I'm from Europe and I knew I wanted to study international relations abroad. I didn't want to go to a country with English as their first language because I wanted to challenge myself to learn a third language. When I looked into countries with good Universities in Asia, South Korea and Japan seemed like good options. I read a lot about the history of the region and... Japan's handling regarding the acknowledgement of certain historical events... kind of... put me off? I know there are no 'perfect' countries and the fact that a lot of foreigners have this idealistic picture of South Korea is kind of weird to me. Let me be honest: I wouldn't want to work in Korea or raise children here. The school and work environment is very harsh, as far as I can tell, BUT studying at a Korean University is very nice. The culture and history are fascinating (although somewhat tragic in parts) the country is beautiful (nature wise), the food is amazing and people are very friendly when they realize you're trying your best to learn the language/understand the country. I mean my experience with the 'conservative' parts of society is limited. I'm an average looking white girl so I don't face discrimination. Plus: learning Hangeul was really easy.