could feel the friendly, welcoming and open atmosphere of the party, where you feel like all these famous artists are just normal people after all. It was like a big house party for me where everyone walked and talked to one and another no matter where you are from.’’

 Iga and Konrad in Metal Fest

What is so special about attending the festivals?

‘’I think the best thing about music festivals is that it is the place where you can go to and leave your life behind. You wouldn’t have to worry about anything while being away from your family, work, and school. All you have to do is waking up, checking the program and hours of the bands playing, then enjoying your favorite music with good company‘’.

You also meet and make friends with random nice people, at the place but also on the road just like when you normally travel for sightseeing. My friend found an offer at BlaBlaCar site one month ago and we joined a young married couple going to the same festival. We were camping together then and we told them about this next festival, which was a month later. We went together again but as friends.

Iga and friends with Therion Band in Made of Metal

Masters of Rocks Festival

Any bad experience?

It was during the Woodstock – free festival so everybody can attend. It was only one time during whole festival when I left my bag in the tent and we got it robbed. I lost my phone, wallet and even food and alcohol! I guess it wouldn’t happen at normal festival when you have to pay for the ticket. It was a lesson not to leave anything ;)

Woodstock Festival - the biggest festival in Poland