My new apartment and meeting my friend from India

I am finally all moved into my new apartment and I can confidently say that I absolutely love it!  I want to give a huge shout-out to Lea, another Boren scholar here and a good friend, who helped me move the entire day. Not only did she help me move my luggage but she stayed with me to unpack and go shopping for all the items I needed. I can't thank her enough because there was no way I could've moved by myself.

The space is perfect for one person, it doesn't feel cramped nor does it feel like there is wasted space. The apartment is a studio apartment, although the kitchenette has its own little room when you enter the apartment. The bathroom also has a bathtub which is somewhat rare in Korea for studio apartments. Most studio apartments have bathrooms where the bathroom is the shower space, so anytime you wash everything gets wet. Even though there is a bathtub there was no pole or shower curtain, but I bought them really cheap so it really wasn't an issue.

Bathtub with the shower curtain.

Another bathroom photo.

An adorable bear mat I bought for the bathroom.

The apartment came furnished, so there's a desk, desk chair, bed, wardrobe, full refrigerator, TV, and small table. The owner was also really nice and provided me with sheets and a drying rack for my clothes. The apartment is "old" for Korean standards but it doesn't feel old. The space is really clean and it doesn't feel aged by any means.

View of the TV and desk.

View of the bed.

View of the fridge and wardrobe.

My little kitchenette!

Luckily there is a store called Daiso in Korea that sells a bunch of functional, cheap, and often adorable household items. It is actually pretty hard to find items there that are over 10,000 won, so it's perfect for a college student's budget. I had to buy a pan, pot, plates, bowls, silverware, laundry basket, shoe basket, waste baskets, hangers, bathroom stuff, etc. and I didn't spend more than 100,000 won. I also did some light grocery shopping to make sure that I have at least some food for breakfast.

There are two downsides to the apartment so far, but they really aren't that bad. First, the wifi router that I bought didn't work so I had to consult with the company to get a new one. Right now I'm connected to the internet through an ethernet cord. The internet is fast though and I have data on my photo in case I need to access the internet, so it really isn't an issue and it'll be resolved soon. Another downside is that I don't have my own washer, but instead there's one on every floor and there's only four apartments on each floor so they're rarely, if at all, all being used at the same so that it is also not a big issue.

The location of the apartment is quite interesting. I'm located in between the Sinchon subway station and Sogang subway station. I'm about a 3-minute walk away from the Sinchon station and about a 10-minute away from Yonsei University. My apartment is also where all the "love hotels" are located in Sinchon. Love hotels are where couples go to have, you can guess it, because a lot of places in Korea don't allow overnight guests, especially places where college students live. Love hotels in Korea are actually really nice and many choose to stay there instead of regular hotels because they are cleaner and more fancy. Unlike the perception that similar places may get in the United States or other countries, love hotels in Korea are actually very safe as well as the areas they are in. I haven't faced any issues yet and I don't think I ever will. The area that my apartment is in also has a random assortment of other buildings including a church, traditional houses, a Buddhist temple, a dry cleaning place, and a couple of restaurants. It's a unique area in Sinchon and it has already made for some good stories.

In my opinion, probably the best part of this apartment is my rooftop. Most Korean apartments don't have rooftop access so the fact that I do is awesome and I've already made some of my friends jealous, haha. I have a fantastic view of the city and I've already periodically gone up there just to look at the buildings. I'm also located on the top floor so the rooftop is only a couple stairs away. It's nice knowing that if I ever feel somewhat claustrophobic in my apartment, I can go to the rooftop for some peace of mind.

 A view from the rooftop during the day.

A view from the rooftop during the night.

After moving and running errands all day on Saturday, I immediately passed out and slept really well on my first night in the apartment. The area I'm in is very quiet and I rarely hear my neighbors so I'm able to be very productive in a calming environment. It is so rewarding to finally live completely on my alone and even more awesome that I started to do it in a foreign country. I've had terrible issues with roommates in the past so it's nice to finally have my own space to do what I want and to keep it clean. I already know it's going to be hard to leave the apartment 8 months from now.

On Sunday I experienced a moment that I didn't think would ever realistically happen in my life: I met a classmate and good friend from when I lived and went to an international school in India. He is Korean but lived in India for pretty much his whole life and he has completed two years at New York University but is now currently serving in the army since Korea has male conscription. We met for lunch and coffee and talked for about 6 hours. The last time we talked in person was 8 years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It was such a strange but wonderful moment to have two distinct but important parts of my life bridge together. We both would have never expected to meet again in Korea and we plan to meet again in the future. In fact he's going to send a request to the army to see if I can visit him at his base next month. And he'll be back at NYU when I'm back in the U.S. so I plan on visiting him in New York City as well, especially since I've never been to NYC.

My friend Hisu and I!

It's crazy how life works out that way sometimes and I'm hoping I can have similar experiences in the future with all my friends from the past. Each week here never fails to surprise me and make me happy so I can only expect the future ones to be even better. See you next week!