I love Hangang River’s night view. It is beautiful. There are 25 bridges across Hangang River. Banpo Bridge is one of the most famous bridges which is famous for its night view and activities nearby. Last weekend, I hanged around Hangang River with friends. It was a nice place to relax for everyone. I saw many families, couples and friends sat around the stairs near the river and chatted. Hangang weekend culture is very entertainment. A bank with 5 youths stood on a stage and performed in front of people for free. My roommate was major in music, and she told me they sang so well even though they were not professional.
This reminds me of a common fact of Korea: Entertainment industry is one of the biggest business. As far as we know, big entertainment companies, like SM and YG, train a lot pop stars successfully. They sing well, dance well. Many youths who love music and dream to be famous will stay in these entertainment companies for training. These youths have singing class or dancing class taught by professional teachers. They normally have to spend more than 10 hours a day. It is hard. And they have to pass the test periodically in order to come on the scene and to be known by us. And because the companies set high bar for these youths, still many youths fail the tests or give up.
In addition, I found out many of my classmates make money by buying Korean makeup products and resale to China. Makeup products in Korea is cheap, but they are a bit expensive in mainland China. Korean makeup products are in good quality and widely-use. Therefore, they buy many many products in store because the more they buy, the more discounts they have. After that, they will travel back to China with them when this semester is over. China online business develops so fast. My classmates put all those products online and set a price that is a bit cheaper than in the stores in China, so that they still earn a good amount of money from the price difference between Korea and China. My classmates are in Level One that speak limited Korean, so it is very difficult for them to find a part-time job in Korea. Doing resale is a good way for them to earn fast money.