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| Anam Global House (my accommodation for semester 1) |
Deposit deadline: 7th July
Assignment result: 26th July
Residence hall fee payment deadline: 7th August
I've heard that applying for accommodation at Korea University can be a difficult and risky thing to do. Not because of the process, but because of the competition for rooms seeing as in the past couple of years student demand had always exceeded room supply.
So if you are applying for accommodation at KU always have a backup.
KU Accomm Vs. Goshiwons
Months before the application date I was already searching for 'goshiwons' - small rooms rented out for students, to choose as my backup in case I couldn't get into KU accommodation. Goshiwons tend to be within walking distance to universities, and can sometimes be more suitable for certain people. It really depends on what you want.
KU accommodation offers easier socialising with fellow international students, offer relatively larger rooms, are dead cheap when you share a room with someone, and have more westernised bathrooms. Yet bear in mind that you are not allowed to bring in alcohol, men and women aren't allowed in each others rooms, there are gender segregated floors, there can be curfews, and you have to share a kitchen with a lot more people.
Goshiwons can be more lenient with these restrictions. At goshiwons you can have a room, fridge, and bathroom to yourself, get free detergent and food (do check the goshiwon's facilities). Of course, goshiwons can cost more than KU accommodation but it really depends on the room type. Obviously the tiny rooms will cost the least. But it is arguable that it only costs more purely because a majority of them offer 'free' food and detergent (utilities) that are pretty much added onto your monthly bill.
There's another thing to take into consideration, payments. With KU accommodation you must pay the entire semester's accommodation fee in one payment before you even arrive there (you must have £1,000 in your bank ready), whereas with goshiwons you can pay in smaller amounts on a monthly basis.
You can search for goshiwons near Korea University here (plus other universities, just type in your university at the search bar).
After having made a list of preferred goshiwons, contact the managers for room prices since there is a variety of rooms to choose from. 'Outside' windows tend to cost more since they face the streets, and I'm assuming when they mention rooms with 'inside' windows it means windows that face the corridor, NOT outside.
You should also ask about deposit refunds just in case you do get into KU accommodation and need to cancel your reservation and request a deposit refund on the room.
Please note that just because you live in KU accommodation it doesn't mean that you'll basically live a few minutes away from your lecture halls. Oh no. The accommodation area may be on campus but they are kind of secluded from the lecture halls, and since the campus is huge it can take around "10-15mins" to get to your lecture - according to my friends who are currently at KU for the International Summer Campus (ISC) living in Frontier House. Additionally the accommodation area is placed on top of a massive steep hill, meaning that a horrendous trek up will await you every time you return after a long day of lessons or exploring.
On the bright side you can look forward to having beautifully toned legs after staying there for a semester.
What Happened?
Me and my friend (Louise) applied for our accommodation online on the day the application opened. Weeks prior to this, we already made an account and filled in details to make the process quicker. Please not that a digital copy of your passport photo is required.
There was a box that allowed you to choose who you wanted as your roommate, we both chose each other so we filled in each other's full name and student number. We were then asked to list 3 accommodations along with room types in order of preference. We chose CJ international house double as our top one. 2nd choice for me was a single room at CJ, 3rd was shared room at Frontier (I think).
In order to complete our application we had to submit our deposit (200,000KRW) through bank transfer before 7th July, otherwise our application would be ignored. Details on how to make this payment are provided on the web page once we have submitted the application.
Around this time we had already contacted a few managers/landlords in regards to room rates and deposit policies for our backup option. We ended up picking Rachel Livingtel as our backup since it offered the most 'free' utilities and allowed deposit refund upon cancellation - "you can get the hall deposit if you would cancel before 20th Aug" (the manager/landlord). The deposit to reserve the room was 100,000KRW
Luckily, we both ended up getting a shared room with each other at KU's newly built accommodation: Anam Global House, in which I swear I did not see as an option in the drop down boxes for accommodation selection. We could only find out whether we got in or not by logging into our housing accounts.
KU then sent us an email in regards to the next step: payment for your accommodation. This payment's deadline was much shorter, so we had to send the payment off ASAP. However, I was unsure about this new accommodation purely because there was mininal information about it on the website since it was new. I asked my friends at KU's ISC about it and they confirmed that it was a new building behind the Anam male dorm. Additionally, I emailed KU about the accommodation's facilities and they said that "Anam Global House has one big public kitchen on first floor". I doubted that I would've wanted to cook anything extravagant in Korea anyway so I decided to take it.
Fairly unfortunate news then followed when Louise emailed Rachel Livingtel to cancel our reservations and request deposit refunds. Turns out that we couldn't get our deposits back until someone else takes our rooms that we reserved. CURSES THIS MISCOMMUNICATION!!
EDIT: we've luckily managed to get our deposits back now. According to Louise there was a different reason why we initially couldn't get our deposits back...
On the bright side at least I have somewhere to live starting from 24th Aug.
I shall try to keep you guys updated on my leg toning transformation.
It will be the first time ever that I have to actually share a room with someone for a long period of time.
Just because we want to save money.
Me and Louise have known each other for around 5 years; 3 years chatting online, 2 years at the same university and lived in the same flat for 2nd year. It's time to see how long we can stand each other in a confined space for a long period of time before a war breaks out.
Challenge accepted.
★ TIPS ★
- Check with all your banks on international payment fees since you will be transferring money to a Korean bank
- You might also want to set your bank card up for use abroad
- Transfer money ASAP since they can take up to a week or so to send (I really don't know why it takes so long, don't ask)
- Always transfer a higher amount than requested (no more than £10) due to conversion rates
- Overpaid/excess amounts will be refunded
- Underpaid amounts will be expected to be paid when you arrive
Many students are worry about accommodation this blog is very helpful for all the students thanks for sharing.
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