Where should we stay if we want to study in Korea?(2)

Last time we talked about accommodation provided by university.  This time we will talk about accommodation outside the campus....^^"

There are many kinds of accommodations that you can stay around university from cheap to expensive, from austerity to luxury. It all depends on your budget.

Let's start from one-room(원룸).  This kind of room is very comfortable to live.  The room is provided full option such as TV, desk, bed, kitchen, private toilet, wardrobe, and washing machine.  However, the room fee is very expensive and,  most of the time, we have to give money for deposit as well.  Normally, in Daejoen area, the room fee is around 300,000-500,000 won a month and deposit will be more than 1,000,000 won.  Actually, if you can support higher deposit, your room rate will be reduced.  On the other hand, if your room rate is high, the deposit will be low.  Sometimes, if you can negotiate with an owner, you don't need to pay for deposit at all.  In that case, you have to pay all of your room fee at once.  For example, if you want to do contact to live in one-room for 1 year and you don't want to pay for deposit, you can negotiate to the owner that you will pay all 12 months at once without giving a deposit.  In many cases, the owners agree.  Also, we have to pay for gas bill, electricity bill, running-water bill by ourselves.

Normally, the building of one-room will be similar to the building in the picture beside.  In fact, I lived there before.  I really wanted to continue to live there but my budget was not allow me to do so.  That time I paid for 400,000 won per month and gave 1,000,000 won for a deposit.  I really enjoyed staying there.  I could cook and invite my friends to have small party(we didn't allowed to be noisy).

Regardless of the high price, there is also an inconvenient point.  We need to separate garbage into food, plastics, paper, and general.

For general garbage, we need to buy special plastic bag in order to throw the waste.  There are different colors of plastic bags in different region.
For example, in my area which is Dong-gu, Daejeon, we have to buy green plastic bag as in the picture beside.  We must buy it in local grocery stores including supermarkets and discounted store in the same area where you live.  For more information about waste disposal, please visit your city's webpage.  For Daejeon city, please click here.



Another kind of the accommodation is ha-suk-jib(하숙집).  This kind of room is normally from Korean people who want to divide some rooms of their houses to other people for renting.   This kind of room consists of basic furniture such as TV, bed, wardrobe and desk.  In some places, we need to share bathroom with others but in other places we have our own bathroom.  The special thing of ha-suk-jib(하숙집) is that the owners will provide meals.  It's not free because it is already included in room fee.  For some places, room fee is also included gas fee, electricity fee, and running-water fee, but in some places, we need to pay even for internet by ourselves.  If the owner is not provide meals, the room will be called as "one-room."  The price of this kind of one-room will be cheaper.
 I also lived in this kind of room before.  After negotiating, I needed to pay 200,000 won a month and I had to pay all at once, so I didn't need to pay a deposit.  The room fee was already included gas fee, electricity fee, and running-water fee, but I had to pay 15,000 won extra for internet and TV.

Another kind of accommodation is ko-si-won(고시원).  I never lived in this kind of accommodation but I heard from my Korean friend about it.  The concept of ko-si-won(고시원) is that "it is small and it has small bed and small desk, the bathroom is shared, so it is very inconvenient."  According to the concept, this place should be the cheapest place.  But I don't know a reason why it's a bit expensive around my university comparing to one-room. It costs 200,000 - 250,000 won per month.  A deposit is not required.  You can check it out fromhere.


I hope you can decide where you can live if you want to come to South Korea for study..^^


Have a good time  :D