How the Hagwon Industry in Seoul Broke Me
I sometimes look back at the girl I used to be back in December 2020. We were in the thick of a global pandemic, but I was so happy. I just graduated with honors from university, and received the prestigious Fulbright Grant. I was so cocky and full of it. However, Covid-19 delayed the grant start date and I was left with an awkward 8-month hiatus and nothing to fill it. I decided to go back to Seoul, South Korea to teach English because it just seemed like the most whimsical experience ever. All of the odds seemed to be in my favor for the smoothest time of my life: I’ve studied abroad there before, they were seemingly doing well with covid restrictions, I have family and friends there to help me, I speak Korean, and I am familiar with the culture. What could possibly go wrong? The first 8 months of 2021 were absolute torture, yet they were the most critical and life-changing 8 months of my life. When I first arrived in Seoul, I was contracted with an English School (...