Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mashimaro]

I'm interested to hear first hand experiences of people who have stayed in minsuks (cheap boarding houses) for students or organised affordable appartments whilst they are studying in Korea.. I read on a website I could find a minsuk in Shinchon for 400,000 won per month with 2 meals per day.. not sure if that is still the going rate.. thanks in advance.. Oh yeah, the University is around Shinchon...

[kimcheeking]

not minsuk, hasuk �ϼ�, there are dozens of them in shinchon behind hyundai department store and also behind McD's. I'm not sure about the going rate anymore, it's been 5+ years since I stayed in one.

go check it out and I"m sure you will find something affordable.

[just because]

Mashimaro,

I'm interested in exactly the same thing. i plan to study at Sogang next year but need information on where to stay as I am completely niave about this. I don't have much of a clue what I expect in a hasukjib and am a little worried.

[kimcheeking]

In a hasuk you will have a tiny room. some come with a bed and some do not, everything else you will have to buy. clothes rack, tv, whatever you need. Generally there will be a shared washroom on each floor with one washing machine. Clothes get to hang dry in your room (takes about 4 days to dry everything in summer).

I lived in 3 different hasuks and the food was good in each of them. I had a friend who didn't want to eat there and got a discount of 50,000. Even if you only eat 10 meals in the month it is the same as eating out so it is worht the money in my opinion. You will get breakfast and dinner, usually it is served in a 2 hour block of time.

[just because]

Sounds like a university dorm.

[Mashimaro]

[kimcheeking]

[Gord]

Homestay?

[Mashimaro]

[BTM]

Rent my place. Live in style.

(Actually, this is more for information's sake than anything else (ie with not-outrageous deposit, you can get a sweet new apartment for like 400K a month rent) - the real estate agent assures us (spoke to her yesterday) that it'll be no sweat finding a new tenant, as demand is high for this building.)

[Mashimaro]

Forgive my ignorance (never lived in Seoul) But how far is Songnae from Shinchon? i.e. how many subway stops?

[Gord]

[crazylemongirl]

[Manner of Speaking]

Getting out of Seoul will get you something cheaper. Taegu University has a good Korean language program: 10 weeks, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 700,000 won. From what I can tell it is the cheapest university language program in the country. You can also get pretty good studio apartments in the Taegu University vicinity (private bath, kitchen, etc.) starting at 2 million won for 10 months.

[Annn]

Hi Mashimaro,

I attended Yonsei University for one year back in 1998 and lived in that area so you may find this post helpful.

For the first semester, I stayed at the international dormitory. There were so many limitations on everything there - no electrical appliances, curfew at 12:00am. I've heard things have chanced considerably since then (new building, internet hookups, curfews at 2am etc.etc). I was sort of sick of my roommate so moved into a one-room. It was a half-basement but it came with a fridge, a washing machine and a desk (I think). And no deposit but the rent was 600,000 + utility. I didn't realize it would be so dark and wet living in a basement. But overall, it was okay. In retrospect, I wish I had stayed at a hasuk or a homestay (or even just at the dorm) because it would have been just more convenient to have meals cooked for you and I wouldn't have had to worry about paying my bills and settling everything when the lease was up.

Anyway, still, I am glad that I didn't move out of the Shinchon area. I am sort of against the idea (IMHO) of commuting from Songnae or Incheon or somewhere far because the commute can be really inconvenient (during my stay in Korea, I had relatives living in Bucheon and I often took the Samwha Express Terminal and it would sometimes take me up to two hours to get there when the traffic was heavy, which often was). Not fun. And plus you want to enjoy yourself and have late nights with your new friends and taking the cab into Songnae could be costly because you have to pay more (b/c Songnae is considered to be outside of Seoul).

You can set up a homestay deal by checking out various university sites (Yonsei Language center site, Ewha Women's University site and a host of other university related sites) - I've visited some recently and saw some postings where room & board is quite cheap in exchange for tutoring once or twice a week. But I don't know how (in)convenient the whole thing can be though. (I was checking out these sites to post an ad for a Japanese exchange student to live in my apartment so my hubby can brush up on his Japanese)

I live very close to the Shinchon area (called Mapo-ku) and if you want to ask me more questions about the whole area and want to know if an area is close/convenient, just PM me. Will be happy to help!

Anna