Korea: An Unexpected Journey, with Ana-Maria
The ex-K-pop and K-drama fan thought she was done with Korea. She’d grown up, was busy working in Europe… But Korea wasn’t done with her.
Meet Ana-Maria, and you’ll be charmed. A happy ball of energy who talks a million miles a minute, the Romanian is somehow the life of the party and retreats for days in her room, behind her screen. She knows what she wants, and she’s a big planner - but she’s also very impulsive and keeps gladly taking detours on the way. Like Korea itself, she’s a delightful mix of contradictions.
Self-describing as a “recovering Koreaboo”, the videographer fell in love with K-pop and learned Korean as a teenager. She dreamt of visiting the country, but life went another direction… until it didn’t.
This is a story about embracing your dreams, even when you’ve outgrown them.
Why Korea?
I was obsessed with Korean culture when I was a teen, around 2012-2018. I was into K-pop and K-drama, and I studied the language online by myself. I’m a recovering Koreaboo, and I am not ashamed of my past (laughs).
Did you always want to visit the country?
It was always a dream of mine. As a teenager, I wanted to live in Korea. But first, I wanted to study in the UK, so I thought I would choose a university with an exchange program with Korea.
Why not go to university in Korea directly?
I knew it would be harder to go to a university in Korea, and the best school for events, tourism, and hospitality was in the UK. It’s funny how things change when you look back… After that, I started living my life, I was growing up, and I kind of lost my passion for Korea. By the time I graduated, my priority was to find a job. I got an opportunity, and everything just went from there.
Was Korea out of the picture, then?
Korea was just my past. It was something I was still interested in passing, but I wasn’t as committed to it as I used to be. Actually, my cousins were the ones who got me into the culture. We thought we’d be able to go together, and I always had this idea that I wanted it to be special when I finally went. Little did I know it would happen completely differently than I imagined (laughs).
What happened? (Laughs.)
I was pretty good at video editing, and everyone told me I should do that as a job, but I didn’t listen to them (laughs). So, I left Romania when I was 19 for University in Surrey, south of London. I lived there for 3 years for studies in event management. I didn’t like it (laughs). Instead, I continued video editing on the side, then I got a job as a… video editor in an agency. I got really lucky that I ended up in this career anyway.
How did you become a nomad from there?
In 2023, after 7 years of living in the UK, I was a bit burned out. My job had a hustler mentality - I was working a lot, and I had some personal issues as well. I didn’t feel like I belonged anymore. My clients were remote. The weather sucked. I couldn’t meet my friends because it took forever to commute. I quit. I needed a change.
Where did you want to go?
I wanted to pack my bag and move to Spain. But literally one month after that, I subscribed to Château Coliving, a French coliving & coworking, and I got this notification about a guy looking for a videographer for a nomad experience in Switzerland. Back then, I didn’t really know what nomads were. I sent him an email, and he replied almost immediately. He was a long-time nomad from Belgium and had started Hubs, a workation program organised during the off-season in places where there is a high seasonality.
And you just… went.
Yeah. In October, I was on a beautiful train ride from Geneva airport to the mountain. I met many nomads, learned a lot about the lifestyle. It’s funny, right? When you’re at a really low point in your life, you don’t really think things through. Even though I was paying a lot for rent in London, I had a pretty good situation compared to most people. I was letting go of that, and it was a big step for me to take, but it wasn’t scary to leave London. I just thought “I’m gonna leave”. I didn’t have a plan. When I started this thing, I didn’t know where it was going to take me.
To Korea!
Well, first I went back to Romania a bit, then moved to France for a few months in Lille. I started having really good clients for freelancing as a video editor. I went to Bansko Nomad Fest in Bulgaria, where I discovered I could identify as a slowmad because I like to stay so long in countries (laughs). And Bansko is where I met Jeong, the founder of Digital Nomads Korea. She told me she was organising a workation in Busan in Autumn 2024. And I thought, why not get involved and join them there?
What was your first impression when you arrived in Korea?
The funniest thing was the sheer confusion on people’s faces when they heard me speak Korean. They asked me how long I had been here, and I said “two weeks” (laughs). They were so confused.
How many languages do you speak?
English, Romanian, French, and Spanish. My Korean is nowhere like it used to be when I was at my peak Koreaboo-ness. Still, speaking some of the language and knowing a lot about the culture beforehand only gets you so far. It was still very overwhelming when I arrived. I experienced a culture shock over big things, like the working culture, the hierarchy, the overtime. And little things, like when you go for the first time to someone’s house, you bring a bag of toilet paper. It’s a housewarming gift (laughs).
Did it make you want to live in Korea?
I like Europe a bit too much. But there are so many cool things here: fashion, food, music. I can see the appeal of wanting to live here. There’s so much to see, even though it’s such a small country. Every time I’m here, I enjoy it. Every time I leave, I’m sad.
You’ve come twice now.
Yes, I came for the Hoppin Busan and Jeju workation in 2024 and then came back for more in 2025.
Do you regret not coming earlier?
No. I’m glad I didn’t come here in high school. I think I would have been too naive. I would have come with stars in my eyes because I idealised the culture and the people. Now I have the maturity and experience to just see Korea for what it is (laughs).
What are your favorite things?
There are so many. Fashion, food, entertainment… The sheer number of events always happening everywhere. I feel like a local in Busan now, which is awesome. I also went to a 2NE1 concert in Seoul this year, which was definitely a highlight of my life.
Life! (Laughs.)
Honestly (laughs). It was mindblowing. It was so well organised. The 15-year-old in me… OMG. It was surreal.
2NE1 are K-pop icons. Did you do anything else related to K-pop while here?
After the workation, I spent some time in Seoul and went to the 1 Million dance studio classes. One of their teachers, May J Lee, did a choreography for Membong, one of CL’s songs (a member of 2NE1), and it went viral many years ago. It was a dream to be able to be taught by her.
Anything else you crossed off the bucket list?
Eating doenjang-jjigae. It’s one of my favorite foods - I think Romanians and Koreans both like fermented food. I got dressed up in a hanbok at Gyeongbokgung Palace, I went to Everland amusement park. I did that thing where you send yourself a letter to yourself in one year. I went to Lotte World with a group of friends from Digital Nomads Korea, and we wore the schoolgirl outfit. That was really fun.
Why did you decide to come back for a second workation?
In 2024, I just made instant friends in the Hoppin community - during the Busan and Jeju workations and in the coliving in Seoul. I wanted to see them again. For me, that is the main thing: people in this community are kind. In general, it’s super hard to make very close friends when you travel, but here I made many. I loved discovering Korea, with these people… They’re what stays with me. I can eat good food and go to concerts anywhere, but doing it there, with them, is what made it special.
So you’ve kept in touch after the workation?
Yes! Some have even come to visit me when I move around. It’s something I used to dream about when I was a kid. For me, being able to tell myself, you have friends from everywhere, you have lived everywhere... It blows my mind.
Ana-Maria’s recommendations
🎢 Something to ride
Disco Pang Pang is a special ride in the Sambo Game Land arcade in Busan. I love the feeling of being on this ride. I think it’s the feeling of turning - there’s a lot of energy to it, but it’s not a scary ride or anything. The MC comments, and I always have back and forth with him (laughs). I would live in Disco Pang Pang for the rest of my life (laughs).
📺 Something to watch
Running Man is Korean entertainment TV at its peak. I got so much of my cultural knowledge of Korea from it when I was a Koreaboo. It’s super fun, and you learn a lot of slang. It’s a great way to learn natural ways of talking in Korean when you’re far away.
💃 Something to try
1Million Dance Studio is a very foreigner-friendly K-pop dance studio. You can meet a lot of people; everyone is very open. They’re pretty affordable in my opinion, and they’re located in Seongsu, which is a super cool area. They have different levels you can choose from, including beginner level.
Korea: An Unexpected Journey, with Ana-Maria
The ex-K-pop and K-drama fan thought she was done with Korea. She’d grown up, was busy working in Europe… But Korea wasn’t done with her.
Meet Ana-Maria, and you’ll be charmed. A happy ball of energy who talks a million miles a minute, the Romanian is somehow the life of the party and retreats for days in her room, behind her screen. She knows what she wants, and she’s a big planner - but she’s also very impulsive and keeps gladly taking detours on the way. Like Korea itself, she’s a delightful mix of contradictions.
Self-describing as a “recovering Koreaboo”, the videographer fell in love with K-pop and learned Korean as a teenager. She dreamt of visiting the country, but life went another direction… until it didn’t.
This is a story about embracing your dreams, even when you’ve outgrown them.
Why Korea?
I was obsessed with Korean culture when I was a teen, around 2012-2018. I was into K-pop and K-drama, and I studied the language online by myself. I’m a recovering Koreaboo, and I am not ashamed of my past (laughs).
Did you always want to visit the country?
It was always a dream of mine. As a teenager, I wanted to live in Korea. But first, I wanted to study in the UK, so I thought I would choose a university with an exchange program with Korea.
Why not go to university in Korea directly?
I knew it would be harder to go to a university in Korea, and the best school for events, tourism, and hospitality was in the UK. It’s funny how things change when you look back… After that, I started living my life, I was growing up, and I kind of lost my passion for Korea. By the time I graduated, my priority was to find a job. I got an opportunity, and everything just went from there.
Was Korea out of the picture, then?
Korea was just my past. It was something I was still interested in passing, but I wasn’t as committed to it as I used to be. Actually, my cousins were the ones who got me into the culture. We thought we’d be able to go together, and I always had this idea that I wanted it to be special when I finally went. Little did I know it would happen completely differently than I imagined (laughs).
What happened? (Laughs.)
I was pretty good at video editing, and everyone told me I should do that as a job, but I didn’t listen to them (laughs). So, I left Romania when I was 19 for University in Surrey, south of London. I lived there for 3 years for studies in event management. I didn’t like it (laughs). Instead, I continued video editing on the side, then I got a job as a… video editor in an agency. I got really lucky that I ended up in this career anyway.
How did you become a nomad from there?
In 2023, after 7 years of living in the UK, I was a bit burned out. My job had a hustler mentality - I was working a lot, and I had some personal issues as well. I didn’t feel like I belonged anymore. My clients were remote. The weather sucked. I couldn’t meet my friends because it took forever to commute. I quit. I needed a change.
Where did you want to go?
I wanted to pack my bag and move to Spain. But literally one month after that, I subscribed to Château Coliving, a French coliving & coworking, and I got this notification about a guy looking for a videographer for a nomad experience in Switzerland. Back then, I didn’t really know what nomads were. I sent him an email, and he replied almost immediately. He was a long-time nomad from Belgium and had started Hubs, a workation program organised during the off-season in places where there is a high seasonality.
And you just… went.
Yeah. In October, I was on a beautiful train ride from Geneva airport to the mountain. I met many nomads, learned a lot about the lifestyle. It’s funny, right? When you’re at a really low point in your life, you don’t really think things through. Even though I was paying a lot for rent in London, I had a pretty good situation compared to most people. I was letting go of that, and it was a big step for me to take, but it wasn’t scary to leave London. I just thought “I’m gonna leave”. I didn’t have a plan. When I started this thing, I didn’t know where it was going to take me.
To Korea!
Well, first I went back to Romania a bit, then moved to France for a few months in Lille. I started having really good clients for freelancing as a video editor. I went to Bansko Nomad Fest in Bulgaria, where I discovered I could identify as a slowmad because I like to stay so long in countries (laughs). And Bansko is where I met Jeong, the founder of Digital Nomads Korea. She told me she was organising a workation in Busan in Autumn 2024. And I thought, why not get involved and join them there?
What was your first impression when you arrived in Korea?
The funniest thing was the sheer confusion on people’s faces when they heard me speak Korean. They asked me how long I had been here, and I said “two weeks” (laughs). They were so confused.
How many languages do you speak?
English, Romanian, French, and Spanish. My Korean is nowhere like it used to be when I was at my peak Koreaboo-ness. Still, speaking some of the language and knowing a lot about the culture beforehand only gets you so far. It was still very overwhelming when I arrived. I experienced a culture shock over big things, like the working culture, the hierarchy, the overtime. And little things, like when you go for the first time to someone’s house, you bring a bag of toilet paper. It’s a housewarming gift (laughs).
Did it make you want to live in Korea?
I like Europe a bit too much. But there are so many cool things here: fashion, food, music. I can see the appeal of wanting to live here. There’s so much to see, even though it’s such a small country. Every time I’m here, I enjoy it. Every time I leave, I’m sad.
You’ve come twice now.
Yes, I came for the Hoppin Busan and Jeju workation in 2024 and then came back for more in 2025.
Do you regret not coming earlier?
No. I’m glad I didn’t come here in high school. I think I would have been too naive. I would have come with stars in my eyes because I idealised the culture and the people. Now I have the maturity and experience to just see Korea for what it is (laughs).
What are your favorite things?
There are so many. Fashion, food, entertainment… The sheer number of events always happening everywhere. I feel like a local in Busan now, which is awesome. I also went to a 2NE1 concert in Seoul this year, which was definitely a highlight of my life.
Life! (Laughs.)
Honestly (laughs). It was mindblowing. It was so well organised. The 15-year-old in me… OMG. It was surreal.
2NE1 are K-pop icons. Did you do anything else related to K-pop while here?
After the workation, I spent some time in Seoul and went to the 1 Million dance studio classes. One of their teachers, May J Lee, did a choreography for Membong, one of CL’s songs (a member of 2NE1), and it went viral many years ago. It was a dream to be able to be taught by her.
Anything else you crossed off the bucket list?
Eating doenjang-jjigae. It’s one of my favorite foods - I think Romanians and Koreans both like fermented food. I got dressed up in a hanbok at Gyeongbokgung Palace, I went to Everland amusement park. I did that thing where you send yourself a letter to yourself in one year. I went to Lotte World with a group of friends from Digital Nomads Korea, and we wore the schoolgirl outfit. That was really fun.
Why did you decide to come back for a second workation?
In 2024, I just made instant friends in the Hoppin community - during the Busan and Jeju workations and in the coliving in Seoul. I wanted to see them again. For me, that is the main thing: people in this community are kind. In general, it’s super hard to make very close friends when you travel, but here I made many. I loved discovering Korea, with these people… They’re what stays with me. I can eat good food and go to concerts anywhere, but doing it there, with them, is what made it special.
So you’ve kept in touch after the workation?
Yes! Some have even come to visit me when I move around. It’s something I used to dream about when I was a kid. For me, being able to tell myself, you have friends from everywhere, you have lived everywhere... It blows my mind.
Ana-Maria’s recommendations
🎢 Something to ride
Disco Pang Pang is a special ride in the Sambo Game Land arcade in Busan. I love the feeling of being on this ride. I think it’s the feeling of turning - there’s a lot of energy to it, but it’s not a scary ride or anything. The MC comments, and I always have back and forth with him (laughs). I would live in Disco Pang Pang for the rest of my life (laughs).
📺 Something to watch
Running Man is Korean entertainment TV at its peak. I got so much of my cultural knowledge of Korea from it when I was a Koreaboo. It’s super fun, and you learn a lot of slang. It’s a great way to learn natural ways of talking in Korean when you’re far away.
💃 Something to try
1Million Dance Studio is a very foreigner-friendly K-pop dance studio. You can meet a lot of people; everyone is very open. They’re pretty affordable in my opinion, and they’re located in Seongsu, which is a super cool area. They have different levels you can choose from, including beginner level.
Korea: An Unexpected Journey, with Ana-Maria
The ex-K-pop and K-drama fan thought she was done with Korea. She’d grown up, was busy working in Europe… But Korea wasn’t done with her.
Meet Ana-Maria, and you’ll be charmed. A happy ball of energy who talks a million miles a minute, the Romanian is somehow the life of the party and retreats for days in her room, behind her screen. She knows what she wants, and she’s a big planner - but she’s also very impulsive and keeps gladly taking detours on the way. Like Korea itself, she’s a delightful mix of contradictions.
Self-describing as a “recovering Koreaboo”, the videographer fell in love with K-pop and learned Korean as a teenager. She dreamt of visiting the country, but life went another direction… until it didn’t.
This is a story about embracing your dreams, even when you’ve outgrown them.
Why Korea?
I was obsessed with Korean culture when I was a teen, around 2012-2018. I was into K-pop and K-drama, and I studied the language online by myself. I’m a recovering Koreaboo, and I am not ashamed of my past (laughs).
Did you always want to visit the country?
It was always a dream of mine. As a teenager, I wanted to live in Korea. But first, I wanted to study in the UK, so I thought I would choose a university with an exchange program with Korea.
Why not go to university in Korea directly?
I knew it would be harder to go to a university in Korea, and the best school for events, tourism, and hospitality was in the UK. It’s funny how things change when you look back… After that, I started living my life, I was growing up, and I kind of lost my passion for Korea. By the time I graduated, my priority was to find a job. I got an opportunity, and everything just went from there.
Was Korea out of the picture, then?
Korea was just my past. It was something I was still interested in passing, but I wasn’t as committed to it as I used to be. Actually, my cousins were the ones who got me into the culture. We thought we’d be able to go together, and I always had this idea that I wanted it to be special when I finally went. Little did I know it would happen completely differently than I imagined (laughs).
What happened? (Laughs.)
I was pretty good at video editing, and everyone told me I should do that as a job, but I didn’t listen to them (laughs). So, I left Romania when I was 19 for University in Surrey, south of London. I lived there for 3 years for studies in event management. I didn’t like it (laughs). Instead, I continued video editing on the side, then I got a job as a… video editor in an agency. I got really lucky that I ended up in this career anyway.
How did you become a nomad from there?
In 2023, after 7 years of living in the UK, I was a bit burned out. My job had a hustler mentality - I was working a lot, and I had some personal issues as well. I didn’t feel like I belonged anymore. My clients were remote. The weather sucked. I couldn’t meet my friends because it took forever to commute. I quit. I needed a change.
Where did you want to go?
I wanted to pack my bag and move to Spain. But literally one month after that, I subscribed to Château Coliving, a French coliving & coworking, and I got this notification about a guy looking for a videographer for a nomad experience in Switzerland. Back then, I didn’t really know what nomads were. I sent him an email, and he replied almost immediately. He was a long-time nomad from Belgium and had started Hubs, a workation program organised during the off-season in places where there is a high seasonality.
And you just… went.
Yeah. In October, I was on a beautiful train ride from Geneva airport to the mountain. I met many nomads, learned a lot about the lifestyle. It’s funny, right? When you’re at a really low point in your life, you don’t really think things through. Even though I was paying a lot for rent in London, I had a pretty good situation compared to most people. I was letting go of that, and it was a big step for me to take, but it wasn’t scary to leave London. I just thought “I’m gonna leave”. I didn’t have a plan. When I started this thing, I didn’t know where it was going to take me.
To Korea!
Well, first I went back to Romania a bit, then moved to France for a few months in Lille. I started having really good clients for freelancing as a video editor. I went to Bansko Nomad Fest in Bulgaria, where I discovered I could identify as a slowmad because I like to stay so long in countries (laughs). And Bansko is where I met Jeong, the founder of Digital Nomads Korea. She told me she was organising a workation in Busan in Autumn 2024. And I thought, why not get involved and join them there?
What was your first impression when you arrived in Korea?
The funniest thing was the sheer confusion on people’s faces when they heard me speak Korean. They asked me how long I had been here, and I said “two weeks” (laughs). They were so confused.
How many languages do you speak?
English, Romanian, French, and Spanish. My Korean is nowhere like it used to be when I was at my peak Koreaboo-ness. Still, speaking some of the language and knowing a lot about the culture beforehand only gets you so far. It was still very overwhelming when I arrived. I experienced a culture shock over big things, like the working culture, the hierarchy, the overtime. And little things, like when you go for the first time to someone’s house, you bring a bag of toilet paper. It’s a housewarming gift (laughs).
Did it make you want to live in Korea?
I like Europe a bit too much. But there are so many cool things here: fashion, food, music. I can see the appeal of wanting to live here. There’s so much to see, even though it’s such a small country. Every time I’m here, I enjoy it. Every time I leave, I’m sad.
You’ve come twice now.
Yes, I came for the Hoppin Busan and Jeju workation in 2024 and then came back for more in 2025.
Do you regret not coming earlier?
No. I’m glad I didn’t come here in high school. I think I would have been too naive. I would have come with stars in my eyes because I idealised the culture and the people. Now I have the maturity and experience to just see Korea for what it is (laughs).
What are your favorite things?
There are so many. Fashion, food, entertainment… The sheer number of events always happening everywhere. I feel like a local in Busan now, which is awesome. I also went to a 2NE1 concert in Seoul this year, which was definitely a highlight of my life.
Life! (Laughs.)
Honestly (laughs). It was mindblowing. It was so well organised. The 15-year-old in me… OMG. It was surreal.
2NE1 are K-pop icons. Did you do anything else related to K-pop while here?
After the workation, I spent some time in Seoul and went to the 1 Million dance studio classes. One of their teachers, May J Lee, did a choreography for Membong, one of CL’s songs (a member of 2NE1), and it went viral many years ago. It was a dream to be able to be taught by her.
Anything else you crossed off the bucket list?
Eating doenjang-jjigae. It’s one of my favorite foods - I think Romanians and Koreans both like fermented food. I got dressed up in a hanbok at Gyeongbokgung Palace, I went to Everland amusement park. I did that thing where you send yourself a letter to yourself in one year. I went to Lotte World with a group of friends from Digital Nomads Korea, and we wore the schoolgirl outfit. That was really fun.
Why did you decide to come back for a second workation?
In 2024, I just made instant friends in the Hoppin community - during the Busan and Jeju workations and in the coliving in Seoul. I wanted to see them again. For me, that is the main thing: people in this community are kind. In general, it’s super hard to make very close friends when you travel, but here I made many. I loved discovering Korea, with these people… They’re what stays with me. I can eat good food and go to concerts anywhere, but doing it there, with them, is what made it special.
So you’ve kept in touch after the workation?
Yes! Some have even come to visit me when I move around. It’s something I used to dream about when I was a kid. For me, being able to tell myself, you have friends from everywhere, you have lived everywhere... It blows my mind.
Ana-Maria’s recommendations
🎢 Something to ride
Disco Pang Pang is a special ride in the Sambo Game Land arcade in Busan. I love the feeling of being on this ride. I think it’s the feeling of turning - there’s a lot of energy to it, but it’s not a scary ride or anything. The MC comments, and I always have back and forth with him (laughs). I would live in Disco Pang Pang for the rest of my life (laughs).
📺 Something to watch
Running Man is Korean entertainment TV at its peak. I got so much of my cultural knowledge of Korea from it when I was a Koreaboo. It’s super fun, and you learn a lot of slang. It’s a great way to learn natural ways of talking in Korean when you’re far away.
💃 Something to try
1Million Dance Studio is a very foreigner-friendly K-pop dance studio. You can meet a lot of people; everyone is very open. They’re pretty affordable in my opinion, and they’re located in Seongsu, which is a super cool area. They have different levels you can choose from, including beginner level.
