While K-pop, and even pop as a genre, can be considered superficial or shallow, I believe this album showed that modern music doesn’t mean rejection of traditions and history. If anything, it’s a great way for newer generations and people from different places to understand culture at a deeper level and keep their heritage while still innovating.
The most fun activity this week was going with my friends to see the cherry blossoms at Yeouido, a large island in the Han River. We walked next to the Han River, ate Korean street food, watched some singers on the street and took pictures of the flowers. There were many decorations around but it was hard to take pictures with so many people around.
This week I’ve been reading mostly school-related books. For my International and Comparative Law class I’ve had to read a lot about democracy and the problems it has faced these last decades. The book my class is using is Global Challenges to Democracy - Comparative Perspectives on Backsliding, Autocracy, and Resilience. I have also been reading Introduction to Korean Philosophy for another class. Right now we’re focusing mostly on the different ways of thinking between Western and Asian societies. An interesting fact according to my class: Westerners think more with nouns (describing things around them) and Asian countries, like South Korea, think more with verbs (what actions to do).
