Hey everyone!

Hey everyone! I’m a 28-year-old guy from Argentina, and I arrived in Korea about a week ago. I’m currently staying with my Korean girlfriend in Suwon, and although we’re doing great together, I’ve started realizing how much I miss having other people around. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with her, but I guess I need more human interaction than just being with my partner. Especially when you’re in a completely different country, where everything feels unfamiliar. Back home, I’m used to people being quite outgoing. You can start a conversation with someone at the gym, chat with strangers, or just randomly meet people and end up hanging out. So I thought I’d try going to the gym here to meet people, but everyone seems to keep to themselves. Which is totally fine, of course, but it made me realize that making friends here might be harder than I expected. I also wonder if being in Suwon makes things more difficult, since a lot of the international community and social events seem to be concentrated in Seoul. I’d really like to meet people to hang out with, grab some coffee, go hiking somewhere, play videogames, work on random projects, or just have a beer and talk about life. I don’t necessarily need to become best friends with everyone I meet, but I’d love to find people with whom I can build genuine friendships over time. I’m also interested in meeting Korean people of course, but my Korean is honestly terrible right now, so I imagine that might make things a little harder. I know I’ve only been here for a week, and I’m not expecting to build a whole social circle overnight. But moving to a new country has made me realize how much I took those little everyday interactions for granted back home. Sometimes you don’t even notice how important they are until they’re gone. So, for those of you living in Korea, especially foreigners who arrived without knowing many people: how did you meet your friends? Did you find it difficult at first? And for those living outside Seoul, do you feel like it’s harder to meet people? I’d also love to hear from Koreans who have experience making friends with foreigners! Thanks for reading :)

大家好！ 我是一个来自阿根廷的28岁男生，大约一周前来到韩国。我现在和韩国女朋友住在水原，虽然我们相处得很好，但我开始意识到自己有多么想念身边还有其他人。 别误会，我很喜欢和她待在一起，但我想，除了和伴侣在一起之外，我还需要更多的人际互动。尤其是在一个完全不同的国家，所有事情都显得那么陌生的时候。 在我的家乡，我已经习惯了人们都比较外向。你可以在健身房和别人搭话，和陌生人聊天，或者只是偶然遇到一些人，最后就一起出去玩了。所以我想在这里也去健身房试着认识一些人，但感觉大家都各忙各的。 当然，这完全没问题，但这让我意识到，在这里交朋友可能比我想象的更难。 我也在想，住在水原是不是让事情更困难了，因为很多国际社群和社交活动似乎都集中在首尔。 我真的很想认识一些可以一起出去玩、喝杯咖啡、去某个地方徒步、打电子游戏、一起做些随机项目，或者只是喝杯啤酒聊聊人生的人。我并不一定需要和遇到的每个人都成为最好的朋友，但我很想找到一些能够随着时间建立起真正友谊的人。 当然，我也很想认识韩国人，但老实说我现在的韩语真的很差，所以我想这可能会让事情更难一点。 我知道我才来这里一周，也没指望一夜之间就建立起整个社交圈。但搬到一个新国家让我意识到，我在家乡曾经多么把那些日常中的小互动当成理所当然。有时候，直到它们消失了，你才会发现它们有多重要。 所以，对于住在韩国的大家，尤其是那些来到这里时几乎不认识什么人的外国人：你们是怎么认识朋友的？一开始觉得困难吗？还有住在首尔以外的人，你们会觉得认识人更难吗？ 我也很想听听有和外国人交朋友经验的韩国朋友们的看法！ 谢谢阅读 :)