Korean Job Discussion Forums

[yellowdove]

Living here is pretty cool. I'm one stop away at seolleung station, and its nice living near gangnam stn is convenient. You will rarely go to hongdae just because it seems too far.

[byrddogs]

Just watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

Seriously though, it's a place full of pretentious people. I lived there for several years and actually preferred my years near Konkkuk Uni to there.

[BackRow]

Outside of all the gorgeous women (which are prevalent everywhere in seoul anyways) and some of the nightlife gangnam is incredibly dull and boring

[IPayInCash]

[Mr. BlackCat]

Well, these replies have been helpful. I remember the days when there were only 2-3 trolls on here.

Anyway, I used to live by Gangnam station, which is just one stop down from the area the OP will be. It was ok, lots of things to do and see. It's very busy and since it's more upscale it can be hard to find essentials like a good grocery store (although I'm sure the Emart between Seollung and Hanti stations is still there, as is the Costco south of Yangjae). Things are generally more expensive, people are generally more plastic and the scene is generally more straight laced.

It's probably a good place to have your first year in Korea, depending on what kind of experience you're looking to have. I hate it when people describe certain areas as "Not real Korea" as if only poor, dirty places are "Korean" which is quite condescending and insulting. Most Koreans want to live there, so obviously it's quite Korean. But there are lots of other foreigners, lots of foreign bars and restaurants and even the Korean things are cleaned up modern versions. Harder to find bare boned galbi places or dirty smokey bars down there. So I would just suggest making sure to visit the other parts of Seoul regularly (it's easy to just stick around Gangnam, everything you 'need' is there).

As someone else said here, most people coming over here would kill for a placement in that area. To me, it was fine for a year but I probably wouldn't choose to live there again. Just personal taste. It was just too busy and sanitary for me, despite many positives as well. Generally better apartments down there anyway. Good luck.

[mayorhaggar]

It doesn't really feel or look that different than the rest of Seoul...I guess it has less of the decrepit look that some parts of Seoul have. Something funny about it is that Gangnam always smells like raw sewage, I guess because the sewers there are bad. Other poorer parts of Seoul don't have as much of that problem. So you get all these cute outdoor cafes filled with the cream of Korean youth, and they literally smell like ****.

In general Gangnam is pretty underwhelming, but garosu-gil is decent, but super-crowded. There's an H&M and a lot of cute restaurants and cafes. Go into the alleys west of garosu-gil and there's more bars and restaurants which are pretty decent. Go south through the alleys towards Sinsa Station and it gets REALLY Korean, lots of super-Korean restaurants where everyone is drinking green bottle soju and tteokbokki or friedeu chicken whatever.

[happiness]

[Died By Bear]

[chungbukdo]

[edwardcatflap]

[chungbukdo]

[wishfullthinkng]

[edwardcatflap]

[sendittheemail]

Gangnam is Seoul's cesspit of nouveau riche vulgarity, to quote a good friend.