I believe it’s safe to say that we’ve all had something that we’ve obsessed over once.
It might have been a TV show, a musician, or even a book series, and quite honestly the nature of the obsession itself doesn’t really matter. It is the fact that we’ve emotionally invested ourselves in the earnest worship of our hobbies which grants such obsessions so much importance.
Personally I’ve been quite obsessed, or rather, enamored with Korean entertainment, that including K-pop, K-dramas, and Korean variety shows. As someone who has been in the fangirl circle for quite a while, five years approximately, I’ve experienced enough to know that the life of an international fan is everything but a stroll down a path of roses. So, here are a few of the struggles we K-pop, and K-drama fans have often dealt with.
Waiting for the release of weekly Drama episodes.
If you are watching a recently released drama, then you know that you will have to wait a week in order to watch the next two episodes. As someone who is used to watching Brazilian novelas, which release episodes on a daily basis, I find the weekly rule to be rather burdensome. I mean, a week is like a year in a fangirl’s calendar.
No subtitles.
There is also the problem of episodes being released, but, without any subtitles. Then it becomes a problem of self-control, questioning whether or not you should watch the episodes twice, once without the subs and once more as soon as the subtitled version is released.
Pulling all-nighters to catch up on dramas.
At times you may have been far too busy to watch all of the new episodes, or you simply decided to wait until all of the episodes had subtitles before you started watching them, and this can prove to be a real struggle. The obvious answer is to have a K-drama marathon, but, for those of us who have school the next day that probably means sleeping in class the following morning. Oh well, what else are we to do?
Not knowing what to say when you’re asked about the types of music you like.
There’s also the problem of not knowing what to do or say when your friends, who do not know nor like K-pop, ask you about your favorite songs. I tend to fumble with my words until I can think up the title of an English song and in the end it always ends up being something that is now completely obsolete. Personally, my worst nightmare is being passed the aux cord during a car ride. I’d rather sit quietly and nod along to whatever song they choose to play, which often tends to be something that is entirely foreign to me.
“Are they Chinese?”
If I am brave enough to put on a Korean song that always ends up being the moment I am bombarded with questions and criticisms. One of them being the much despised question regarding the bands nationality. I mean, yes, they are Asians, but, not all Asians are Chinese. Geez, give me a break!
When oppa is prettier than you.
I am not sure how many times I have shown my mom a picture of a Korean star I fancy and she answered saying that they were “prettier” than me. Truthfully, some of the Korean male stars I’m into are far more feminine looking than I am, but, that doesn’t make them any less manly. Oppa is still oppa. I always reply to her saying “Good, at least our children will be pretty.” [Here we have a prime example of a fangirl’s delusions. Let a girl dream.]
Setting impossible standards for men.
Knowing that oppa is handsome, cute, and sexy makes it extremely difficult for us to set our standards for men at an actually achievable level. We want someone like the protagonist of our favorite K-drama. But, seriously, who can ever be that perfect?
Learning Korean.
As not having available subtitles often turns out to be a problem, we fangirls decide that it is best to just learn the language on our own. However, we fail to realize that teaching yourself a language is not as simple as it may seem.
Randomly speaking Korean in public.
There comes a point though where we’ve watched enough dramas and listened to enough songs to know a few words in Korean. Surely enough, I tend to spout out Korean words randomly in public, causing people to glance at me with an air of confusion. It’s worst when I’m around my best-friend. Together we have full conversations in Korean, leading our other friends to complain in frustration.
Not knowing many people who share the same interests.
Luckily, my best-friend is as obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas as I am and I can easily reach out to her whenever I am in desperate need of fangirling. However, if we’re ever separated and this need strikes, we have to suffer quietly because other people just don’t get it.
Having the same bias as you friend.
It’s all fun and games until your friend decides to like the same bias as you do. It’s like no, baby girl, go find yourself your own man.
Knowing far too much about Korea
This one is seriously funny because once you’re thoroughly submersed in Korean fandoms your friends start taking you for an expert is everything relating to Korea. Just hope no teacher mentions South Korea in one of your classes, because your friends will all give you “the stare” and you’ll likely be like:
Planning to go to Korea to meet oppa.
This is the ultimate goal, but, we’re often too poor and busy to go on a trip to South Korea. One day though, one day.
Feels
Do I even need to say anything else? Oppa gives us feels. That’s final.
That’s all, my little pumpkins! I hope you enjoyed reading this and I wish you the best of luck in your fangirling adventures. It’s not as bad as it may seem. 안녕~
