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Student_Voice : Between two cities

Published: 16 Mar. 2026, 00:05 Updated: 17 Mar. 2026, 09:21

Lee Eunjae

The author is a student at Yeoksam Middle School in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

“Do you want to go to school in Seoul?”

My mother’s question took me aback. She explained that there were more educational opportunities for me in Seoul. But how could I move away from Busan, the city I’d lived in my whole life?

“I need time to think about it,” I replied.

Me when I was in first grade, touching seawater in front of a sunset in Dadaepo Beach. [LEE EUNJAE]

I was happy enough at my elementary school in Busan. My classmates were kind and friendly. We could ask questions at any time during class and freely share opinions. The atmosphere was neither too strict nor uncomfortable. And the school’s dwaeji gukbap (pork soup with rice) was the best I ever had.

I remember playing football during physical education when I was in fifth grade, when the sky suddenly dimmed and tiny snowflakes drifted down. It almost never snows in Busan. My classmates’ eyes widened when they saw the snowflakes. Nobody seemed to care about football anymore. Soon, the field was filled with students from other classes, some running around, some taking photos, and some even shouting in joy.

As the snow kept falling, one of my friends said, “I didn’t know it could snow so much!” There wasn’t really that much snow, just a thin white layer on the field, but it seemed like a lot to us.

My parents asked me, “Have you thought more about living in Seoul?”

“It’s hard to decide... I think I would miss my school.”

My mom brought up all of Seoul’s good points. The new experiences. The quick-changing trends. The royal palaces and history museums. The concerts that aren’t easily found in Busan. Of course, behind everything, there was the big reason — the educational environment in Seoul. If I went to a great school there, I would have more opportunities. That was what everyone said.

We moved to Seoul in the middle of my sixth-grade year. My new class was totally different. My classmates were busy going to academies all day and night, but they endured it without complaint.

I was unique because of my Busan dialect. They were curious why I said some words and phrases the way I did. They sometimes didn’t understand and had to ask me to repeat what I’d said. In contrast, I felt like the Seoul accent was soft and kind. I felt good hearing the soft tones of their voices, compared to Busan’s straightforward and strong tone. At the same time, I missed the friendly Busan dialect more than anything.

More and more people like me have been settling in the capital region for work and school. As the population concentrates in Seoul, other parts of the country might be considered rural or unappealing areas. I worry that my home city, Busan, might fade away as a tourist beach attraction rather than a place to live and settle.

Many think of the deep blue ocean and sandy beaches when they think of Busan, but the city is much more than that. It has an open, cheerful and warm vibe and a welcoming social rhythm. There is space to breathe and relax, no matter how much work we have to do. I hope that some of the opportunities in Seoul will exist in Busan one day. What’s stopping a top university from building a new campus in Busan? Why not make museums in Busan as big as the national museums in Seoul? What’s keeping a major Korean company from moving its headquarters here?

A tree covered with snow at my school in fifth grade. That was the most snow that I've seen in Busan. [LEE EUNJAE]

I sometimes wonder how my Busan friends would react if they saw large, fat snowflakes landing in the streets of Seoul. I’m getting used to it, though I miss the warm weather of Busan. I sometimes recall that day a few years ago when snow was falling on the school field. I can’t experience this the same way in Seoul. When it snows here, people often complain about it. In Busan, people smile and hold out their hands, waiting for the snow to fall on them.