The simple joys of having a routine

_{Sunday, 8:23PM
July 13, 2025}

안녕하세요 from Seoul, South Korea!

After months of bopping around between hostels, motorbikes, and ferry rides, I’ve found myself doing something truly wild: waking up at 6am every day. On purpose.

I’m just about halfway complete with Sogang University’s month-long Korean Immersion Program (KIP). In just two weeks, I went from basically no Korean knowledge to being able to confidently order at cafes / restaurants, respond to basic greetings, and read pretty much anything (with varying degrees of comprehension).

Korean is the third East Asian language I’m picking up—after Chinese (which I spoke at home) and Japanese (which I studied in college). This means that Korean is the first language I deliberately started studying as a “real adult.”

And I have to say, going back to a university environment has been SO MUCH fun, now that I’m a couple years removed from student life.

Without the pressure of grades, finding a job, and generally trying to stay alive, I’ve been really enjoying dedicating a large part of my day to learning. It’s so satisfying to learn how to say numbers in class one day and immediately apply it at a restaurant during lunch. I’ve also been using a spaced repetition system with Anki to make sure I retain what I learn, which has been working out pretty well.

Outside of the classroom, the program also sets aside time for cultural activities, including:

• Watching the Doosan Bears get wrecked at a baseball game 🥲 

• Practicing writing poetic phrases with calligraphy

• Cosplaying as a high school student at Lotte World

• Cooking, dancing, Taekwando, and more

Somehow, I’ve also had plenty of time outside of class to explore Seoul and different parts of Korea. Over the last two weekends, we visited Busan (the second largest city in Korea) and Gyeongju (the former capital of the Silla dynasty).

However, one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about this leg of my journey has been my morning routine. Almost every weekday, my morning looks something like this:

• 6:00-6:30am: Wake up, brush my teeth, use the bathroom

• 6:30-7:30am: Head down to the dorm gym

• 7:30-7:45am: Take a shower and wash up

• 7:45am-8:45am: Walk to a new cafe, grab morning coffee + breakfast

• 8:45am-9:00am: Speedwalk to class, usually arriving just in time

It’s been so grounding to wake up in the same bed, see familiar faces, and know what to expect throughout the day. But even within this structure, I’m able to tweak the small things—my workout routine, the cafe we’re going to try out, and which ajumma to buy kimbap from. My roommate and I have even started taking notes on each cafe we visit. Maybe we’ll eventually turn it into a Korea cafe guide.

I’m a bit bummed that this program is already halfway over. I’ve really enjoyed making new friends, rapidly progressing in Korean, and the stability that’s been reintroduced to my life. But regardless, I’m grateful this experience has helped me better appreciate the simple joys of having a routine and doing things just a little bit differently each day.

Hope you have an amazing week 🙂 See ya next time!

- Tim