: )

So me and Rocky (the housing dude) went apartment hunting today, I had a pretty okay budget for a studio apartment (700,000 / month), and although I'm working at Euljiro, Rocky said he thought it'd be a good idea to live around Sinchon, so we looked at some places, the worst ones at 450,000 were like... wow

I'm not sure how anyone can live in that small space! I mean the 700,000 ones were small but those were just... crazy!

Anyway, we looked around and eventually we found a nice 700,000 studio apartment near Ehwa University, it looks like a pretty fun area so I'm looking forward to getting moved in : )!

So I'll be living In the Sinchon area! Apparently there are a few foreign guys in my building so I have people to hang out with while I get my Korean up to scratch : ), but I'm hoping to meet a load of people!

But my impressions of Korea so far are awesome, I tried the subway system for the first time today and it was so much better then in England or Spain, there was even a TV on the train which had animations and trains with faces! I dont know if I can ever go back to plain old regular trains now, and the T-Money card is really easy to use, the transport system in general seems really good. The people seem friendly (or at least never hostile) compared to Europe as well.

There are some bad things of course, like... I've got lost in Seoul a few times and had to wave my arms around to try and describe where I'm trying to go, and the mosquitos have 5 pooled me, I swear they were actually eating me before I even lied down to sleep last night, the bastards!

Anyway! I'll probably try and see if I can get a couple of the guys I met to go out for a drink or something tonight, I'm gonna be in Gangnam for a few more days I think before I move to Sinchon, So I need to take advantage of this double bed and widescreen TV :}

mel_ee

2448 Posts

September 12 2008 18:04 GMT

#23

hahha you'll be in sinchon near ehwa, nice. we can go watch some SC someday

clazziquai

6685 Posts

September 12 2008 18:46 GMT

#24

lol the T-Money cards are a good idea! And the subways and buses got A LOT better than before (at least six years ago).

Korea changed a lot, and in a good way

il0seonpurpose

Korea (South)5638 Posts

September 12 2008 19:42 GMT

#25

jjim jil bangs are nice and pretty cheap, but dont be suprised to see naked men, its a common thing there.

ShloobeR

Korea (South)3820 Posts

September 13 2008 14:25 GMT

#26

So today I thought I'd take a walk around Gangnam at nighttime, I hadn't really had the chance to go out at night (my sleeping pattern is still pretty bad from the trip for some reason)

Seoul (or at least Gangnam) looks So much better at night time! In daytime it feels really stuffy and hazy, and the streets are crowded with businessmen and people rushing to work, obviously I expected this but the streets were so calm and nice tonight. I know that a lot of people have already gone back home for Chuseok, but even the atmosphere was just so much nicer.

I just walked around blindly, to see what downtown seoul was like at night, and it looks really awesome, its a bit of a shame that I haven't had the chance to meet people yet, because I'd love to go out for a night in Gangnam before I move to Sinchon (although I'm sure I'll come back for a couple of nights out), and the guy who was gonna grab dinner and a couple of drinks with me was away by the time I woke up after my siesta to grab him (doh!) : [

One of the first thing I noticed was the coffee shops, everyone loves coffee shops! I thought London had a lot of coffee shops but it was madness here! And there were all these Starbucks-like-franchises with names like 'Jimmy's Coffee' and 'Freddy's Coffee', I'm going to make it a point to become a coffee critic in Seoul.

Another awesome thing about Seoul (for me at least) is that every block has like 2 convenience stores!, and they all stock almost the exact same thing, I'm not even sure how they can do business when two stores of the same chain are like 2 minutes from each other, but I guess they do, I guess it's because there's so many that things are a lot cheaper then in the UK, in this motel I don't have a kitchen or cooker or anything, so I can pretty much feed myself for about 5000won a day, which to me is incredible (£2.50!)

I'm really looking forward to getting settled in Ewha and getting some buddies! I think it's gonna be an awesome year!

Oh if someone could please tell me roughly in Korean how to say 'Could I have a - please' (COFFEEEE!) that would be awesome! I usually just try to point at something and say 'Juseyooooooo!' but I think I should refine my Korean a little bit : ] I'll start my Korean lessons soon but for now all I have are the books, and the lessons are kind of situation specific (If I ever need to ask where public toilets are I'm all over that!)

Nyovne

Netherlands19137 Posts

September 13 2008 17:28 GMT

#27

Great blog in a happy spirit, hope you have a great time! A friend of mine spent 16 months in Korea last year in about the same way you did and he had a great great time.

I'll be checking back to this blog to see if you put up some more goods

. Oh and be sure to check live SC games :D.

Fobbish

Korea (South)1071 Posts

September 13 2008 18:47 GMT

#28

i say juseyo already can take care of most of your ordering. for example, mocha coffee juseyo, or bulgogi 4 in boon juseyo would be fine.

ShloobeR

Korea (South)3820 Posts

September 16 2008 08:47 GMT

#29

Whoohoo! I'm finally moved into my new apartment, It's a pretty nice place, bigger then I though tit was gonna be, but I completely forgot to buy bedsheets and things so it looks like I'm sleeping on a rock today

good for the back!

Now I'm just looking forward to the weekend so I can meet up with people and grab a couple of beers or dinner! A lot of people on facebook and such offered to meet up with me (some of them sound pretty scary, like this guy who was like 'hey, my name is Ben, I'm 6"3' and I'm new to Seoul, I don't know anyone here, want to go drinking?'... I'll probably end up seeing him anyway! <: D

But if there are any other Seoulites around on TL who want to meet up sometime lemme know! I wanna go see a couple of starcraft games sometime soon (I think GOM might be best if its on a sunday) so maybe we can form a big TL bandwagon, and start a mexican wave at the camera, ohhh yes.

Today I discovered convenience store snacks called... 'Gimbap'? I think is the name, awesome stuff! It's like a riceball wrapped in seaweed with some assorted fillings, I think my fridge is probably going to be fully stocked of Gimbap and Grape Juice by next week. To those dudes who already offered to meet up sometime, I will hold you to it!

(I think I might be beginning to sound creepy? like Ben :[ ) I should spend this time learning Korean but I'm almost getting used to using hand signals!

Espero que os dormeis bien!

NarutO

Germany18839 Posts

September 16 2008 08:57 GMT

#30

This is awesome. I'm so happy for you

! I'd like to discover an other country as well.. USA or Korea would be the first choice for me, but I simply cannot leave my life here since I'd miss all my friends etc.
Maybe when I'm coming over to Seoul we can meet

ShloobeR

Korea (South)3820 Posts

September 17 2008 02:25 GMT

#31

oh man, I just came out of the toilet and I realised I dont have any toilet paper yet, I forgot to buy any, and... uh...

doktorh

Norway14 Posts

September 29 2008 20:11 GMT

#32

More updates man :p
I'll probably move to korea sometime this spring, so it was really fun to hear about your experiences so far. (Even though I already have experienced the toilet problem

).
No but seriously more action! Do you have a job? I couldn't see that you wrote anything about your work. Just something about your employer sending you down there!
Thanks for sharing this anyways!

Chill

Calgary25991 Posts

September 29 2008 20:33 GMT

#33

Lol sounds fun

I'm going to live vicariously through you so update these blogs as much as possible ^_^

Ben sounds creepy? I think I would make that exact post. "I'm new to Seoul, I don't know anyone man. Want to go out tonight?" That's creepy? O_O