Dear readers:
I would like to greet you for the first time, as I have had a great opportunity to participate with the San Diego Community Newspaper Group.
It has been three months since I arrived in San Diego, and I have been staying in Little Italy during this time. My life there has been fascinating because I could experience two different versions of scenery simultaneously: the ocean and the city. Also, it’s hard to talk about Little Italy without mentioning how nice the restaurants are.
I am from Korea, and I know the feeling how comforting a foreign village can be for people from abroad. I also have enjoyed visiting Convoy Street to have some Asian food with my friends. Therefore, it meant a lot to me to be a part of the melting pot of Italian and American history, experiencing how Italians appreciate their own culture and food in San Diego.
Now, I have moved to Pacific Beach, and I am getting used to the new, more peaceful atmosphere that gives me a Californian mood.
Let me tell you more about my story. I am a university student in Korea, studying philosophy. As someone who is always eager to explore the wider world, I decided to come to the US with only one semester left until graduation. I am here as a participant in a cultural exchange program between the USA and the Korean government.
Over the past three months, I have taken a language course and had a tremendous opportunity to meet people from different countries and hear their stories. Every single story they shared has given me inspiration and helped me find meaning in my life in this new city.
The people and culture here are vastly different from what I have experienced in Korea. San Diego is less hectic compared to the city where I was born and raised, which is Seoul. Therefore, I am learning how to ease myself and not be obsessed with perfectionism.
People here enjoy engaging in small talk with random people on the street and treat me as if we have been friends for decades. Small talk is one of the unfamiliar cultural practices that many Asians are not used to, and I also had a hard time with it at first. However, it has helped me a lot to get to know San Diego better over time. Now, I understand that this is one of the essentials of American culture.
Also, people here are more open-minded about diversity. Once, I volunteered as an interpreter for a program held by the US Embassy in Seoul and the San Diego Diplomacy Council. The theme of the program was ‘diversity and tolerance,’ and it featured influencers with various characteristics, such as homosexual, people who need more help, a drag queen, a North Korean defector, and more.
I remember that a drag queen told me she feels safer and more confident here because people compliment her fashion and take pride in her, saying she is astonishing and marvelous. However, back when she was in Korea, sometimes she had to endure insults from anonymous individuals. Even though Korea has been changing to better understand and embrace diversity than before, it is still conservative in some ways compared to the rest of the world.
Of course, as in the case of every city around the world, there are some problems here too. Rent and prices are too high for many people to afford, leading to being unhoused. Before I came to the US, I had heard that the homeless problem was getting more severe, but now it has become a reality in my life. I couldn’t hide the shock when I first saw tens of tents under a bridge and people living with their belongings in shopping carts.
Moreover, there might be various kinds of difficulties that students from abroad or non-native Americans have encountered. The number of students pursuing bachelor’s to doctoral degrees from other countries is increasing. At the same time, non-native populations are also on the rise.
With experience working as a journalist for a university newspaper in Korea, I truly enjoy hearing the voices of students who are the future of our society. As I have family members who are Korean Americans, I am also interested in people who are forging their own paths and communities in a world where they are recognized as strangers.
The world we live in is becoming more diverse as time goes by, and San Diego is no exception. Everyone is facing challenges in their lives and trying to find solutions. I hope I can serve as a bridge, conveying varied stories and offering new perspectives to interpret San Diego as someone who came from outside of this society through the San Diego Community Newspaper Group.
Kyungmin Min is an international intern from South Korea.
