📍Auckland, New Zealand
2006 – 2010“Jennie Kim grew up in Seoul, an only child, and at about eight she went on a family trip to Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand her mother asked whether she liked it there and whether she would like to stay. Jennie said yes, and a year later she was back in Auckland, living with a homestay family and starting at Waikowhai Intermediate School before moving on to ACG Parnell College. Auckland gave her independence very early. She learned English quickly and well, so well that she appeared in an MBC documentary about children learning the language abroad. She adapted to a new school culture, a new family routine and a city of harbours, volcanic hills and multicultural classrooms, and she has said that being far from home taught her to look after herself. It was also in New Zealand, listening to music from home, that she became a fan of YG Entertainment's artists and began to dream of becoming a performer herself. She spent around five years in Auckland. In 2010 she returned to Korea, enrolled at Cheongdam Middle School and was accepted as a YG trainee, beginning six years of training before Blackpink debuted in 2016. Her fluent English helped the group connect with audiences far beyond Korea, and her ease in moving between cultures became part of her style. Those Auckland years, she has said, gave her the confidence to go her own way.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today