During the summer, I found out my roommate was a 30 year old doctor from Maryland. I had that changed right away and somehow got my crazy cool Korean roommate. Here are some things I’ve learned.

1. Patience

I don’t always understand what she means by certain things and vice versa. One time she asked me where she could get “shucream” which is a Korean pastry similar to cream puffs. I thought she was asking me for “shoe cream” for the LONGEST TIME. This was one of the funnier times but more often than not I have to take a step back and remember she’s here to better her English and learn our culture.

2. Music really is universal

I was surprised to learn she and I had a lot of the same taste in music and knew quite a few songs from the Western world. Also, and bear with me on this... but KPOP is pretty damn cool. I had a friend in high school who was into it, but I didn’t quite understand her obsession with it. It’s not like she knew what they were saying or anything. However, getting to know their culture and everything has brought it into a new light.

3. WiFi is pretty universal too

Within the first 5 minutes of meeting my roommate and her friends, they immediately asked for the WiFi password. Probably wanted to watch the newest KPOP video.

4. Sarcasm is not universal

If you’re considered a sarcastic person (such as myself), you may feel frustrated when your foreign roommate doesn’t understand your joke or even worse, may take your joke too seriously. When talking to my roommate, I had to be very specific in what I was saying and if it was a topic in which I couldn’t be joking, I felt pretty awkward.

5. Nothing can top their Snapchat stories

Their social medias in general are pretty much better than everyone's. But whenever their name and little bubble pops up on my story list I can’t help but click on theirs first. It’s so interesting to me to see how different they live their lives even though we are around the same ages. I see a lot of authentic Korean BBQ restaurants and a couple cool looking amusement parks that I could someday go to.

6. I want to travel

I have an excuse to travel and see the world because of my roommate. When moving out I told my her it wasn’t the end and that we will see each other again, but next time in South Korea. And I was not lying. Seeing them and how much fun they had made me want to do the same thing and travel the world to visit friends and experience new cultures just like they did.