HOW I FELT MORE KOREAN IN THE UNITED STATES Bryan Choi

Hey there! So, I grew up in South Korea but moved to the United States when I was in 5th grade. I didn't know much about American culture, except for what I saw in Tom & Jerry and Hollywood movies But, I adapted quickly and became immersed in American life Still, I made sure to hold on to my Korean identity One thing I did was volunteering as a Korean teacher at the Southern California Korean Institute, which was a great way for me to explore my heritage and interact with tons of students who also wanted to learn the Korean alphabet (한글)

As I got more interested in Korean culture, I started doing research and writing about it. I wrote about things like the history of Korea and the importance of unifying the Korean peninsula I wanted to raise awareness about forgotten tragedies that happened during the colonization of Korea

One of the biggest things that happened to me was getting nominated for the Young Leaders of Unification Seminar. I got to meet students from North Korea and talk to them about how we can work together to achieve peace and harmony. It was eye-opening to see that, even though we come from different places and have different backgrounds, we're really not that different after all

What I learned from that experience is that we tend to make things more complicated than they need to be If we just break down those initial barriers and try to work together, we can accomplish a lot. And, of course, having empathy and understanding is key.

This was my journey in how I made sure the Korean identity within me did not diminish living in the United States What was your story like?