"Hi, I'm korean boy."

That was the very first English sentence I actually used in my life. These days, even very young children speak English fluently, but I was already a high school student back then.

Discovering the Joy of Language Learning

That humble sentence probably contained a concentrated curiosity about the world outside of Korea. Starting with just that one sentence, I made many foreign friends, scored well on the Suneung English exam without much extra study, and even at my rather prestigious university, I took many elective courses in English, French, and German (because I enjoyed them) and got A+s in all of them. I also went backpacking alone overseas and studied abroad for five years. I never forced myself to study languages; I always did it because I found it fun. That one sentence was the beginning of that journey.

While smartphones and their apps are highly advanced now, when I was in high school, smartphones were just starting to become popular. As someone who was extremely unsociable (I'm still very unsociable, and communicating through text is still more comfortable and familiar than speaking), I suddenly came up with the idea of "talking to foreigners" to alleviate my loneliness. Back then, when you searched for "making foreign friends" online, the most frequently mentioned site was "Interpals." Even now, I think the name is really well-chosen. International Penpals, Interpals.

I mentioned this when I wrote about depression, but what paralyzes a person is pessimism. And pessimism isn't foolishness, but unnecessarily activated cleverness. It's knowing the situation too well, quickly concluding that "what I want won't happen anyway," and then making you unable to do anything because it won't work out anyway. That's how pessimism operates. In reality, if you just do something, the world will give you gifts you never imagined, but the devil of pessimism prevents you from even trying, just because what you want might not come true.

At my current age, I no longer try hard to make foreign friends or actively meet them. I feel like I know myself a little better, and the world a little better, so I can't even dream unrealistic dreams anymore. But when I was young, I always had dreams because I didn't know anything, and so I did things. Most of my fragrant memories, which I can't create at this age, were made during that time.

Backpacking Through Northern Europe

My first backpacking trip was to Northern Europe when I was 20.

I traveled in the order of Oslo (Norway) - Bergen (Norway) - Oslo (Norway) - Stockholm (Sweden) - Gothenburg (Sweden) - Aarhus (Denmark) - Munich (Germany) - Helsinki (Finland). Oh wait, I'm not sure if this order is accurate.

In Oslo, Bergen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Aarhus, and Helsinki, I had friends from those countries. They were all friends I made on Interpals. Germany was the only place where I had no one to meet, and perhaps because of that, my three days there were truly boring. I'm not sociable, but I felt like I should drink beer anyway, but I don't usually drink alcohol, and I remember sitting sadly, munching on a humble beer and a sausage, and eventually leaving the beer unfinished. In Germany, I also felt like the accommodation intentionally grouped Asians together, and when I spoke English to strangers on the street, their expressions weren't very good. I didn't have many good memories there, and I wonder if the root of those memories was my already sunken mood because I had no friends to meet there. (In Norway, I remember thinking, "Is this country full of angels?" because someone would approach me and say, "Can I help you?" just when I was standing at a crosswalk – a very personal memory.)

In the next part, I'd like to talk more about my personal travel stories and the characteristics of the Interpals website (at that time).