For Okeke Ugonna Victor, a Master of Public Policy student from Nigeria, hiking was nothing new.

Long before coming to Korea, he had spent years exploring mountains and rocky landscapes around Abuja. Those hikes often meant venturing into unfamiliar terrain—beautiful, unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous. So when KDI School’s Hiking Club announced a trip to Geumosan Provincial Park shortly after the new semester began, Victor expected a fairly simple experience: climb the mountain, enjoy the scenery, take a few photos, and return to campus.

Instead, he discovered something much deeper.

“I went expecting only scenery,” Victor recalled, “but I found nature, culture, discipline, public safety, and kindness all on the same mountain.”

One of the first moments that caught his attention was surprisingly ordinary.

Along the hiking trail were emergency first-aid boxes stocked with pain relievers, bandages, gauze, antiseptic solution, cotton wool, hydrogen peroxide, and other essential medical supplies. Yet none of them were locked.

For Victor, that simple detail spoke volumes.

To him, it reflected a society built on trust. One where people are expected to use only what they need, while the government quietly prepares for the safety of everyone, even in remote mountain trails.

“Trust isn’t just something people talk about,” he said. “It’s something Korea builds into everyday spaces.”

As the hike continued, more surprises followed.

Security facilities such as CCTV cameras and emergency speakers seemed understandable, but Victor never expected to find clean toilets and water taps high up in the mountains. Like many hikers, his group had brought water bottles, only to finish them quickly as the climb became more demanding.

Standing nearly 1,000 meters above sea level, he found himself wondering how much planning and maintenance were required to provide such facilities in places many people might only visit occasionally.

For him, this level of care represented something uniquely Korean.

“Even in places that could have been left rough and difficult, there’s still an effort to make life safer, cleaner, and more convenient,” he explained.

Yet it wasn’t the infrastructure that left the strongest impression.

It was the people.

During a break, Victor and his fellow hikers met a group of elderly Koreans enjoying lunch on a colorful picnic mat. Although they had never met before, the elderly hikers warmly greeted the international students, asked about their names and home countries, and immediately invited them to share the meal.

One moment, in particular, has stayed with Victor ever since.

An elderly woman carefully wrapped rice in green leaves before gently placing it into his mouth.

For someone who had only recently arrived in Korea, the gesture was unexpectedly touching.

“It made me feel welcomed,” he said. “Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness stay with us because they come when we’re still trying to find our place in a new environment.”

That experience, he says, was not an exception.

Since arriving in Korea, Victor has repeatedly encountered kindness from strangers, especially elderly Koreans. On different occasions, people have given him bread and blueberry jam during a winter train ride, paid for his coffee at A Twosome Place, and even handed him an umbrella on a rainy day.

Individually, these moments may seem small. Together, they transformed the way he experienced Korea.

Since that first Hiking Club trip, Victor has explored mountains across Sejong, Daejeon, Seoul, Suwon, Incheon, and Jeju Island. Each destination offered different scenery, but the same values consistently stood out: respect for nature, well-maintained public facilities, and consideration for others.

Looking back, Victor believes his first Korean mountain experience taught him far more than hiking itself.

It showed him that Korea’s greatest strength lies not only in its modern infrastructure, but also in the quiet systems that protect people and the everyday kindness of ordinary citizens.

“That first hike changed how I saw Korea,” he reflected. “It made me see the country not only as developed, but as thoughtful.”