As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I've been obsessed with a webtoon in which the characters are first year high school students in Korea. This has been heightening my desire to be a high school student in Korea. But long before reading the webtoon, I've always wanted to experience being a high school student in South Korea.
However, when I tell my friend in Korea, who is a high school student there, she asks me why and cannot understand me. Same with my younger sister, who just knows that the educational requirements of a high school student in Korea is high. I know, I know - in Korean high school, you have to stay at school until 9~10 PM and study, so it's a lot of stress.
But I just want to wear those uniforms they wear! I want to be able to go eat somewhere or just buy food at a local convenience store after school with my friends. I want to be walking distance from home, from the local convenience store, the marts, etc. I want to have access to the Korean snacks and drinks I like. I know that the second half of the list doesn't necessary require being a high school student in Korea, as I can go to Korea at any age and be walking distance from places. So maybe you're sitting there thinking that I just want to live in Korea, which holds truth, and you wonder, so why do I demand being a high school student?
Here's the thing, though. I'm getting old. Which I know it's not all that true, but, in Korean age, I'm in my last year of high school right now. I'm not in my last year of high school in America, but I am in Korea. So after this year, I won't ever be able to enter a Korean high school as a student. Not that I realistically think that I'll really have a chance to fly over there and shadow a high school student between now and the graduation of my class, but if I did have some kind of chance, I don't have much time left. As a Korean-American who's pretty darn Korean for someone living in the United States, I have a good measure of both cultures in me that is possible for me to have given that I've lived in the U.S. my whole life. But then there's experiences like attending high school in South Korea that I just have to miss out on. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my school and love my time there and the teachers and fellow classmates there. And I definitely do not feel any regret about leaving school everyday at least before dinner time as opposed to at around 9~10PM in Korea. But the little things - buying some dduk bokk ee (떡볶이) and banana milk and wearing a uniform - are the stuff I don't want to miss out on.
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