Digging Deeper Into the Past

As part of my field of study at university, I spent a lot of my time focusing on the cultural environment of Seoul and South Korea as a whole. However, I found that much of this focus often surrounded the modern-day image of the country. I always thought of this as a way for me to focus on the present, things that could be achieved in the future, but now I realize that I was completely depriving myself of the rich culture that existed in Korea's past. 

After taking lessons in culture and tours around old palaces provided by CIEE, I realize that there is so much that I missed in my pursuit of understanding. Korea has such a rich history and now I know that I would be disappointed had I not been given the opportunity to dive into all of this information. In the past, I had never seen myself as the type of person who really enjoyed going to museums or cultural sites, (As can be attested by my poor mother who always finds herself dragging me to many) but after coming to Korea I find myself wanting to visit as many as I can and really immerse myself into the past. Whether that be just visiting the National Museum of Seoul or visiting the Gyeongbok Palace while dressed in traditional Hanbok. There is really something to be said about Korea's impressive history and cultural development and I truly encourage anyone visiting, even those who don't consider themselves history buffs like myself, to dig into that past and really discover what makes this country so special. 

While I don't know if I will find the opportunity to visit all of the destinations I want, I continue to build a growing list of cultural destinations that I wish to visit while I am still in Seoul. This list includes places such as The Gyeongbok National Museum, The Bongeunsa Temple, The DMZ, as well as a few of Korea's many national parks. And I have found I am not alone in this. It's nice to see that many of my fellow students have also discovered a desire to explore deeper into the cultural history of this beautiful country, and I hope others that plan to visit also discover this same desire. While modern Seoul is a wonder of its own there is something to be said about what is to discover when looking below the surface.