Yonsei University

There are many hasook-ships around Yonsei University. You pay anywhere from 300 to 500 dollars per month which includes home made meals, and laundry service. (Great! The International Dorm at Yonsei has no meal plan, and so when you stay at in a boarding house, you don't have to care about going out to restaurants for food. I like to have my space and freedom, and so boarding house is my choice. However, if it is your first time at Yonsei, stay in the dorm, and then look for a boarding house.

I definitely came to Korea in order to improve my Korean language skills and therefore also took the daily Korean language class (4-6 pm). Although it was very demanding (we had exams almost every 2 weeks and even had to write a Korean diary) it surely helped to improve my Korean a lot. Now I don't have any problems communicating in Korean. For absolute Korean beginners it might be very hard to learn the language. A lot of my friends dropped the course shortly before or after the midterms. However, if you attend the class until the very end you'll clearly see that you'll get by everyday life and the Korean people around appreciate your efforts in speaking Korean a lot.

Although everybody had to get used to the quite small rooms and the fact that you even have to share them with a person you didn't know before, the I-House is a very good choice for 1st semester people. Of course you don't get too much privacy, but after all it's only for a semester and you shouldn't be staying in your room too much anyway ;-)

the area yonsei is in (shinchon) is pretty nice. lots of places to eat and drink, but nothing *phenominal*. in the same general vicinity are hong-ik university (art) and ehwa university (women's univ), so the surrounding areas have lots of bars too. in hongdae (by hong-ik) is the best restaurant in town, called "kkogi kkogi". it's a samgyopsal joint (pork that you grill yourself). you can get samgyopsal almost anywhere though, and you can also find plenty of kalbi places. you cook the meat yourself at your table. try it with soju! almost all restaurants and bars are open until about 7am 7 days a week.

Don't miss going to Gyeongju, the old Emperor's city in the south of Korea. It's beautiful!