👑 "birthdays were the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirsty." like so many others, matthew's first real love was hip hop. it wasn't something that was banned or discouraged by his parents, but his mother would always question why he would want to listen to something so vulgar but he loved it. he loved the stories it told, he loved the beat, he loved everything about. he wanted to do something with it, but he wasn't entirely sure what he could do with something like that. nor was he entirely sure if he his parents would be okay with that.

👑 "dancing is a way of life." hip hop may have been his first love, but dance is matthew's one true love. he had always done sports when he was younger, particularly basketball, and had always considered himself just a bit too lanky to do dance or something like that. he had been somewhat afraid of making a fool of himself, but it had changed come his freshmen year of high school when he had missed out on signing up for gym class and ended up having to join dance instead. he talked it upp to himself and said that it would be cool because of all the girls in the class, and he ended up falling in love. not with one of the girls, oh god no, but instead with dance. he fell in love with it head over heels and the love persists to this day. though, if he had to go back to high school, he would probably take gym instead of dance.

👑 "you say meathead like it's a bad thing." the third love of matthew's life (family and friends rank up there somewhere, yes), is his love for the gym. he only got in to weight training and lifting a few years ago (not too long before he left america), but he became hooked immediately. he believes that going to the gym regularly is a healthy part of life and he is always trying to get people to go to the gym with him. it's why he works as a personal trainer to make cash on the side. if you love what you do, why not get paid for it?

👑 "you're going to have to do something with your life." after graduating high school, matthew wasn't entirely sure what he would do. he hadn't really applied to any schools (he didn't have the best grades graduating), and he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do. so he did what a lot of people did, he enrolled in community college and and got a job on the side so that he could try and figure things out. it was when he was in school (shout outs to glendale community college, matthew is thankful for them every day), that he took a korean language class. just something to meet the foreign language requirement for the CSU ge's and kill time. and that was the first time that matthew really was introduced to korean culture and life outside of korean food, and he wanted more. even if he didn't pass the class with an a (a c+ is still passing), he knew what he wanted to do.

👑 "it's halfway around the world, but i trust you." his family was shocked, absolutely shocked, when matthew said that he wanted to go to korea. his parents were honestly surprised at the fact that their eldest son was willing to venture to a country he had never been to, had no citizenship in, and did not speak the language, and he wanted to live there. it was somewhat insane really, but the way he spoke about it, explaining how he wanted to see what it was like, had matthew's mother calling a friend of her family's and seeing if he could stay there. just for the summer, to see and d get an idea of what it was like to be in korea.

👑 "you'll remember this summer for forever." his summer in korea turned in to something longer––something that had matthew filing, and getting, a f-4 visa (overseas korean visa). it turned out to be hard to get, because he wasn't first-generation like so many others he knew who had gotten it, but as a third generation korean overseas, it proved to be a bit more difficult to get the visa than he thought. the summer turned in to the fall, and the fall turned in to the winter and matthew found himself with no real desire to move back home or anything, he had built a life in korea and he finally felt korean. and he regretted saying that he hated being korean all those years ago.

👑 "just give it a shot, you'll never know." matthew had applied to soongmoon––and found out about the school––purely by chance. one of his friends from level six dance studio had mentioned the school when matthew said that he hadn't actually gone to university, but that he had always wanted to do something with dance. they told him that he had the skill––which matthew boastfully agreed that he did––and that he should give it a shot. what's the worst that could happen, rejection? well, yeah, but it was worth a shot. it took an application, a recommendation (he's thankful to his dance studio hyung who hooked him up), and an audition, but he did it. he got in.

👑 "a late start is better than no start no start at all." when he entered his class at soongmoon, matthew realized two things. first off, that he was taller than a lot of the other people on campus, and it made him stand out (not that he really minded, he just noticed it almost immediately). secondly, he realized he was older than most of the other kids in his class. he was suddenly really thankful for the few classes he had taken at community college back home.

👑 "just do it with love, and you'll accomplish it." halfway around the world, with no immediate family, matthew knows he can't go back tto america empty handed (though he's sure his parents would welcome him with open arms either way). it's all about pride, and hard work, and matthew, with only a few more semesters left, isn't going to give up. not now.