Travelling to Korea: preparation part 1

Assalamualaikum. 

Salam Ramadhan al-Mubarak. :) 

Warning : This post is wordy.

Another 2.5 hours to breakfasting so I decided to update and share my preparation for the trip to Korea. In my case, studying abroad in other country for more than 2 months. I need to prepare. Throughout the preparation, I sometimes feel like not doing anything else but just the preparation alone because I feel excited whenever I want to travel. I don't know since when travel has been part of my interest. 

Ok ok enough with the chatter. Let's get to business. I'm gonna try to help myself (and if possible, you) to prepare for this long travel whether you're on your own or with someone else. Good thing is you can divide the work if you're travelling in group. Best part is if you are most probably have overweight luggage before or after departing, you can share the burden too. Truly is the best part if you're like me TT_TT I remembered how I went off to USA with 20kg and came back with almost 100kg luggage just what on earth did I buy/get there?! Really can't put myself on hold for more ramblings huh?

Serious. Kali ni betul-betul.

School

Since I'm going to study in Sungkyunkwan University for one semester (4 months), I need a student VISA. To get the student VISA, I need:

1. Acceptance letter from the host university
2. Verification letter from home university (stated that you are a student in the U and you have enough money to study there)

When I went to get a VISA to USA before, I only need the acceptance letter. Guess different VISA needs different kind of documents.

House

Regarding accommodation, I'm not gonna apply for off-campus housing (in SKKU the options are iHouse, Koart Ville and Migaon Ville which cost $1700/sem around RM5k++) because I'll be staying together with my forever boyfriend. :3 However, since both of us are still in Malaysia and Mr.BFF is busy preparing for IELTS, we hardly find a place to be rented online, especially when most of the landlords don't speak English. And tell you what, housing rental isn't cheap in Seoul. Like at all.

More info on housing

Still, we contact so many websites and owner for the housing. The problem is the big amount of key money (security deposit). Only today, I found a nice place that we like, in-between both of our universities (but closer to mine) and still within our budget- the most important part. Hehe. You may find your preferable here (there are many others :

Habang - If you would like to save money on housing, good location, not sharing the room with others, don't mind a small room, Goshiwon is the place.

Eden Realty - find your own apartment for you or/and your family.

Jays Real Estate Agency - you need an amount of key money, find your own officetel/one room here.

Craiglist - a lot of houses and rooms available.

Seoul Loft - if money isn't a problem and you wish to live in an apartment like you see in k-dramas. LOL *gelak unbelievable sambil nangis*

Money

Since the currency of Korea Won to Malaysia Ringgit is 3:1, you should expect to pay 3 times higher than in Malaysia for almost everything. Not only accommodation is expensive, the living cost is no joke too. At least for someone from a developing country and not rich. LOL *nangis tepi katil* I was informed in the student's handbook I received that the average monthly spent in Seoul by the students is 600,000won which is around RM2k++ YES. But.. Do you know that the Korea government offered a few scholarships for students? Here you go. You gotta ask the host university you're applying to whether there's any scholarship offered by the university or other organization. Thank God I asked and the university informed me when it's open. Applied for it and.... 

Fresh from the oven. Alhamdulillah... :')

Shopping before going
Faham tak kenapa tulis before? Faham tak? 
I can't promise you that I won't shop there. Well at least not that much I did in the US. My BFF already told me that we need to buy a few things before we go to Korea especially things that are expensive there:

- medication

- books (heard from a friend of mine that English books are not that easy to be found)

- winter clothes
- contact lenses
- hair products

Besides, for Muslims, it's not easy to find halal food  and if it does, expensive. So I decided to buy a stock of foods before leaving like instant noodles, tomyam paste (I plan to cook on my own to save some money on food) etc. Kalau nak cerita pasal shopping boleh habis 2 3 entri. 

See you soon on the next preparation phase ok!