First Week in Seoul
After a 10 hour flight, I successfully made it to Korea!
Delta and Korean Air were the codeshare partners for my travel. This means that even though the tickets were bought on the Delta website, Korean Air was in charge of checking people in and flying the aircraft.
Landed in Seoul
The courses I had registered for at Yonsei were available to me as soon as I arrived. While I was on the way to my accomodation, I learned that I had been accepted into three of the four classes for which I had enrolled. The next day was the second round of registration for students that choose to drop or add courses. This was an opportunity for me to join the waitlist. After adding two backup classes, I received the class I wanted!
Tip: Remember to pack very lightly if you intend to splurge on clothing, skincare, and other products while studying abroad in Korea.
While clothes in Korea cost about $7+, I kept in mind that it would be best to buy clothes that I can also wear in Hawai'i. That being said, I brought less tops than sweaters. For apparel, stop by Hongdae Shopping Street and Goto Mall. These places offer a variety of trendy clothing for reasonable prices. On the other hand, malls are typically more expensive when it comes to clothing, but it's still fun to visit. Other malls that I have visited are:
AK& Hongdae
COEX Mall
MyeongDong Underground Shopping Center
After days of exploring, I came to the realization that many of the clothes sold by various retailers are identical. I would go from one boutique to another and they would have the same pieces of clothing for different prices.
Cash or Card?
Some stores charge a fee for paying with card. Despite having no foreign transaction fees for my credit and debit cards, certain stores increase their price due to the transaction method. An example of this was when I got a haircut at CCA Hair in Hongdae. My friend advised me to pay with cash to avoid the extra credit card fee. I exchanged USD to KRW in Hawaii and I'm also using the ATM machines in Korea (Woori Bank) to withdraw additional cash as well. With the Charles Schwab debit card, I was able to withdraw cash and have the fee reimbursed towards the end of the month.
Transportation
During the first week, I mostly used the subway as the fastest mode of transportation. However, I definitely walked more than anything. To utilize the buses, taxis, and subways, I acquired a T-money card at the CU (convenience store). At the checkout, I told the cashier the amount I wanted to put in the card (50,000 KRW at first) and the card was ready to be used. The card is also reloadable at the subway station or convenience store.
Overall
After settling into my accommodation, I spent my days familiarizing the streets, discovering new locations, and generally attempting to digest the changes in my life. Below are some highlights of my week!
