Yonsei University

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.

Gangnum is an area that the youthful like to go to where there are a lot of american influenced restaurants, pubs, theatres and such when you are homesick. Insadong is a great cultural place that provides a look into the past through their buildings, food, and daily activities such as trying your hand at pottery (it's a good place to buy souveneirs). Night life is everywhere, every night. Best place to shop is Myungdong with an option of all types of fashion from the latest designers or the street market (with many delicious bites to eat)

There are 3 areas I very much recommend: 1) Shinchon (the university area): lots of bars, pubs, karaoke bars and restaurants. All of them are very cheap and you can have great nights out with a big group of people. 2) Hongdae (the area around the Hongik Art University) - great clubs, both HipHop and House music, very recommendable: M2! Great clubbings! 3) Apgujeong (The Beverly Hills of Seoul) - great trendy clubs, beautiful people, good music. Unfortunately a little bit pricey when you're not on the guestlist of these clubbings.

Historical sites are all over the place. The DMZ at the border between North and South Korea was pretty intense. Seoul is really cool, everything is there. Pusan and Jeju Island are two other (of many) neat places. Nightlife in the cities is fun, taxis and buses all over the place too. Korea really isn't very large, travel around as much as possible. Subway, bus, and train are good ways to travel. Trips to neighboring countries are fairly easily also.

There are so many clubs, bars, cafes in Seoul. People here love to go out, and have fun! The Yonsei University District called Shinchon is filled with thousands of young people everyday, and therefore one can find just the perfect place to go out with the perfect atmosphere. There is definitely an unique culture here, combining old asian tradition with the new fast paced techno world. As a European I have enjoyed it very much!

Best bars? Sinchon and Hongdae for sure. Only because they are so cheap especially when you are on that student budget and wish to use money to travel then on expensive drinks like I did at least! On those nice nights though you can never go wrong with going to Gangnam once and a while. Octagon is the best club they have out there at its Free on Thursdays. Also if you happen to be a little familiar with Korean familiar faces (aka celebs and actors) you run into many out there! They all like to spend time around Apgujung and expensive areas (hehe) The Han river is GORG during the summer. It does get busy though! (not that it's a surprise....South Korea is a tad crowded on the weekends, be prepared to get bumped into every now and then) Student Life? Yeah....You make that for yourself. Foreigners stick to foreigners. They don't tell you that. No one will EVER explicitly tell you that...but as time goes after you realize you aren't on vacation, but actual living there for XX amount of months...Your integration with Koreans at school is almost non existent unless your Korean is A++, You're really pale and cute, you find yourself a Korean connection, or are just Korean. It's sad, but unintentionally (at least I hope thats always the case...) They don't know how to accept diversity...So Koreans WILL ALWAYS stick together.