A "sweet" Date with Youtuber Farinajo

On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon (October 4th) I was sitting in a small cafe around the corner from my Airbnb in Sillim-dong and had been writing a new blog post for a few hours. I was also casually scrolling through Instagram when I happened to stumble across an Instagram story by Farina Behm, aka Farina Jo on YouTube, in which she asked her followers if they would spontaneously like to meet her at a cafe in Hongdae, Seoul. I had seen some videos of her before but never really engaged with her. And yet I thought to myself "why not?" Now that I'm in Seoul, I like to take whatever I can get with me. Meeting a well-known German Youtuber from Frankfurt, where I'm also from, in Seoul seemed like a super cool experience, so I took the chance. By the way, if you want to get more insight into the cool Hongdae district, you can read more about it in my last post: Seoul's nightlife - Hongdae & Itaewon

Farina sent us a location of a cafe called "Colline" in Hongdae. We should meet there around 8 p.m. I didn't know what to expect; whether a huge rush of fans would come, let alone what it would be like to meet well-known Youtubers. In order not to turn up there completely alone and helpless, I took a friend, Alena, with me. At around 7 p.m. we set out, took subway no. 2, got off at Habjeong and then walked about 10 minutes to get here. I got surprisingly nervous, even though I'm not really a fan of Farina, I just know that she's dating a Korean guy named Dongin. But what is not, can still be! I find once you have a personal connection with someone, you're more willing to engage with someone else's content. Totally open and excited, I was prepared to just meet two normal people and have cool conversations about Korea. Maybe it's better that I wasn't a fan, because otherwise it would have gotten in the way of even having a normal conversation. However, I was still very nervous and tense.

Arriving at the cafe, Farina greeted us directly. I hugged her and immediately introduced myself in German so that she would know that we are German too. She seemed nervous and a little tense, but she was very friendly and said straight away that we could order something that she would pay for us. I think no matter how well-known or famous you are, it's always a bit awkward to meet new, total strangers who probably know more about you than you do about yourself. So I can understand the "awkward" mood at first. We ordered something to drink and then realized that some fans were already sitting outside together with Farina's boyfriend Dongin and two other Youtubers/ Tik Tokers. The tables were put together and next to Dongin there were still two free places where Alena and I sat down. We also got to know a third German who sat down with us, just as nervous as we were. Admittedly, nobody knew what to say at first, so I just observed the situation and spoke a few words to the two new girls that I meanwhile had met at the table. I also observed the ten or so fans already engaged in a conversation at the table. There were actually far fewer fans than I would have thought. I noticed that hardly any of these fans, who were mainly women, talked to Dongin or with the other two Youtubers. I was a little surprised that it was Dongin who then tried to break the ice by walking up to the four girls on his left, us, and asking who we were, where we are from, why we are in Korea, etc.

Once the ice was broken, we were able to talk quite well. I was really surprised at how open Dongin and then Farina were. We really talked about a lot, e.g. how long they plan to stay in Korea, what they are going to do here, when they are moving to Korea and why. For example, they told us in which hotel they are staying, that they will soon be flying to Jeju, then to Busan, that they will be moving to Korea in about two years. I also chatted with Dongin about the Korean language and how rusty it was with him, Farina's progress in learning Korean, etc. They were very friendly and surprisingly very honest. When I asked Farina why she invited us to the cafe so spontaneously, she said that their sponsor gave them 1000€ for sweets that they can never eat by themselves, so she needed some help from others. Finally, all the guests in the cafe were gifted with the sweets provided by Farina. A buffet of cakes and croissants was set up and we could serve ourselves as often as we wanted. At the end we were even allowed to take something home with us. The stuff was really delicious and even though it was sponsored for Farina, I think it's nice that she wanted to share this with her fans and even agreed to sit at a table with us for about 1.5 hours and really have a lot of open conversations respectively. I also thought it was nice that the two really approached us openly and didn't just sit quietly. They were also very interested in hearing about us and how we like Korea, etc.

But I couldn't help but ask a question. I had to ask Farina how she got BTS tickets for the concert in Busan since it was impossible for me to get some. Here she also answered honestly that she first tried it the normal way, but had no chance and that a sponsor finally got her the tickets. At this point I thank her for her honesty, on the other hand I envy the privileges of youtubers / influencers. Considering that I tried very hard to get tickets and ended up not getting any, I was very saddened by how easy it is for others to get tickets.
If you want to read more about my ticketing experience and the BTS concert, you can do so here: Busan pt. 2 - Market & BTS Edition

Nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that Farina and Dongin are very likeable, pleasant people who I really enjoyed meeting. Now that I know them both more or less personally, I also enjoy watching their videos. It's more fun with a personal connection. It was also exciting that we were able to look behind the scenes of a video. Dongin filmed Farina at the buffet table before it opened, we fans were also filmed more often and also what was happening around us. By the way, here is the video that she filmed on that day and in which I can be seen several times at the very end: Spending 1000$ on Desserts in Korea Challenge | Cookie Run Kingdom x BTS

After about 1.5 hours the two said goodbye, but not before Farina took another photo with all of us in front of the cafe. She thanked us several times for coming (and I thanked her for letting me come) and then she offered that everyone could take another picture with her, and if they wanted, even with Dongin. What can I say? Youtubers, influencers, stars are normal people like us. Actually, everyone knows that, but you still get incredibly nervous when you meet people like that. I admit that I was also tense the whole time, although we were actually able to talk quite normally and at eye level. Still, it's a crazy feeling to be standing next to someone, hugging that person and looking into the eyes that you otherwise only know from videos or Instagram. This experience was very exciting and as I said, I'm glad that I wasn't a crazy fan, because otherwise it would probably have stood in my way to meet the two of them normally on an equal footing. I am happy that I was able to have the experience and would do it again at any time. Ultimately, it's fun to meet new people. Not only Youtubers, but also the surrounding fans who come to such meetings/events.

One last thing: Dongin recommended us the brunch at this cafe, by the way. And as true as I'm sitting here right now and writing this blog post, I'm sitting in this very cafe and have tried the brunch menu (French toast with eggs, bacon, sausage and salad with apples) and can only confirm it. Indeed it was very very tasty and the music is very modern and good here - perfect for relaxing.. and blogging ;)