There wasn’t a day when I didn’t train. Intense vocal training in the morning till about lunch, then Dance practice from then on until about Dinner, then after that you do whatever you want. I mostly just focused on my singing and dancing. There were probably a total of like.. 40 trainees.. But I could be wrong.. All varying from like ages 8 to 25 … Trainee life really is harsh, but very rewarding. I was considered a bigger size, not HUGE, but bigger, and once I quit being a trainee, I was considered SKINNY… LOL, kind of funny. I was put in an international dorm, which was a little bogus, but I was okay with it, preferred to be with everyone else but oh well. I shared a dorm with two others, they were both Chinese. As trainees we are encouraged to train at least six times a week, but SM doesn’t really have control over us. Whoever wants to train is welcome to do so, those who are not as driven aren’t pushed to doing so. Basically you have all the freedom in the world but that depends if you want to work hard or not. Some trainees I saw like once a week. Some I saw every single day. Most of the time, those who trained EVERY day or most of them, were the ones who debuted. Actually I wasn’t bullied for not being Korean, there are a lot of scenarios where you are and whatever, but it really depends on how you portray BULLYING. I mean, duh, I was looked at as a waste or energy or whatever because it is KOREAN pop, but that wasnt BULLYING. It all came down to how determined I was, that’s what determines my drive for being something in the KPOP world. There were cliques, YES. I didn’t revolve myself around anyone in specific but I was pretty close to some trainees. We are encouraged to not become close with anyone because, ya know, we might not even debut with them. You would expect some trainees to have entered SM just to get close with idols, but nahhh, that was BARELY the case. At first, I was very excited to meet BoA, Super Junior, etc. but once we were in the company, they were just like everyone else, they weren’t seen as stars anymore.. And YES, there was INTENSE competition, but even that doesn’t mean you are set for debut. There were some RUDE and arrogant trainees but when the reps and staffs came around their personalities CHANGED. Training made me realize how .. ahem.. scripted and ‘fake’ the kpop world can be.. BUT, of course the staffs and reps are in on it as well, they know who’s mean and who isn’t and most of the time, the nice ones get to debut. At the end of the day it all depends on your drive, determination and character.
SM has like four buildings I think..?? One is for the trainees, one is for the artists and the others is just for staffs, representatives, etc. for business purposes. I was ALWAYS at the trainee building, duh. I was only at one of the business buildings for financial issues such as our weekly allowances ($25 a week). Trainees only ever went to the Artist building when we had showcases, which were monthly and it was an evaluation of how much trainees improved and whatnot. Many trainees were sent home because of showcases. I, surprisingly made it farrr .. not to be conceited..