I love driving. Ever since I was an elementary student, I have been driving. Even before I had a driver’s license, I drove a lawnmower and a snowmobile on our family farm. Did you know that most Americans get a driver’s license on their 16th birthday? Driving is a rite of passage, because it opens the world to high school students in a whole new way.

I remember my first car: it was a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit. It was a sporty bright red hatchback with tinted windows.  I loved that car. In fact, ever since then, I have had an obsession with German-engineered automobiles. This car had a four-speed manual transmission, so I loved to downshift when I came to corners. Manual transmissions are the most fun because you can pretend that you are a race car driver!

Unfortunately, I didn’t have that car for very long. Several months after I got my license, I crashed it into a telephone pole! That was frightening. Since I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, I hit my head very hard on the windshield and was knocked unconscious. I woke up in the hospital room and was promptly interrogated by a policeman, who informed me that I would be receiving a ticket for reckless driving. I was still reeling from the accident, so it seemed a little insensitive to me at the time.

Thankfully, I survived the crash with only a minor concussion and a black eye, so I was released from the hospital the next day. Sadly, my car didn’t fare as well. My poor Volkswagen was completely totaled! But it was okay, because I was able to find another car that was almost identical to my old one. And luckily haven’t had another accident since then.

Fast-forward to the present. I recently bought my first car in Korea. It’s a BMW! I still love German cars. But I have found driving in Korea to have its own unique challenges. The worst thing about driving in Korea is not driving at all; it’s parking. There are way too many cars in Seoul, and so there’s no place to park. Even at my apartment complex, there was no parking, so I had to find public parking nearby. Since I didn’t have a parking spot, I was given a crash course on public parking in Korea.

The most important thing is to leave your phone number on the car so that you can move it if you are in someone’s way. This gave me great culture shock. Americans never do this, because we would consider it an invasion of privacy. Also we are afraid of strangers using our number to harass or stalk us. But in Korea, this is standard procedure, and if you don’t leave your phone number, your car may be towed!

Another important thing to know about driving in Korea is the CCTV cameras. Because Korea is full of these cameras, you never know when you are being watched. So you must be very careful not to break any laws when driving and parking.

The real problem is discerning where you can park. While no-parking zones in America are usually well-marked with signs, no-parking zones in Korea are often left unmarked. Nevertheless, if you park in the wrong space, you will surely receive a ticket in the mail for 40,000 won. The worst part is that it takes several weeks before the ticket arrives in your mail. By that time, you may have been parking in the same spot and accumulating tickets every day. That’s what happened to me. In fact, I received eight parking tickets before I even realized that there was a problem!

But by far, the most expensive part of driving in Korea is paying for gas. When I bought my first car in America, gas prices were just over $1/gallon (300 won/liter). As I found out, Korea has much higher gas prices. Now the price of gas has sky-rocketed to around 2,000 won/liter, so it costs me around 125,000 won to fill up my tank. I am paying nearly seven times as much!

After giving you all these warnings, don’t let me discourage you from buying a car. For me, driving is worth all of the extra hassle and expenses that come with it. Driving is one the best feelings in the world. Especially on a sunny spring day, there are few things more enjoyable than cranking down your windows, turning up your stereo, and going for a joy ride. For me, driving represents freedom. If I didn’t have a car, I wouldn’t feel fully free any more. May you all experience the joy of driving. Happy motoring, Kookminers!

Jonathan Foster(Professor, Dept. of General Education)

thathideousstrength@gmail.com