Dorm room assignment • Visa appointment

It's been a while since my last personal post so let's start off with an update on my exchange.

While looking through the checklist on Ewha's online portal, I realized that my insurance policy was written in Danish - not in English (or Korean) as Ewha had asked of us. So I messaged the insurance company and exactly 1 hour later they responded with an English version + additional notes explaining the numbers and covering. That's good service!

I also got word back from Ewha that I had gotten a room in their dormitory! Wooh!

I'll be staying in a double room with an en-suite bathroom (yaay). Also, it being a double room means that I'll have a roommate! Her name is right under mine on the list and judging by it, I believe she is Turkish. 

We'll be staying in building B of the I-House dormitory.

This the what Ewha writes about the dorm in their online campus map:

"I-House, located near the West Gate and Ewha Womans University Church, consists of 5 buildings in total - Building A&B, Ewha-Samsung International House opened in 2006, building D in 2012, and building E in 2013.

I-House can accommodate about 770 residents, including exchange students, Ewha Language Center students and guests who visit Ewha from all over the world.

I-House is equipped with a fitness room, computer rooms, laundry rooms and kitchenettes on each floor to offer a high level of comfort and provide a pleasant residential life by ensuring living convenience."

This is the info I found on our room (sorry for the blurry pictures):

"All rooms are furnished with beds, desks, closets, bookshelves and a refrigerators.

Rooms are conditioned with central heating and air conditioning."

It is also equipped with a floor heating system and a balcony.

And lastly we have the common rooms that are to be shared by all the residents.

I found information on all the facilities HERE but I'll just highlight the ones most important to me.

The guest lounge:

"The only place where guests are allowed (9:00 am ~10:00 pm) · 2 Comfortable couches and many tables& cozy chairs · Cable TV, Korean & English newspapers (Korea Herald, Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, Hankyoreh), water purifier"

Kitchenettes on every floor:

The each feature a sink, a water purifier, a microwave oven, an oven toaster, and an electric kettle. · Only warming or heating food is allowed here so if we want to cook our own food, we must go to the 

Common kitchen in building C:

Laundry/ironing room:

Here we can iron, wash, and dry our clothes. One washing cycle is 500₩. To my friends back home, 500₩ ≈ 3 DKK. 

Fitness room:

Open 24 hours and free to use. Features "weight machines, dumbbells, treadmills, a scale, and a water purifier."

There is also a convenience store, parcel lockers, a printer/copy machine, a computer room, a study room, a seminar room, a Christian- and a multicultural prayer/meditation room.

The cost of my room (+ the common areas) is 1.162.460₩ for the fall semester. That is around 6577 DKK.

I'm excited to meet my new roommate and to stay there!

Lastly, I went to the Korean embassy in Copenhagen last week to make my visa.

Out of all the people I know, who are going to be studying in Korea this coming semester, I'm the last one to have my visa made since I had to wait for Ewha to send out the documents needed. The other universities sent out their papers much earlier.

The documents weren't even sent to me but rather my university's foreign affairs office and of course it arrived when they were closed for the summer. So I made plans to meet up with one of the university workers and pick up my papers before noon since the embassy closed at noon.

And then I went to the embassy!

I feel like such a spy every time I take pictures of the embassy for some reason.

They told me I could pick up my visa in two weeks, which means next week from now!

Before heading back home, Guyeong, one of the embassy workers, treated me to lunch. 

고마워 구영아. 맛있게 먹었어! ^^

I'd honestly been a bit reluctant to accept the offer since it had been a while since I last spoke Korean (more than just a few words) but it went fine and I made a new friend.

Next week I'll be going back to Copenhagen for an event and hopefully be able to pick up my visa then. And Monday next next week I'll go to the hospital to have an x-ray photo taken of my lungs to prove that I don't have tuberculosis. It's not that I suspect being sick but proving that we don't have TB is a requirement from Ewha before letting us move into the dorms.

I'll keep you updated!