Do you ever just have this sudden realisation at this specific moment that is something amongst the lines of:

“Wow, if I didn’t to choose to do that one thing at that one time, I wouldn’t be experiencing this awesome moment right now.” 

That realisation could happen when you have had an encounter with someone special that you never expected to meet; when experiencing a new adventure and witnessing beautiful new nature landscapes or architectures in metropolitan cities; when experiencing culture-shocks which end up expanding your appreciation of the world; or when trying out completely unfamiliar dishes of a local cuisine which ends up being your new favourite dish; Well, I think you’ve had a moment or two like that in life. 

Try to recall those moments. Are those not actually some of the best moments in life? They are memorable partially because they were so unexpected. And that is what is so fascinating actually; the choices we make today could affect our tomorrow.

That realisation could either excite your or give you anxiety. Don’t worry, most people experience both. However, a lot of people let the anxiety overwhelm them instead. It rules their decision-making.

“What if I don’t make the right choice?” “I’d like to do this, but what if it fails?” 

In our daily, modern life it seems like opportunities could be limitless; Globalisation allows us to travel anywhere we want, developed markets have enabled us to buy a lot of whatever it is —that you didn’t even know you wanted such as an iPhone with three oddly-shaped cameras— and education or career-paths can be so diverse it is hard to decide what life-path to follow. Amidst all this chaos of choices, it seems to paralyse us instead of motivating us to do more. This is known as the paradox of choice: when we are presented with more choices, it tends to lead to more inaction comparatively to when we are presented with less. (According to a study called the "Jam Experiment" by S. Iyengar and M. Lepper)

But think about it. Our possibilities really are quite limitless. This day and age where we have such a globalised earth that connects us all through something called the internet, we can meet anyone from anywhere in this world. We can find interesting study programmes and decide to go study abroad somewhere at the other side of the world. Or we could simply just buy a plane ticket, and leave! We are quite lucky to live in an age where this is possible; Just ask your parents, not even they had all these possibilities. This realisation really motivates me to explore as much as possible, and maybe you feel the same way!

So where am I now? I choose to do part of the last year of my UCG education as an exchange student in Seoul, South-Korea. It is a vibrant, dazzling city that quite literally never sleeps. I have been here for around a month now, and I still have only explored what seems to be like 1/15th of what this city has to offer. It is a huge city. Besides that, what I love about it is that it has so many amazing cafes/pubs —Seoul has over 18,000 cafes, which makes it the city with the most amount of cafes in the world— each with very distinct themes. Some are very cosy, some are super modern, some offer the most interesting coffee blends; some are hidden. I have honestly never seen a place with this many interesting cafes. You could spend hours walking just cafe-hunting, finding hidden gems to drink a coffee that soothes your soul. Besides that, the nightlife is quite literally insane. People never sleep. Some areas are packed no matter what time, or what day of the week it is. Nightclubs that look like spaceships from the inside; alcohol being as cheap as $1 per bottle; and a pretty good techno scene —which is what I enjoy— I’m pretty sure you can imagine what a good night out could be like. And I’m not even a party person! So I like to describe Seoul as a mixture or Tokyo and Berlin. Having lived in Tokyo and visited Berlin, I feel like that would be a good way to describe Seoul. It is a nice mixture of both Asian and Western culture!

The university I am attending, called Yonsei University, is honestly quite stunning. It consists of an enormous, beautifully-built campus that almost feels like a village of its own. It has every kind of facility you can imagine; ranging from its own big hospital and funeral service right next to each other —which I find quite ironic—. Being from the Netherlands, I grew up watching American TV, so the imagination I had of “universities” was actually very similar to the one I am attending here. Since most universities in the Netherlands are public universities, most campuses are not as fancy or as big. As Yonsei university is a private university, it has a much bigger budget to spend on stuff like its own merchandise, game tournaments, fancy cafes, etc. So, being an exchange student means not having to pay the incredibly high tuition fees of a private university while still enjoying all these nice facilities. It’s a win-win situation!

Yonsei University is apparently considered to be the second best university in South-Korea. As universities’ prestige play a very large role in the life of most South-Koreans, I was expecting beforehand for the classes to be quite competitive and hard. But so far, the atmosphere has been very relaxed and peaceful. There is a very big international community with people from all over the world,  so there are many activities and groups organised to socialise and get to get a taste of he Korean university life; Which I have to tell you, a lot of drinking is involved as Koreans are incredible drinkers! And chicken. There is a lot of amazing chicken involved as well. Who knew that South-Korea had the best fried chicken in the world? I didn’t, and I am pleasantly surprised.

So with all being said, I feel really lucky to be able to experience studying in a city so different than my own. And I would love to share that excitement with others; you could do it too! It is always scary for taking that first step towards a different direction. It will always be, no matter how often you leave home. New people, new landscapes, new food. But, as they say; “traveling is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” It is really worth it. 

A thousand-mile journey starts with one step. 

But it really starts with the choice to make that first step. 

안녕!