Frequently asked Questions
Questions about this blog
I love this question, as I put quite some thought into the name. When I was planning my trip to Korea I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to keep my family and friends up to date during my trip and immediately thought of writing blogs as it has been a passion of mine since elementary school.
However, the only time I was used to using blogs at the time was for recipes, especially Korean recipes (keep this term in mind) as the internet was my main guide so far on K-pop, Korea in general and its culture and food. Since then a lot has changed and I have started following several travel bloggers and other travel content creators.
Additionally, I feel like the goal of this blog, mainly involving describing my interests and experiences, is kind of a recipe in the sense of an ‘absolute beginners guide’ to enjoying some of the blog’s topics, like: K-pop, Korean culture and traveling to Korea. And as my name is Anne and I immediately saw the opportunity in using my initial interest for blogs in a quirky way (befitting me, as people who know me might agree with me).
Befitting the theme of my blog, including the term that forms my initial introduction to blogs and highlighting my name in it, I named my blog: Kore-An Recipe.
When I was planning this trip I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to keep my family and friends up to date during my trip and immediately thought of writing blogs as it has been a passion of mine since elementary school. Along the way I also saw the opportunity to develop my skills in online communication with blogging and extended my initial idea a bit by including SEO, web-building, affiliate programs and social media content.
I did! I’m not an expert, but did some research and followed a basic YouTube tutorial on how to create a website for blogging. Afterwards I decided on the different pages and content I wanted to publish by looking at some other bloggers and here we are!
I will probably be updating and changing a lot of things to improve my website, but for now I am happy with the result. If you see any room for improvement, let me know and send me a message here!
In a way some topics did pop up while I was studying communication science, like determining and targeting your audience, some basic writing skills (what not to do mainly), but most of it I learned through trial and error (and Youtube tutorials).
It also helped that over the years I have developed a genuine interest (maybe due to my studies) in entertainment communication, including some photography, editing, social media and content creation. And I have liked writing ever since elementary school! I am in no way an expert, but learning along the way.
Questions about me
Back in 2021 I was kind of at a crossroad: I was at the end of my studies, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after that. I had worked at a store from the age of 15 after school hours, on weekends and in school vacations, but never used the money for anything. With my saved up money I decided to do something that was a bit out of my comfort zone: book a spontaneous trip.
At the time (october 2021) BTS had just announced their Permission To Dance in Los Angeles shows and I got a hold of some tickets. As a new fan I had never seen them live before and with the knowledge of the mandatory military service, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions for concerts I was not sure if I would get the opportunity to see them live in my home country, the Netherlands anytime soon.
I took the chance and booked a 13-hour flight for a 6-day trip to Los Angeles. I met 4 amazing other fans in the hostel I was staying at, saw BTS live for the first time, visited some family close to Los Angeles and made some lifelong memories. In another twist of fate my sudden increase of interest in K-pop and Korea made me decide to do my master thesis about K-pop fan culture and eventually motivated me to work in Marketing after graduating.
Everything combined in the end resulted in my next trip, which will be 3 months of studying in Korea. But if you want to know more about how that came to be, take a look at my story.
Seeing as I don’t know when I’ll update this again, or when you will be seeing this, I’ll just say I was born in 1998 and you can calculate.
I was born and raised in Haarlem, the Netherlands. If you ever pay a visit to the Netherlands, it’s a 15 minute train ride from Amsterdam and definitely worth the trip!
If you would like some recommendations, send me a message! I would be glad to help out!
I went to the University of Amsterdam and got my Bachelor and Master in Communication Science there, majoring in Entertainment Communication. My graduation projects revolved around Gamified Learning Apps (bachelor) and Fan culture in K-pop (master), both quite ironic if you know where I am now: learning Korean partially with the help of Gamified Learning Apps and traveling to Korea partially due to being a Fan of K-pop.
The short answer: temporarily, no.
The long answer: After graduating I started working in Marketing at a company. After discussing a lot and some (unexpected) changes I got the opportunity to take a 3-month break and plan my trip to Korea. Currently the goal of this trip is to learn about Korea’s culture and language and make some new memories.
During this time I will also be developing my professional (online) marketing and communication skills with the help of this blog and several social media channels as this has been an interest and passion after my studies in (Entertainment) Communication Science. After 3 months in Korea I am planning on returning to the Netherlands and start working again, but who knows what the future will hold!
General
No worries! You can send me a message through the contact form here. I will answer as soon as possible.