Nikkiness Geographic

I am a traveler.

But first and foremost, I am nikki: a dreamer, a lover, and an adventurous girl looking to hold a small fraction of the universe in my hands. Star by star, I’m getting there. Passion pulses through my veins and ideas swarm in my mind like fireflies in a jar. I reside on the brink of laughter, at the corner of sarcasm and random (several blocks past “the line”, which I always cross); yet my pursuits run seriously and steadily as I do on the treadmill, with a determination that will run over anything in my way. Given my love, passion and determination, forgive me if I scoff at you when you scoff at me for what I want to do (travel the world, write about it, help it, love it and share it with the rest of the world); because I’m already doing it (National Geographic, I’m coming for you). I don’t even care if that means walking around with a 500lb camera and a notepad. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Some are on the pursuit of happiness; I’m on the pursuit of nikkiness—which, in other words, is everything; my pursuit of life and my way of living it. So far, I’ve found incredible things—all things that add more and more pieces to this ridiculous puzzle that I can’t seem to stop finding pieces for. As for the nikkiness itself…at times, it flickers like small melodies, and other times it rings loudly as a full symphony. Planted softly as a little seed 20 years ago, it continually grows; and like most plants, it grows best where it is nourished blissfully. And for me, that place of bliss is either in love, or in travel. You’re seeing the psychedelic effects of the latter.

So on that note, you’ve happened to stumble across me in the mere hours before I discover South Korea. You might be able to say you know me (in which case, I’m sorry to disappoint you, because in the next 10 days, I’m going to completely change again). But isn’t it the loveliest thing in the world that the girl you drop off at the airport comes back as metamorphosed as a butterfly when you pick her up?

As for what I want to do with this blog, I hope to convey even a fraction of the bliss of my travels to you. I’m not a native Korean, so there’s only so much insight I can give into the crazy excellence of Korean culture, but I hope my attempts at some altered form of ethnography can be conveyed well to someone sitting in their room, far removed from South Korea. At the very least, I hope my adventures to follow are incredible, ridiculous, humorous and inspiring. Enjoy as I try to navigate my way through Korean culture, language, food, geography and everything else in between.

A cab driver from Ethiopia (with a fondness for Mark Twain) once told me, “the world is my country and love is my religion”. Though he may be an unexpected philosopher, his may be the only philosophy I can wholeheartedly accept. And softly, it resounds in the back of my mind all the time, carrying me from journey to journey. Some journeys require a passport, and others merely require passion. I’m packing both. 

잘 가렴 

-n