Hanul is a word for Sky

......over 2 years, my first months were (of course) the closest thing to hell I had experienced up to that time: cultural shock, diet problems, climate change, and most of all, nearly complete obscurity in terms of social and personal communication, due to the language barrier.

The reasons for this next-to-suicidal, impulsive trip were basically three: I was fascinated with a writing system I had never seen before and I wanted to know what it was made of, I also had a vivid curiosity for Asian culture and I wanted to start exploring it from a remote corner, a place which was not as well-known in the west as Japan is, not as big as China, not as exotic and popular as Thailand, not so westernized as Singapore.

I wanted to experience something different, totally different from my European standards, and I have to say I got what I asked for. After 8 years, my interest for Korea, its language, the people and the culture is still alive and kicking. What I had in mind in the beginning, turned out to be one of the most significant experiences in my life, and it gave me a deep insight on one of the best preserved cultures in East Asia.

When I was working and studying in Korea, the most difficult thing wasn't learning the alphabet, or the first grammatical rules, reading shop signs or ordering food during my first weeks; the real challenge was trying to understand what brought koreans to be what they are today: fierce, competitive, reserved, accurate, fast, sometimes too fast, with an old-fashioned sense of humour, and a countryside sort-of-farmer's wisdom that is sadly disappearing from most of the planet.

What ultimately enabled me to understand them, interact with them, enjoy their lifestyle and even get upset sometimes, was their language. By learning and understanding idioms, expressions and their cultural roots, I came to see what made me, an Italian, and them, koreans, so different yet so attractive to each other.

Their cultural and social traits (group mentality vs. individualism, dedication to work, respect for the elderly, obedience to social etiquette and so forth) were all so evident in their language, as the art of arranging things at the very last moment was clear in mine.

My 2 years in Korea would have never been so interesting, rich, fulfilling and even stressful at times, if I didn't make the effort of learning and practicing korean in everyday life. It made a whole new world of difference, and opened all doors.

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