Last week Kyoko, a Japanese girl I met in Korea, visited Amsterdam, and we met for some dinner and drinks. She actually lives in the UK now, so it wasn't such a long trip for her. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive at first, because of what happened during one of the last days in Korea. I'm not going to say what exactly, but for me personally it was certainly a strange experience., and I guess for her as well.

Of course, in the end it turned out to be a nice weekend. We talked openly about what happened, and it's always nice to talk about stuff that happened in Korea. We'd actually never really talked much to each other before, but it's funny to hear that we form more or less the same opinions about most of the different people we met there, even though we hung with different crowds. It was a pretty fun time, and talking about it definitely makes me feel a bit nostalgic.

One of the things we mentioned is how much more confident and social I seem to be compared to 5 years ago. I remember saying to her that I don't like to pinpoint any one reason for that, and that I rather see it as a long and hard process. But looking back, I have to admit that I made a huge step thanks to my experiences in Korea. Perhaps that's the reason why I feel Korea will always seem special to me, even if I did not harbor any particular feelings about the country at the time.