Do you mask?

Do you mask?

"Masks that sharply goes down into your skin can only confess.However, when we encounter the important moment, we should put down our persona and be person."

It was a last week on Friday night. I was walking on the street of Itaewoon, international district here in Seoul. While walking on the street, something caught my attention;
Masks. 

Halloween masks on the street of Itaewoon, Seoul

Just couple of days ago, I also read an article from the French newspaper; Le Figaro. It was about a spectator with the Islamic burka. The spectator was asked to be out of the theater during the Opera, since the French law stipulates that no one should cover their face in the public. (Click here to see more contents about the news article.)

Le Figaro: One spectator with her mask was asked to be out of the Opera Bastille.

On the other hand, I see every day on the street in front of Ewha Womans Universitybunches of "cosmetic masks".

Or whatever, the masks can be something beautiful Italian Venice style what we see during the masquerade of The Phantom of Opera , hero's last resort in The Spiderman, or what you saw in the Ocean 11.

Yes I just scribbled down senseless how those masks are communicated in our society. We wear masks in our daily life for certain reasons. We wear masks; to hide our identity, to amuse, to frighten, to show religious belief, to be seen as more beautiful, etc. 

The society is exhorting us to wear proper masks for the appropriate moments. People say that true heart and feeling should be respected, but now we are more accustomed to hide our selves.

The reason that the "Mona Lisa" by the "Leonardo da Vinci" is still loved by people is she shows inexplicable expression. The lyrics of the "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga depicts one mysterious girl's sexual aspect with the lyrics "Can't read my, he can't read my poker face." Those all explain the face or another mask of human being. 

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre Museum

Recent days, as the season makes you fall in the feeling of "isolation" and "facing to your own selves" I am keep facing this question; Masks of human being. We act different to different people in different situation, should we accept this as a natural human being or is it another trick to hide the true sincere aspect of oneself?

This has been the consistent question of human history. Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer born in 1925, he found his identity as a gay in his early age. For the reason that he was born in the era that the homosexuality cannot be commonly accepted, he later finishes his life by taking a suicide. In his autobiographic novel, "Confessions of a Mask(1949)" he says, 

Yukio Mishima(Japan), 1925-1970

"They could be their natural selves, whereas I was to play a part, a fact that would require considerable understanding and study. So it was not my maturity but my sense of uneasiness, my uncertainty that was forcing me to gain control over my consciousness. Because such consciousness was simply a steppingstone to aberration and my present thinking was nothing but uncertain and haphazard guesswork.” 

Regarding Yukio's book, Mikyung Jeong, said that "There is nothing called true confession. No one can show their own true face. Rather a mask which deeply goes down into your skin, can confess."

Paul Tournier(1898-1986) is an innovator in the part of pastoral counseling, which emphasizes on the spiritual and psychological treatment of the doctor. In his book, "The meaning of the person" he acknowledges that "mask" itself is inevitable in every occasions. Especially, if the occasion has more meaning, people are more asked to their masks. It is like people who are angry during the wedding ceremony are criticized to people who are smiling. However Paul says that when the most pivotal moment comes, people should be themselves in front of the truth.

Paul Tournier: La Personne et La Personne 

As fall comes, I have more time to think about myself and masks that I have. I am also surprised by myself who become different with the people I am with and the environment that I am included in. In every situation, I think over and over again how the other 2nd and 3rd party would respond about it, in the view point of themselves which leads into the maze and unintentional happenings. I also hope that I can put down my mask when I face to my self in the true moment .

Put down your mask.

We put down our masks when we face to the true moment

No matter what we do

No matter what we say

We're the song inside the tune

Full of beautiful mistakes

And everywhere we go

The sun will always shine

But tomorrow we might awake on the other side

'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no

We are beautiful in every single way

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful

Lost Stars. Shall we begin again?

<Movie Review> BEGIN AGAIN

I came back to my hometown Busan for couple of days to spend Korea's national holiday, Chuseok with my family. 

Today I took a walk. The wind was different. I could feel that the wind has changed in just couple of days. It was colder than the last time when I faced. The wind touched my face in a bold way.

I love the smell of Busan. Without doubt, it is starkly different from the smell of Seoul. Whenever I take a step on the land, I can feel that It is salty, sticky. But the smell always reminds me of my youth, my past and the lost heart.

The smell of the memory is always worth to call upon again. It gives you bittersweet smile

I watched a movie, "Begin Again" at a movie theater. I heard so many times that the music of the movie moves the watchers. Truly it was, it just made me stunned, speak-less.  I say that it will be remained as one of the best movies for me.

 The movie was directed by John Carney, Irish movie director, who got fame for his first debut Indie film, "Once" with the hit song, "Falling Slowly."

Gretta (Keira Knightley) and her boy friend Dave (Adam Levine) are five-year old couples. The movie shows how Gretta proceeds her music processing with the help from Dan (Mark Ruffalo) and overcoming her past love Dave who gave music inspiration to her. 

The best song of the movie is, "Lost Stars." which expresses the confusing feeling of Gretta, composed for Dave. The deer chases lion though it knows it can be threatening and sad that the lion would not love her. When the deer is gone with tears knowing that the lion would not love her anymore. When the deer leaves the lion,  the lion chases the deer again. 

It asks who we are. It is all specked with tears and memory. They feel that they are just one small part of the world shrouded by darkness. We are in tears of the memory, who we are. 

Are we lost in our world?

Please, don't see
Just a boy caught up in dreams
And fantasies

Please, see me
Reaching out for someone
I can't see

Take my hand
Let's see where we wake up tomorrow
Best laid plans
Sometimes are just a one night stand

I'll be damned
Cupid's demanding back it's arrow
So let's get drunk on our tears

And God, tell us the reason
Youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season
And the lambs are on the run

Searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars
Trying to light up the dark

Who are we?
Just a speck of dust
Within the galaxy?

Woe, is me
If we're not careful
Turns into reality

But don't you dare
Let our best memories bring you sorrow
Yesterday I saw a lion kiss a deer
Turn the page
Maybe we'll find a brand new ending
Where we're dancing in our tears

And God, tell us the reason
Youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season
And the lambs are on the run

We're searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars
Trying to light up the dark

I thought I saw you out there crying
I thought I heard you call my name
I thought I heard you out there crying
But just the same

And God, give us the reason
Youth is wasted on the young

It's hunting season
And this lamb is on the run

Searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars
Trying to light up the dark


Let's get drunk in our tears. 
Are we all lost stars?

Paulo Coelho- Eleven

<Book Review> Paulo Coelho- Eleven

Mariah, brazilian prostitue working in Switzerland she wants to find herself.

She says, 

"“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.” 

Life is Short. Kiss Slowly, Laugh Crazily.

Mamma Mia- The Winner Takes It All

Broadwayworld.com - Picture

It has been two months that I participated in the musical, Mamma Mia.
The performance day has just come around the corner. The musical will be performed in October 3rd and 4th at Ewha Womans University Performance hall, so it would be a great pleasure to present in front of my friends since musical has been on my bucket list of my University years.  

I am playing the role, Donna, 50 year old women. She was a singer in her past with bright and strong soul.  But now she is sick and tired of her boring daily life, fighting every day with banking workers for her financial problem . The musical starts from her daughter Sophie's idea to find her father. Sophie has her wedding soon but she does not know who her father is. Then she found from Donna's diary that there are three men who are presumed to be her father. The musical starts from sending letters to three men.

In the end, the Musical ends that three of Donna's past lovers both agreed to be Sophie's father and Donna's  first true love Sam propose to her and they get married.
All of the songs in the musical are so touchy and moves listeners heart. 

While singing the songs, I deeply get touched by the depth of the lyrics. Especially, my favorite song is "The Winner Takes It All" which expresses the feeling of Donna by looking back her past times. Of course, it is one of the most difficult songs in the musical, but the lyrics of the song makes listeners to look back on the life.

The lyrics goes; She was hurt by her lovers and her times that she feels powerless that there is nothing she can do in her life.  She wants to ignore the situation but still it comes as a shadow of her memory. She needs to accept the fact that her lovers left her and she should be more strong.  Since she doesn't want to get hurt, she builds her own fence and pretends but she finds out that she was protecting herself not to be hurt.

I don't wanna talk

About things we've gone through

Though it's hurting me
Now it's history
I've played all my cards
And that's what you've done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play

The winner takes it all
The loser's standing small
Beside the victory
That's her destiny

I don't wanna talk
If it makes you feel sad
And I understand
You've come to shake my hand
I apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence
But you see

The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all

The Musical Mamma Mia was written by British Playwright, Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, Swedish group. The title of the musical, Mamma Mia has been named after the ABBA's 1975 chart topper, "Mamma Mia."

ABBA is a Swedish pop group formed in 1972 in Stockholm. Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were the member of the groups. The name, ABBA has named after the first character of the each members, A-B-B-A. ABBA was the first non-English speaking group who won gained success in English speaking countries such as U.K, Ireland, U.S.A. etc.

Because of the reason that four members were in relationship each other, the lyrics of the songs composed by them are ingrained with their true heart. The members, Fältskog and Ulvaeus loved each other and Lyngstad and Andersson loved and both of two couples got married but they divorced later. For these reasons, even though ABBA was in its own peak of the popularity in 1981, the group was disbanded in 1982 when both of relationship of two couples were not good. 

As I participate in the musical, I can deeply understand the feeling of Donna, who was hurt by her three lovers of the past but still lives day by day for her daughter and her life itself. Her life could have been sustained thanks to the help of her best friends, Rosie and Tanya who are always willing to be next to her.

Life comes with times. Love is forgotten by another love and it becomes the beautiful memory of the times. Rather than pretending to be strong, accepting the emotion of ones true heart is more easier and frank way to oneself to overcome the sorrow. The musical Mamma Mia, depicts the truth of the life in this context. 

The winner takes it all, the loser has to stand stall.

However, we are the fate owner of our life which decides to be winner and the loser.

First Kiss of Seoul.

First Kiss of Seoul.

I remember. It was back one year ago. The wind was crispy, the green was everywhere around the corner of Paris. Pink color of cloud was up of my head. I tend to whistle "La vie en rose" every day, even though I was so bad at making tunes.

Ils Saint Louis- Paris, France

I was sitting with him on the river of the ile Saint-Louis, one small island on the Seine river, Paris. It was the moment out of expectation. We drank wine and talked for hours. We talked about our favorite music, art, life, travel, every single topic what just came out of the mouth. I was sincere at that time, young and bright girl, and my eyes were only telling the truth. My heart was pumping with full of unknown. 

I remember the date exactly since I write diary every day. 

The day was June, 30th of 2013. 

The summer came back again.

The same fresh air was touching my nose. Yesterday I just finished moving out of my studio here in Seoul, South Korea. The studio where I lived was one of the most expensive ones in Seoul, according to the estate-agent. It had big window where I could look down all Shinchon area, two-floor, and I could feel the sunlight everyday whenever I woke up. I enjoyed past four months of living in there.

However, I decided to move out of the studio and move to the cheapest place in Seoul. The former house was too big luggage for me. I paid almost one-third of my monthly incoming for the studio and I realized that my next big travel journey for South America is not that far away but my saving are not enough.

seoulmania.tistory.com Seoul, Gwanghwamoon Square

The breeze of fresh Summer has come back again to my life, without noticing that time is going with its own generosity. I recently realized that this is my first time in Seoul in my whole life. I have never spent my summer in Seoul and in the sense 2014 Summer in Seoul is meaningful too me.

I was born and raised in Busan, Southern beach city of Korea spending 15 years of Summer there. I spent my high school in Gimhae, one hour far from Busan, to go to my foreign language boarding school that I spent three years of Summer there. Then I entered my current University here in Seoul.

I spent my 2011 in Beijing, to take summer course in  Beijing University in China. I spent my 2012 in Jeju Island, to work for media team of the IUCN for the international conference. I spent my 2013 in Paris, to say exactly almost here and there of Europe since I was always travelling.

Finally, I spend my summer, here in Seoul, one of the most dynamic cities in the world.
I decided to participate in the Musical, Mamma Mia, organized by the French Faculty of my University since I decided that it might be a rare chance for me after my graduation. Considering that French Embassy and several official french organizations are supporting for this Musical, I feel a great responsibility.

First Kiss.

I would play a role, Donna, 50 year old woman who has a daughter called Sophie. By practicing songs of Donna, I could feel that in some sense I am a little like to her character. She wants to be strong, independent, but in the sense she was always missing her true heart. She now became old woman, but she still misses her old love who left to France to marry with his fiancee there.

Summer always brings a lot of stories to our life. It is one of the most beautiful season of the year for its own brightness and energy. It brings with the unexpected story.

This summer is my First Kiss of Seoul.
I am excited of expecting for unexpected.

Hey, What are you hesitating?

Hey, What are you hesitating?

Yes I am.

I always hesistate for the moments that I missed.

Live your life, Live this moment, Live as who you are.

No one can live your life instead of you, Yourself.

Do your best in your study and job.

Play Hard as much as you can.

Meet A Lot of people who would show you more broad world.

Moderate your alcohol consumption.

Hang out with people who would bring energy to you.

Smile always.

Be Happy about who you are but improve yourself.

Deeply consider what your heart says to you.

Listen to your voice.

Take your time, if things do not go well.

Take your time.

Listen to your inner voice.

Smile.

Be Who You Are.

No one can live your life instead of You, yourself.

Dialogue with the eco-friendly documentary director, Hwang-Yoon.

"Love, It has been the source of my passion."

-Dialogue the environment documentary director, Hwang-Yoon.-

Hwang Yoon Documentary Director,
during her dialogue with Ewha students

Her passion toward the nature was special than anyone else. She has been consistently speaking about our society's environmental issues through her past documentary works. Sometimes, she was lonely. Sometimes, she asked herself why she was keep filming documentary with that much small budget. 

In her first documentary, She was a girl who got interested into the animal at the zoo. In her second documentary, she had become a grownup women who got serious about social phenomenon, Road Kill. Now, she is one family's mother who has an adorable baby.  Her concern toward her baby's meal plan led to our society's meat-oriented eating style.

Her documentaries have been with her life, her family and herself. 

At Ewha Womans University, Posco Hall, on 22th May, 2014, there was a dialogue between the director Hwang-Yoon and the students of the documentary film-making courses. It was exclusively open to the students of the course.

Hwang Yoon, she is a well-renowned environment documentary director in Korea. Recently, she got the grand-prize for her movie, "An omnivorous family's dilemma(2014)" at the 11th Seoul Environment Documentary Festival, held from 11th May to 18th May, for the Korea Documentary Competition Division. For her notable works, she got a prize at the Yamagata Documentary Festival, one of the three biggest international documentary film festivals in the world. 

She said, "At first, I worked for the telecommunication company after university diploma. I worked  one year but I felt something is lacked in my life. I felt my energy was almost burned out out of boredom."

She continued, "I accidentally went to the movie workshop of the magazine, CINE 21, and since then I started to get interested into the movie film-making."

Her first work as a non-professional director was dealing with the hardship of the movie staffs in the worst situation, "The story of that winter." 

For her second piece, she filmed "Good-Bye(2006)", which deals with the life story of the animals at Zoo.

She told students how she came out with the documentary topics. 
She went to the Zoo in one day of April, without thinking something serious. When she went to the Seoul Zoo, she stopped her step and found out that polar bear was nodding its head. People were acclaiming around the zoo but she felt something went wrong.

"When I saw the eyes of those polar bears, I could feel the sadness from the bear. Ironically, people were cheering for the bear."

Hwang Yoon's Two Documentary works,
On The Road One Day(2006) and Goodbye (2006)

However, the process of filming the movie was not easy. The zoo asked her to pay for the money to film, and also to specify why she want to shoot a film. When she was sitting on the bench, and she sighed, she just felt, "I would just look at the tiger once, and go back."

Luckily, she met the trainer of the tiger. Then, the trainer introduced her to the little baby Krane. Krane became the main story of her film, "Good-Bye."  

"That was the destiny, I am still not sure what might have happened if I did not meet him coincidentally at that time." 

She emphasized that everyone should have their own fingerprint on their own piece. 

"Whenever I shoot a film, whether my movie has my own fingerprint is the main concern of every piece. I hope that your movie (as a future documentary director) can have your own fingerprint on your work."

Roadkill- animals who are dying accidentally on the road.

Her next step was to film about Road Kill, animals who are dying on the road accidentally.  She shoot a film about Choi Tae Hyung, Korea's first scholar who systematically did research about Road-Killing.


It led her to think what the road means to animals, which led her to approach the documentary in the different ways, which made her to put caption from the aspect of the animals.

"I do not say that we should not pursue industry development, what I emphasize is that we need to minimize the development."

An Omnivorous Family's Dilemma

After her 2nd documentary about Road-Killing, she got married with the veterinarian that she got to know through her documentary production, and she gave birth to a baby. "I was just trying to concentrate on taking care of baby."

Later, Foot and Mouth Disease swept over the country.
One day, she got a call from her friend and she persuaded her that Ms. Hwang is the only one  who can shoot the film about pigs who are being discarded. This led her to film her third piece, "An Omnivorous Family's Dilemma," which recently got the grand prize. 

At the end of the discourse, there was time to ask questions and hear answers back from director Ms.Hwang.

"Love."

To the question, what led her to shoot films with passion, she picked "love" as the main power sources. It has been her power, the source of her passion toward documentary.

"Had it not been for the love toward animals, it might have been impossible to film the documentary in this consistent way. Love. That has been my source."

It was such a meaningful time to look into one women documentary director's life and her consistent passion toward the world.  Through today's discourse, I once again confirmed that without love toward your job, we cannot continue.

What is your love?


* If you are interested more into her life story and her recent works, please check her blog.
http://blog.naver.com/oneday2008 (Hwang Yoon Director's Blog)
->It is written in Korean but if you are interested into getting more know about her,

(Movie Review) Letters to Juliette, What if...

(Movie Review) Letters to Juliet- What if...

What If, What If, What If...

Our life, is full of questions starting with "What" and "If."

The movie is about  how the simple question started with "What If" can change your life.

Yes it is, it is very cheesy romantic movie in some sense.

 In some sense, you would think this is so "movie" story, especially when Claire 

so coincidentally finds her old love Lorenzo on the field. 

Whatever, It moves you and it refreshes your idea with the beautiful scenery background of Italy and witty sentences. I also know that you need some kind of romantic feeling in this beautiful season. Unlike other romantic-comedy movie, the basic story that people write letters to Juliet is an interesting item.

The movie keeps questioning to us, "What If."

It starts with "What if I could find my love again whom I missed for 50 years"

and it ends with "What if he is my destiny and I do not want to miss him."

The movie deals with the story about Sophie, who is a fact-checker of The New Yorker and her honeymoon to Verona. Coincidentally, she found that there is a board of Juliet, group of people who write back to numerous letters written to Juliet. As one of the members, Sophie also wrote a letter back to Claire, 65 year old grandma, when she randomly found her letter at Juliet's house. Later, Claire flew back from London to Verona to meet the person who wrote a letter to her, and they decided to find Lorenzo, whom Claired missed for so long.  

Whether you like Romantic movie or not, the movie itself is meaningful in that

it tells us that we need to grip  the most important person and the moment with that person in our life. It made me chilled down after my recent stressful days, and also it is not that a bad idea to listen to beautiful OSTs of movie. Especially, you would fall in love with the scenery of several cities of Italy.

Life is full of questions with "What if."

At the end of our life, when we look back on our life, 

it should be ended with 

"What if I missed you at that time."

Fall in love with true heart. 

00:46p.m. 08/05/2014

After long midterm exam, thinking not want to work and making excuses that I need a break, at the same time thinking that WE NEED TRUE LOVE.

You Must Believe In Spring

Julian Waterfall Pollack Trio- You Must Believe In Spring.

I guess it was around 3 a.m. on Saturday. I was on the way back after saying goodbye to my precious friend, and because I was a little tired, or maybe feeling something inexplicable, I was randomly sitting on the rock floor of the street.

It was the start at 3 a.m. There was one Spanish guy who came and sit next to me and we talked talked talked.

I still cannot forget the thing what he explained to me.

He asked me, "Do you know why you wear ring on the fourth finger?"
I said, "No, I have no idea.
He said, "Because the vein from the fourth ringer only directly goes to your heart."

Today, I searched through the internet to find out whether it is true. Ancient people truly believed that it is the only finger which is linked to your heart. Vina Amoris, Vein of Love is a metaphor used in ancient time.

Whether it is true or not is not important. You must believe it.
Because It Is Spring.

My father's 33rd marathon competition, "Hyojeong, Life is Marathon."

My father told me, "Hyojeong, Life is Marathon."

Today, 16.03.2014 was my father's 33rd marathon competition in his life.
I still vividly remember, what father told me when I was young.

"Hyojeong, In marathon, going first from the starting point does not mean that you would finish this long race. You do not have to run fast,  just run slowly and steadily with your own pace. However, Never stop the race until you enter to the finishing line. Do not give up. Please remember, Life is a Marathon "

I respect my father. He completed "Ultra marathon" three times in his life, which means you need to run 100 kilometers within 40 hours without sleeping. He always showed me that we can do whatever with our own strong spirit. The reason that I could dare tried to finish Trans-Siberian train trip alone in the winter was also because I got an influence from my father's courageous and audacious aspect.

My father used to be a drummer of the band during his university years and he still plays the drum in a band for his past-time. The person who first introduced me the songs of Pink Floyd, Eagles, Scorpions, Beatles, CCR etc. was my father. We always, and still sing together.

He always told me, 
"You can do what you believe in and there is nothing that we cannot overcome."

My father dreams to have his own studio when he gets old, and play drum as much as he wishes.

My drummer father, you are such a great father and I am so lucky to have you as my father.

 I love you.

I wish you "Happy" for 24 hours a day for 365 days

Happiness

If you just finished reading your one-year diary in Paris 
If you feel the sunshine through your eyes
If you meet eyes of kids on the street
If you remember your Paris love
If you decided to write a travel essay 
If you are excited for your upcoming future

 Be Happy.
 There is more stories to come.
 Life is full of love, passion, smile and story.
 So Please
 Smile and Happy


http://24hoursofhappy.com/ Happy For 24 hours

Travel Guide for Ms.Sexy

Travel Guide for Ms.Sexy

Dear. young lady who decided to travel the world alone

Did you just decide to travel alone? Are you getting nervous?

Travel when you are young. Go and Feel.

Well, I want to give you a big applaud for your decision. It will bring you one of the most amazing experience in your life. Of course, I can expect what others might have told you. 

Your parents could have become suspicious about your decision, asking you, "Did you break up with your boyfriend or Is there some problem recent days?" Some of your friends might have posed you a question such as, "Why do you travel alone? Don't you get bored?" 

I know these responses so well and that is what i have heard exactly when I first told them that I would travel alone and go all the way of Russia from Paris to Vladivostok by taking a train. 

For the past 90 days, I traveled alone;   
France, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia to get back to Korea.

My Balkan countries, Baltic countries and Eastern European Journey

In Russia followed Blue Line From St.Petersbourg to Vladivostok Line. 

Whatever they told you, I also agree on the fact that they have a reason. Yes it is. It is dangerous, you can get bored sometimes. However, also at the same time, because you are alone, you would meet numerous interesting and charming people on the way, you can get a big favor since you are a young lady who travel alone. You will meet numerous people who are willing to help you, want to give you a good story and good advice.  It will bring you something what you could not have expected. 

Therefore, it is important to pay attention to some of their advice, but not let them stop your own way. You made such a nice decision and you would never regret. Here I summed up some of the questions what I got most frequently from my friends and I hope it can be a great help for your future journey. 

Wish you good luck, Ms.SEXY!

   
<Travel tips for Beautiful Lady>



1. Isn't it dangerous? 
Yes. It is. Can it be very dangerous?  Yes it can be. People on the street can stare you (especially if your skin color is totally different from the majority residents of the city and i felt it everyday when i was traveling), you can meet so many crazy drunk guys who talk to you randomly or touch you. I experienced this quite a lot and it does not always feel good. I know what you worry exactly. 

However, drunk crazy guys are everywhere in the world even in the one of the most safe city in the world such as Northern European countries( just from my personal experience) therefore, in this case I recommend you not to walk alone if it is too late and not to go to remote places during night if you are alone. If you meet drunk guys? Don't get nervous but just ignore them and walk fast as much as you can. Prevention is the best in this case. 

I also had one of the most awful experience in Slovenia. Even though Slovenia itself is very safe country as i felt, i think i was unlucky on that day. It was the first week of January,2014 and I was waiting for the train from Ljubijana, Slovenia to Viennes, Austria. Unfortunately, I got arrived at the station almost 40 minutes earlier and there was basically no one at the station. And then there was this strange drunk guy, who put a spell on the world, society with his broken glass bottle. Unfortunately, I and him, we were the only one in the station and there was no shops open such as McDonalds whatever. And then, he suddenly followed me by putting a spell on me. I did not know what I needed to do since I was almost at the corner. When I got to the corner of the train station, I did not look at his eye and I just turned away and I ran as far as I can. Fortunately, at that time, I met a group of Mexican young travelers and since then I could be safe being with them.

As you can see, if you travel alone especially during the night, it is very dangerous and you do not know what would happen. Therefore, I recommend you to find some other fellow travelers if you can or find some safe place to stay such as 24 hour cafe, restaurant or McDonalds.



2. Wait, So It is not safe at all? 
However, at the same time, please remember. Still in the world, there are a lot of people who have a good will and who are eager to help you.

I still remember this moment whom I call as a "Russian Prince." I was at Moscow, trying to take my train to go east. It was subway station and since I cannot read Cyrlics at all I asked some random people. Then again, this drunk old guy told me that he would show me the way which did not make me feel willing to do. And then, I just randomly met eye to eye of this young Russian guy, who spoke perfect English. He pointed the subway station that I need to get off and he took off the subway before me. And then, before the subway door get closed, he took the subway again saying to me that he is worried of me since during night it is not that much dangerous. Later I found out that he is a Russian journalist who work for Russian AP. He kindly brought me to the station platform, we said goodbye to each other and then he left me like a prince.

He told me, Russia cannot be sometimes safe if you cannot speak their local language. I think it is everywhere in the world, you sometimes feel nervous and unsafe if you cannot speak their local language. In this case, do not hesitate to ask for help.

Also there were several times that I took a car for free to get to my hostel and my friend's house. When I was in Irktusk. once was three professors whom I got to know in my train, and another time was one father with her daughter whom I asked the way to get to my hostel. They just told me to take on their car and they kindly brought me to the place where i want to go. Some people ask me how I know whether they are out of good will or not, but you need to feel it from your gut feeling. Especially, if one of them is a women, you do not have to worry that much since it is very unlikely that women cheat another women. 

So Please remember, take care of yourself and always open to them and approach to them with smile. Good will always comes back as another good will.

3. How did you plan your travel?
 A lot of people asked me about the cost of travel, and how I traveled in Europe and Russia. In Europe, for this time to travel Eastern Europe, I bought Inter-rail which allows you to take train/bus/ferry as much as you want within set days. 
At the same time, I was lucky to stay most of my nights in my friend's house whom I used to know since long time ago or through other conferences etc. To travel just for one country, I usually bought a ticket through low-cost comparing site or bus to save money. Here is the link of the site.

Low-Cost Airplane Compare Site

http://www.skyscanner.fr/

I strongly recommend this sit to buy a cheap airplane ticket since they do not charge you a service fee and they compare all the low-cost airplane companies including Ryanair, easyjet etc. I think, so far, this website is the best of all to compare airplane fee. Especially, It is useful to use function such as "comparing the price in a month" or "changing the destination" which allows you to wisely use stop-over system.

Low Cost Train Package

http://www.interrail.eu/

Through this website, you can buy a cheap train ticket which includes Global Pass, One country Pass etc. You should be a European citizen or you should have a valid visa to use Interrail pass. Therefore, I recommend you to visit a site  www.eurail.com. to check whether you can use Interrail or you should use Eurail.

Low-Cost Bus Package

http://www.eurolines.com/

Cities available for travel from 1 April 2013 is like this. Please refer to what I captured. You can tell from this, that they allow you to travel quite lots of cities in European countries.

This Euroline Package allows you to travel as much as possible with in certain day with just one pass. For example, if you want to travel 15 Days and if you are Youth(under 26), you can buy your ticket, minimum for 185 Euro to maximum 300 Euro. It depends on which season you travel.

Low-Cost Car Pooling

http://www.blablacar.com/

You can type in your starting point and destination, you can find out numerous options of people who provide you carpooling. So far so now, this is the cheapest option compared to Bus/Train/Airplane.


4. How Do you Plan place to sleep?
Finding a proper place to sleep in is always a big dilemma. Here I provide you two sites that you can find a good place to sleep in and also Couchsurfing site which allows you to share your culture(I really love this since it is a chance to meet locals and talk to them) and also you can sleep for free.

HostelWorld

http://www.hostelworld.com/

Hostel Bookers

 http://www.hostelbookers.com/

Couchsurfing

https://www.couchsurfing.org/

I personally prefer HostelWorld to HostelBookers since HostelWorld has more diverse categories of places to stay than HostelBookers. Moreover, if you use iphone and if you book through iphone app, you can save service-charge. 

It is very important to combine different types of places to stay during your traveling. Of course it depends on your budget, and how much you are planning to spend during your traveling. However, keeping in mind that this is a writing for young lady who are planning to hit the road with her small budget, I recommend hostels, B&B, guesthouses etc. However, I think you can also find some affordable hotels as well! 

5. Couchsurfing, How is it?
You might ask me first, "What is couchsurfing?"
Some of you might have heard about this through some websites, through your friends but you might not have a concrete idea. Well here I give you.

Couch surfing is basically this concept. You upload your profile, you fill it in, including what you like, what kind of person you are, where you have been so far, what kind of story you would like to share. After filling it, you would find numerous other couch surfers in the world who have their own profile. 

Let's say, You decided to go traveling Busan, South Korea. (This is my hometown!) You type Busan in your destination part, and you will find numerous other people on the list. Among them, you might find my profile with big smiling face. You read my profile and you can think I am quite interested person and let's say that you want to meet me personally. In this case, you can either ask me to "hang out" which basically means since you do not know anyone asking me "to show your city and just have a cup of coffee whatever :)" or you can ask me to host you. Hosting means I would offer you a place to sleep in my house, and you can just stay in my house.

In my point of view, I would do this maybe because I want to personally meet you and share our different culture, or out of personal background reason since I got so much help and good experience other couch surfers when I did travelling.

I am definitely sure you would get amazing experience through this. They would show you local pub, bars, secret historical places that they only know. In case of me, we cooked local food together, went to fantastic music festival, ski-resort, or get a lesson how Belgium, Swiss, French chocolates are different in quite professional ways. (Aren't you curious lol) I also quite often played music together such as flute, piano, drum, guitar etc. So I bet you, you will be amazed and thrilled by these people who are so charming.

Some of the people whom I met on my journey told me that they had a negative experience during their couch-surfing stay or they are afraid to do so since they did not hear that much good story about it. 

 If that is the case, you can choose a female host.

However, what I want to tell you is, during my traveling, I did couch-surfing several times, twice in Russia(In this case my hosts were female) and I had the most amazing experience in my life. Regardless of whether my host were male or female even before, those experience always brought me fresh idea, new story, new inspiration etc.  and I think it is really important to follow these rules especially if you are young girl, who travel alone, looking for hosts.

1) Check your profile.

I once couch-surfed in Toledo, Spain and I met this amazing girl who had done couch-surfing since three years ago. She told me that we girls we need to check our profile picture first. What is your picture? Are you wearing your bikini and showing your glamours body? What about host guy's profile picture? If your profile picture is a bikini girl with a great body shape and smiling, whether you intentionally uploaded your picture in that way or not, some people might misunderstand your intention. Therefore, please, please, check your photo first. Does it can invoke others different intention other than just sharing culture or stories?

2) Read the review of your host thoroughly

This is what we call as a verification process. What is a review of the person that you want to ask for couch-hosting? In some cases, just by reading several lines of the review, you can easily get notice of the person's type, personality etc. Please read thoroughly the review.

3) Couch-surfing is not just a way to spend less your money.

I met quite a lot of host, who felt disappointment from their surfers since they just came and they regarded the host's place as a cheap-free place to stay in. If that is the case, please not to do so. In some cases, you feel great when you do couch-surfing since you can talk to them (who usually tend to have an amazing experience and life story) but sometimes you can get tired.

For example, let's say that you took a very long airplane/train/bus whatever, and then you got one's house late. It is not only inconvenient for them, but also it is for you since you do not have any power to talk to anyone what you just want is sleeping for long time. In this case, however, your host can regard you of as a person who just want to use her house as a free place to stay in or so. For that reason, I think it is important to mix hostel/hotel/guesthouse/B&B/couch-surfing system WISELY as much as you can do.

6. Need Details for your journey?

The best option is following local's advice. Yes it is.
I met quite a lot of people, who plan their journey even before they get arrived in their destination. However, it is better to ask local's the best place to eat (especially if you stay in hostel they usually provide you very nice advice to where to go and what to eat. Especially if you are looking for restaurant advice and club/bar etc.) Also it is not a bad idea to enjoy the moment of "not knowing where to go."

It depends on one's personality but I really enjoy the moment when I go to place while not knowing where I am going.

However, please refer to these web-sites which are called as "Bible" of travelers.

Tripadvisor

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Without doubt, this is truly a holy bible of travelers.

Most of them give you a good tip, advice, where to stay, what to eat.

However, finding your own secret restaurant is not a bad idea as well!

Lonely Planet

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

If you are looking for quite decent guidebook, i recommend you to buy Lonely Planet guide book since they are very well organized.

 

7. Any special tip for packing?

Be Light as much as possible.

My key-point during my traveling is eventhough i cannot find a place to put my bag, i should handle it at least 2 to 3 hours. When I weighed my bag,  It costed 9.7kilogram. So Remember, pack light as much as possible. 

Throw away everything what you do not need.

Are you sure that you need that much make-up kits? Are you sure that you need your heavy personal computer? Are you sure that you need that much a lot of T-shirts, pants, etc.? Think over again and pack wisely. That is the best way.

Share if you can.

Do you have too much food? Too much toothpaste? Too much Shampoo? Whatever it is, sharing is always the best. If you give one, they would give you another one back.

Please, Please, Please pack your souvenir and 

send it back to your home as a post.

I know what you worry. You might have bought somethings for your parents or family and found out that it is so heavy. That is exactly, what I have felt. In that case, though it is so expensive, you should send it back to your home country as a post. Unless, your bag will be heavier as the time goes by. Please, remember Ms.Sexy. Unless, you will be crushed by your baggage! 

 

8. Don't you get bored?

Exactly. Sometimes you get bored, Sometimes you need to meet people to talk to. The great thing about traveling alone is  you become more open, active. My friend one day told me that she got totally changed during her 6 month stay in Paris, since she found herself keep talking and asking people though she was not when she was living in her hometown.

Exactly, it is true that you sometimes get bored or lonely. Yes I was. However, thanks to that you make new friends, meet new people. First, you meet tons of people who travel alone which allows you to start to talk to them whether you are in Train,Hostel on the street whatever. In most of the cases they are so open. For example, when I was traveling alone in Northern Europe (Norway/Sweden/Finland) and when I was traveling Greece alone, I met one of the greates people who ended up travel together almost for one week.

However, since that is decided on your luck, sometimes it is hard to find your companion.
If that is the case, I recommend this two web-sites which are quite useful to meet people :)

Meet-up
Basically, it is truly to meet people. If you need someone to talk, share your experience, want to get some travel tip, or whatever since you stay long in that place you want to just experience cultural things such as going to Opera, movie, or eating delicious food? Check out this site then!
http://www.meetup.com/

Couchsurfing Event
You do not have to do couchsurfing but actually it is one of the wise idea to use couchsurfing website since you can meet various people who have interesting story to tell and share. Go and check out this site and find interesting people!
https://www.couchsurfing.org/


9. What is good for souvenir? 

I know what you worry. Souvenirs always comes as a big problem and dilemma. You already told your friends and others that you would go traveling, and especially if they are close with you you sort of feel that you should give them souvenir. First, set your priority to whom you want to give souvenirs. It depends on the people whom you want to give. For example, I rarely buy a magnet or key-chain since personally i do not use them quite that much often. However, I also met quite a lot of people who collect it, you should definitely go for it.

However, One of the greatest souvenir is sending them a  card from the region. It does not cost you that much but it can be very touching and memorable at the same time.  Just believe your gut feeling, something memorable and showing gratitude is the most important thing for your lovers. 

 
10. I cannot speak local language!

Yes, even though in most countries you expect them to speak a great language since they are at least using alphabet, you meet a lot of people who cannot explain what you want to hear.

In case of me, I usually learned a basic word in every single country such as "Hello', "Thank you", "Please", "Where". If you can say this, you do not have big problem to ask a road or showing gratitude. The problem starts when you need a big help.

In this case, you should shout to people asking "Is there anyone who can speak English?" I truly need yoour help. In this case, there are several people who are willing to help you. From my experience, German, Belgium, Netherlands, Northern Europe especially Sweden people are great in English. Except those countries, it depends on your luck.

Therefore, why not try a local language which is a great opportunity? They always show a big smile when you speak a few words in their language.


My Last Tip, Why do we need to travel?

Well, I would definitely say, to find different new and to be open.
Courage to talk to people, Courage not to get loss even though your passport is get lost, you got robbed something, you meet crazy people whatever. At the same time, your openness to always talk to them, ask people how to get somewhere. 

I expect you to have a great journey, Dear. Ms.Sexy
For me, you are one of the most sexy girl in the world as far as I define, who have a great inner courage and you would find yourself greatly changed after your traveling :) Sometimes you would get lonely, meet so many people, and experience a lot of things what you did not expect. However, Those experience would make you more mature and charming girl.

Last but not least, A lot of people say they cannot travel thanks to lack of a time, money, etc. Yes I also agree on the fact that those realistic reasons always hamper us to travel. It is not "we do not like traveling" but some people say "we can not traveling."  I know what you mean. 

If that is the case, I recommend you to travel first from little steps. Go and look around your town(I found out that in most cases local residents do not go to their local touristic places) and then beautiful other cities in your home country. Traveling does not have to be something big, fancy or big stuffs. I hope that it can give you a fresh idea.

Traveling does not always mean going somewhere, but looking the ordinary stuffs from different point of you. That is all Ms.Sexy.

That is all what we need. Fresh Idea, Fresh Mind, New People, and different I.

 
Wish you all the best luck.




2014. 02. 25. Hyojeong Kim