Interview by Crystal Yoon

Where is your hometown? 

My hometown is Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is the capital of South Korea. For a simpler comparison, Seoul is like California or New York. It’s the center of South Korea, as it’s the most developed city. What I love about Seoul is the shopping streets, such as Hongdae and Myeongdong. Each street has its own trend and fashion, and people are usually more attracted to one street depending on their style.

I remember going with my friends before coming here, and it’s one of the best memories I have of living in South Korea. I finished college in South Korea and was working for a company there when, coincidentally, I met a friend who introduced me to an opportunity to study abroad in America. I applied first, and when I got accepted, I decided to take the chance. That’s how I came to America. I was very excited about this opportunity because America was way more developed and modern than Korea at the time. America seemed like a place so distant from me, so when I got the chance to come here, I took it without hesitation.

I first settled in Hawaii and attended Brigham Young University. I enjoyed my experience at the university. It was a really different college environment than I had experienced in Korea. The professors were very nice. I enjoyed their lectures. Different from the university I attended in Korea, the classes were filled with more discussions, and we were given a lot of freedom. I made a lot of new international friends from different countries who were very nice to study with. One challenge I faced was speaking English, but I couldn’t avoid it. However, since the people with whom I studied were mostly international students whose first language was not English, we didn’t judge when another person really couldn’t speak English. Our grammar and vocab were hard to understand for others, but for us, we understood each other without any difficulty.

Being away from my hometown wasn’t always enjoyable.  For the first six months, I often felt homesick and struggled to adjust to the new environment. It took me a year to fully adapt to American culture and the environment. One thing that helped me get through this new change was visiting my hometown. After living in America for about a year, I visited my hometown for the first time, and after that, I felt ready to live there. I do sometimes miss my hometown because that is where all my firsts happened: my first home, my first college experience, and my first job.

Do you live or work in Koreatown? 

I live in Koreatown right now, but I did live in Burbank before. Burbank is a lot quieter than Koreatown, and there weren’t many Koreans when I lived there. I often felt lonely because I didn’t have family members or friends whom I could lean on. After living in Burbank for around a year, I decided to move to Koreatown after inviting my family to come to America. For them to live a more comfortable life, I thought it would be good to settle in Koreatown, a place most similar to South Korea. Living in Koreatown, they wouldn’t necessarily need to speak English, which I thought would make the adjustment a lot easier.

Although it was very challenging at first to support the whole family, everyone started adjusting to their new environments by taking jobs and helping out the family. My mother works in a restaurant in Koreatown, but as of now, her place has had to shut down. I can’t imagine another place our family would have decided to live other than Koreatown because of its convenience and familiarity.

My job has changed a lot after coming to America. My first job was at an eyeglass company, where I was in charge of data entry. Though I did work there for five years, I wanted to try something that I had a genuine interest in. My dream was to be a designer, as I always had a passion for the clothing industry. However, starting at a much older age than others, I decided to learn patternmaking, which was similar to designing. I got in contact with a teacher who had a lot of experience in this area and learned everything related to patternmaking for a year. I got my first job as a patternmaker in downtown [Los Angeles] and am still working in this position. I love how I can be part of the clothing-making process. My job is to make the framework of the clothing.