Welcome to Korea, or more specifically, welcome to Sinchon.Yonsei, my host university located in Sinchon, which is within Seodaemun-gu in the capital Seoul. Sinchon area has many cafes, restaurants and shopping hotspots. A lot of the businesses cater to college students, so you can find a lot of university students around the city.
Yonsei University is one of the top universities in South Korea and has three campuses and a connecting hospital. The main campus and hospital are in Sinchon, where I study. This campus is very large, much larger than my home university. The architecture style reminds me of a Northeastern U.S. college campus style, with many ivy covered stone buildings and well-manicured lawns. There have been new additions to the campus that are more modern, but this helps to create a beautiful contrast of old and new. The Sinchon campus has five gates, North, West, East, South and Main gates. The Main gate faces downtown Sinchon, while the West and South gates lead to the surrounding neighborhoods and Hongdae. On campus housing is located by the East and North gates, for foreigners and Korean natives respectively. Map of Yonsei campus
I live in a double room within the international student dorms. When you enter the room, there is a shoe storage to the left of the door that is floor to ceiling long. Immediately before you, is a tiled area to remove your shoes that is about half a foot below the height of the hardwood floors. So, you must step up to enter the bedroom area. Once you enter the bedroom area, there is a shower and a sink to your left and a door leading to the toile on your right. As you walk further into the room, you will see two twin sized beds pushed against the walls, one on the right and the other on the left. At the head of the beds are desks facing the wall on their respective sides of the room. Next to the right desk is the balcony and to the left is a window. My roommate is also an American student and she is also from the East coast. She is younger than me by a couple years, but we get along well.
Back at my home university, I lived off campus and my university is in a city that did not have many cafes, restaurants or shops close to the campus. So, it’s a welcome change to have so much to do within walking distance of the school campus. I was also worried that I would not get along with my roommate, but so far, we have had no problems. To conclude, I have adjusted quite well to Korea and the dorm life, but most importantly, I am enjoying life in South Korea.
