My Korean boyfriend was born and raised in South Korea and I was born and raised in Europe. As I tried to prepare for the difficult journey ahead – with almost 6,000 miles (around 10 000 km) of distance between our countries and expecting culture clashes, misunderstandings and language barriers – I turned to guidance online by people who had already gone through what still lay ahead for me. To my great surprise, information was either scarce or worryingly negative. Still, we didn’t even consider giving up and meeting each other in person became the most important thing in our lives.And then…

That night everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. My carefully perfected plan was ruined. After taking 6 hours to get there it turned out the place where I wanted to get the food had been closed for a year, the bus didn’t show up, I spent all the money on a cab fare and, on the day when it was crucial I look my best, I looked exhausted and defeated.

This late at night the airport was in semi-darkness and looked deserted. The time seemed to have both slowed down and sped up. I wanted it to pass, and yet, I wasn’t ready. Slowly, a few people gathered. Among them I saw a few black-haired heads. Asians! That was a good sign.

Finally, the gates opened and people started pouring out. And then… I saw him! I had no trouble recognizing him. After all, I haven’t done much else than stare at his photos for the last few months. He was weaving among people, and every few seconds, I would lose sight of him. He grabbed his suitcase and headed… straight towards me!

Yesterday we were thousands of kilometers apart. Now we were so close we could have touched each other. Could have, had it not been for a huge glass pane dividing the arrivals from people ready to greet them. I motioned towards the doors. Before I knew what had happened I was awkwardly hugging him. I had played this hug in my head hundreds of times. Somehow in my mind I always did it much more gracefully. But then again in my mind he didn’t have that huge backpack on.

Dazed, we both made it out, murmuring, trying to make a conversation, our hearts pounding. In the meantime the missing bus magically appeared and we settled in the seats next to each other.

For the first time I looked at him. Really looked at him. It was my boyfriend. My Korean boyfriend. My Korean boyfriend who I was seeing in person for the first time in my life. My eyes slid from his face along his arms. Muscular arms. Down to his hands resting in his lap. There was that watch, the silver watch I would recognize in an instant because it was on every photo of him I have seen. And his hands were just as manly and beautiful as in the photos.

“Is this what you want?”

I looked up to see him smiling at me. My eyes went down again to his hand but this time it wasn’t resting in his lap. It was outstreched, palm-upward, ready for me to hold it. Big smile settled in on my face as our hands wrapped around each other.

Actually, nothing had gone wrong that night.

We’ve been through a lot, both together and now apart, but not for a moment did either of us regret it.

If you have a Korean guy you like, or if you are already in a relationship with one, we are happy to have been able to share our experiences and tell you what we have learned, but we would also love to hear any tips that you might have .