There are many reasons why: financial constraints, competition, destination specific perks, the lifestyles, society and culture. But the main reason would have to be personal interests, and this is where I shall begin to explain.
Many who know me would assume that I only chose Korea because I'm a Korean pop (K-pop) fan, who wishes to live every international fan girl's dream by flying to Korea and engage with everything related to K-pop: attending every single concert, music show, fansigning/fanmeeting, and trying to get 'oppa' to notice me. If it was the year 2009, then yes, this is the one and only reason why I chose to go to Korea. But because it is 2013, it's now a dream that had been realised to be a foolish and shallow desire. A dream that is no longer prevalent.
Admittedly, K-pop had indeed played a vital role in my decision. Afterall, I have been following it since Summer 2007 (6 years!) - though my infatuation with it has waned considerably for the past year. Through K-pop I was introduced to Korean culture.
Korean culture is interesting. It is where the old fuses with the new. Tradition is retained despite the rapid growth of modernism. Mannerisms are prioritised, as well as age-based hierarchies. The food is fantastic too, bit on the spicy side but healthy and filling.
The growing advancement of technology and communication within Korea is something that I find intrgiuing to look at. "South Korea has been called 'the most wired country on the planet [with] high-speed and wireless Internet services" (Pipe, 2010: 23), which makes me wonder how it affects Korean society. I already know the basics (based on accounts from other bloggers) that people watch TV on their phones on the subway, there are online communities called 'cafes', and that wifi is available almost everywhere in Seoul. But I want to know more, I want to experience and witness the highly wired and tech-savvy country. Observe, analyse, and make connections as to how important and to what extent does the technology seem to affect contemporary Korean lifestyles. Perhaps I might even base my dissertation on this topic - I already covered something similar for my A level media studies coursework: 'Could YouTube Potentially Become the Future of TV?'
My love for the subject began in 2009 (A levels), despite having taken it for 2 years prior for GCSE's. I had this one inspiring and unique media studies teacher for A levels you see, he was funny, animated, and very enthusiastic about the subject. This man taught us in unique ways and told us memorable things about media. Things that were weird, unexpected, and shocking. Things that we would have not learnt with a normal teacher who followed strictly to books. Because of him I wanted to know more.
One day he popped the documentary 'Starsuckers' on the classroom projector. We watched and discussed about it. And by the end of the class my thinking had changed. I left that classroom double thinking about everything related to celebrity culture, namely K-pop. I developed the ability to think objectively, considered alternate opinions, and thought about external factors that I would of never thought of before. I was thinking out of the box.
Fast forward to 4 years and here I am now. I just finished my 2nd year of university doing a degree called New Media. A degree that was not my first choice. Long story short, I wanted to do Graphic Design/Communication at Leeds, did not get the grades to get into the course, but was offered to switch to do New Media instead, so I accepted the offer because it seemed like fate.
Graphics was a degree choice based from heavy considerations for a stable future, whilst media studies was a degree choice that I would have enjoyed a lot more but held the risk of me failing due to my terrible luck with paper/essay-based examinations. Then again, I did manage to somehow get almost full marks with my coursework and exam during my 2nd year of A levels, somehow enabling me to get an A* overall despite achieving a B during 1st year.
Wow I'm going off on a tangent...
I've studied about western media for 6 years in total now (wow, the same amount of time that I've been into K-pop for) and I think it's time to learn about Asian media.
Being ethnically Chinese, I grew up consuming Hong Kong media (TVB) as well as British media. There are noticeable differences between the two, HK media seems more cheesey compared to British. Yet, British media seem to not focus on family bonding as much as HK dramas. I've also noticed that HK celeb gossip news shows are far more gobby and fairly irritating to watch and listen to.
So I want to know, what ideologies does Korea have when it comes to media? Why is blackface broadcasted despite its negative connotations and sensitive history that comes with it? Is it ignorance within the media industry, or Korea as a whole? To be honest I didn't know about the blackface issue until it was brought up in an article perhaps a year ago. My high school never mentioned it.
Right, so in sum: Love for korean music + culture + food + technology + media = STUDY IN SOUTH KOREA.
Apart from the personal interests factor....
Monetarily, North America and Canada required higher costs of standard of living. Additionally, such destinations are high in demand by many students, therefore getting a place at such locations is highly comeptitive. So why bother?
Furthermore, going to America, Canada, or Australia sounds a bit...overrated, overdone. Because many students go there you would hear many similar things, things that you've heard of before, repeated things, same old same old, it gets boring and obvious. Whereas for South Korea you don't hear much about it, which makes it new, refreshing, and exciting to hear about. Not many students would consider studying abroad in South Korea, perhaps due to the media-induced sensationalisation of the 'increasing' tension between the North and South. Or even the fear of language barriers and the strict Asian education regimes. South Korea is like a challenging adventure that not many would consider taking upon. It makes the student who took upon this challenge stand out.
Other minor factors include: public access to guns in the USA makes me feel uncomfortable, Winters in Canada sounds scary (though Korean Winters are just as scary), giant spiders in Australia is a no no, immense heat waves is a no no either, don't want to dish out a load of cash on huge textbooks that aren't available for library loaning or as online copies, don't want a meal plan either, and the land is huge how am I supposed to travel to different places cheaply and quickly - too used to this small rock called Great Britain.
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