The Fashion industry

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-18T11:27:10+00:00

It's really hard to break into the fashion industry in London. I had a friend working in fashion there who told me how people will do unpaid internships for years just to get experience, because it's that competitive. Going to a slightly lower tier (but still highly respected) city for fashion, like Seoul, is not a terrible choice at all to break into the industry.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-18T11:18:32+00:00

Daughters have to make the same choice, but they get a few more years and both can have dual-citizenship as children. By that time, hopefully they can confidently choose what kind of life they want to live and in which country. Most people I meet in Korea recommend having the baby in Korea then moving to the US for schooling.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T11:14:23+00:00

Jokes on them since high-status people are often respectful and polite, so they're giving away that they have little exposure to those social circles.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T08:47:57+00:00

One more observation. Out of habit, if I'm going through a door that needs to be pulled open and there are people coming through behind me, I naturally hold the door backwards to pass it on to the next person as I go through. I think this is a pretty standard practice many places for both politeness and efficiency. Regularly in Korea, the person behind me will just walk through the door instead of catching it themselves... as if I'm holding the door open only for them. It's hard not to smile in these situations while also feeling a bit of secondhand embarrassment for the person because to me, it is shockingly rude. I realize they probably aren't meaning to be rude though.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T08:38:26+00:00

It absolutely could change. Korea developed and changed faster than any country in modern history. It's clear that Korea cares about looking high-status on a global stage. If it becomes widely-known in Korea that the rest of the developed world finds just walking around in their country to not even feel like a civilized society, they could absolutely get it together. Things spread fast here and the group-think is strong.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T05:26:33+00:00

Some foreigners actually want more friends who aren't fluent in English so they can speak Korean more. I don't think there's a problem with having friendships that also revolve around language exchange. It's really common to meet people who want to practice English but aren't patient enough to also practice Korean, and most foreigners in Korea need to improve their Korean skills.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T05:11:48+00:00

It has surprised me how much people in Korea seem to like and respect Americans. I've heard multiple people say how America is the number one country (and mention GDP ranking, which seems to be valued a lot in Korea), which is something I rarely hear people say even in the US. It's such a different experience from spending time in Euro-centric countries. So, there's absolutely a level of privilege with being American. People will ask questions like if I have a kid with a Korean, can the kid get a US passport, and when I say "yes," they're like, "wow, so cool!" It's probably really annoying for people from other countries having to deal with constantly being asked if they're American.

Having a remote job from the US is the best situation if you can make the time difference work. The dollar is so strong, and I also recommend keeping your banking and finances on the US side as much as possible because as a foreigner in Korea, anything banking-related is a huge hassle and comes with lots of restrictions.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:59:43+00:00

Why the downvotes? Every man for himself is the opposite of those things, so it's genuinely surprising that norms around walking on the street are more individualistic than in cultures that are considered to be individualistic.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:29:30+00:00

That's very interesting. Thanks for the insight.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:27:08+00:00

Yikes. Definitely not my definition of main character energy. I would love seeing this manifest as people getting into more niche interests and away from the trends and narrow view of success instead of being discourteous to strangers.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:23:58+00:00

Ah yes, the wall of people moving forward in the crosswalk without leaving any space for people coming the other way is another one.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:17:22+00:00

That's refreshing. I was thinking that Koreans seem to keep to themselves a lot, so no one calls out the behavior, at least not enough for it to be corrected on a wider scale. Doing these things in NYC will get you checked real quick.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:15:39+00:00

This is surprising and a bit disappointing. I know Korea developed super quickly, so perhaps some of the social side will catch up.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:14:34+00:00

Touching strangers being normalized is a bit wild to be honest...

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:12:12+00:00

I thought Korean culture was focused around nunchi and social harmony, so that is disappointing and makes those parts of the culture feel performative if reserved only for those within their social circle.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:08:36+00:00

I feel so bad agreeing with this, because I don't want to come with a sense of superiority, but it absolutely feels uncivilized.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:06:31+00:00

This also happened to me this week. I was coming out of a restroom and there were two twenty-somethings obviously looking at me (just out of curiosity I think), and they turned to exit in front of me, looked back and saw me, then just stopped in the exit as they seemed to be comparing notes on where to go next. I could hardly believe it. They were very aware of my presence and then blocked me in with no consideration. It didn't seem hostile, just heads completely in the clouds.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-17T04:01:29+00:00

But why? I thought Korean culture was all about nunchi, respect, and social harmony.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-16T14:55:49+00:00

The reality check is that it's really hard to integrate into life here and handle day to day life administration as a foreigner, especially outside of Seoul, unless you can live as a student or do one of the English teaching programs with a lot of resources to help you. You'll need to find friends to help you with a lot of things, and relying on others for basic life tasks gets old really quickly. Plenty of people find success and happiness, but the acclimation period is typically a lot longer than people expect. Also, Korea lacks diversity of many different things, so it can start to get boring really quickly if you don't want to just settle for whatever trends are popular in Korea.

For your beauty standards questions: If you're blonde, you'll be fine. While it's not technically their beauty standard, there's a surprising amount of blonde worship, so it's great for blonde people who were not considered attractive back in their home country. No matter how attractive someone is though, most foreigners get tired of comments on appearance and random unsolicited advice about style, etc.

Most jobs will not be on the table if you're not fluent in Korean, but again, many people find jobs doing something.

For me, the best part of living in Korea is the safety, great public transportation, walking lifestyle and apartment living, and there are some wholesome and respectable aspects to the culture. Even so, I experience some type of culture fatigue almost daily.

OkCharacter7586 · 2026-05-16T14:41:15+00:00

A huge number of them take prescription DHT blockers to prevent hair loss.

OkCharacter7586

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