Hi Everyone!

I am about to leave for Seoul. I will be in Seoul in 10 days!!! Wow, seems like very recently I was planning all of the arrangments and applying for the program. I got my passport with the Korean Visa yesterday, so I can stay in Korea until August 2012. I hope to stay over winter break and maybe volunteer/intern somewhere.

I also got housing, which I have some tips for. My housing was a little complicated because I did not apply for the KU dorms. I got my acceptance in the middle of July, so by that time the dorms where full and the waiting list was full. I emailed the study abroad office, and eventually had to call them. Then, I was informed that they help find off campus housing for people who applied for their dorms, but if you did not apply then they don't have your information so they don't help you unless you ask them to. Well, I asked my advisor back home to help me out, and with her help and emails I got a room in one of the new dorms. This dorm is called Frontier House, it has accomodations similar to or better than CJ international. I will be sharing a room with someone and I uploaded a picture of the room. With this dorm, you have to pay ahead of time and you have to buy a meal plan. You need to pay one lump sum fee ahead of time and it is for 6 months. The meal plan is for 4 months. This together costs about $2900 US dollars. There is also a curfew, so you cannot leave or enter between 24:30-05:00 hours.

I figured I will try the whole KU experience with the dorms, this way I think it will be easier to meet people and be more convienient with the location and meal plan. I don't know exactly what kind of a meal plan it is, but I will update you on that and on the quality of the food. I am very much looking forward to all the kimbob and kimchi and goodies :)

I will also write about Orientation. There is a three day orientation, which includes a technology class, getting a student ID, city tour, KU campus tour, and of course class registration.

So the tip is to register for the dorm rooms in KU so that you will get more help in finding off campus housing if the dorms fill up.

here is a link to a useful website about the dorms: http://www.konkuk.ac.kr/eng/jsp/Life/life_020100.jsp

Sorry I could not access the option to upload a picture from my computer, so I had to use a generic one.