Tour of my Goshiwon in Seoul + Tips for Living in a Goshiwon

I just wanted to start this post by explaining what a 고시원 (goshiwon) is.  It's a small room with typically only a desk, a bed, and a closet (also mini refrigerator and some shelving) which students usually rent to focus on studying. There's a communal bathroom and kitchen for residents to use and basic food is usually supplied (eggs, kimchi, rice, ramen). In this style, prices range from ₩200,000 - ₩400,000 per month ($175 - $345).

The style of goshiwon I live in includes a small bathroom (toilet, sink, shower head) and a window, which costs me ₩500,000 per month ($430). This slightly larger goshiwon ranges in price also depending on the location and condition from ₩400,000 - ₩800,000 per month ($345 - $690).
*Note that my ranges are based on what I typically saw while looking for a goshiwon. You will see a few cheaper and a few more expensive.

There's also a refundable security deposit fee of ₩30,000 for the key. One advantage of renting a goshiwon is that you can avoid Seoul's ridiculously high security deposits on apartments.

If you're interested in living in a goshiwon, I'll give you further tips about renting one and living there after the tour of my own place! This is my first narrated video so my voice sounds a little weird since I was nervous, haha.

Tour of my Goshiwon in Hongdae, Seoul

Review of my goshiwon

Overall, I love the place and am super happy here! I chose this goshiwon because a couple friends recommended it to me. Some things I love:

• The place is generally clean!
• The owner is very kind and helpful 
• The supplied food is enough for my daily meals
• With the window, the occasional air conditioning, and my small fan I'm comfortable
• The bed is comfortable
• The location in Hongdae is pretty convenient. Hongdae's surrounding stations all have things to do, so I don't mind taking the extra time to walk there and save money on the subway.
• I almost never see bugs (I've been here two weeks and have seen a total of 2 harmless gnats and one small spider, which is pretty remarkable for any apartment in Korea I think)
• I almost never hear anything from the other rooms (In my two weeks, I've heard a toilet flush once and a quiet tv once)
• There's just enough space for all my stuff + me to live comfortably. 

There are a couple things that bother me a little, though..

• I love being right across the hall from the kitchen, since it makes it easy to do my laundry, refill my water bottle, or get food whenever I want. I can also tell if someone else is in there and can wait until they're done. However, late at night I sometimes hear people cooking. They're usually not very loud since they're just cooking and it doesn't bother me much. There are some foreigners on my floor though who sometimes cook together at night and talk, and that is a little hard to sleep through.
• I live in Hongdae and have a window right next to the street. Hongdae is a district known for some nice things like its quirky cafe culture, busking (people performing on the streets- art, music, dance, etc), and shopping. However, it's also known for its night life. I've never had issues with the clubbing aspect of Hongdae, but the drinking means I hear people passing by and yelling drunkenly outside my window. I'm on the third floor and it's usually just bad on the weekends and past midnight when I'm already in my room. As I said before, living in Hongdae is very convenient, but I could do without the drunk yelling.

Tips for Living in a Goshiwon

Some of these are tips given to me by my friends and some are from my own experience :)

1. If you'd like to look for a goshiwon, I recommend Habang. Through Habang, you can find goshiwons and rent them. If you don't like the selection, you can request they find a different one for you or in a different area. I didn't rent through them because they charge a fee so I don't know the exact process, but I think it's a good resource to start with. 
2. I also recommend not renting a goshiwon until you've seen the actual room. I've read many blog posts about people moving into a goshiwon that looked nothing like the photos they saw online. The photos were probably taken right when the place was opened, but the rooms had degraded in cleanliness when she got there. 
3. Bring your own dishes and keep them in your room. If you leave them out in the kitchen, residents will think they're for anyone to use and will take them. This happened to me! As for what dishes to bring, scroll down to my Diaso Shopping List ♡
4. Bring a towel from your country if you want to use a big size. I'm not sure if you can buy them here or not but I've only seen large hand sized towels. I know it'll take up space in your luggage, but you can always leave it here when you come back and use the extra space for souvenirs.
5.  Don't bring more than two suitcases because you won't have any space to put them!
6. You have to rent BY THE MONTH with goshiwon, so consider that when you're figuring how much it will cost.
7. Bring shaving cream from your country if you need it. I haven't been able to find any for women here and ended up having to buy men's facial shaving cream.. 
8. It's easy to just stay here all day and not go out if you're traveling alone, here for an extended time, or shy like myself but really force yourself to explore and visit new places!
9. Buy things for your temporary home at Daiso! Daiso is a Japanese based home good store. Kind of like the Dollar Store but everything is cute. The following list is things I bought that I recommend you to purchase there too :)

Diaso Shopping List

1. Bowl for all of your meals
2. Chopsticks + Spoon set
3. Small tray (not necessary but I find it so helpful when moving back and forth between my room and the kitchen)
4. Mug for hot drinks
5. Travel cup for cold drinks (you can use it at home and when you go out)
6. Toilet paper (you can use this for tissues as well)
7. Toothpaste + Brush + Suction cup thing to go on your mirror
8. One of the plastic bucket things with holes on the bottom to put your shower stuff in
9. Hand soap + dispenser if necessary ( Because of an allergy, I ended up getting Sultana of Soap from Lush and a cute bunny soap dish from Daiso!)
10. Air freshener ( I put one directly in my toilet paper trash can )
11. One of those shower puff things to wash with so you don't have to wash a washcloth
12. Small fan (especially if you don't have a window)
13. Stand up mirror (for makeup of course!)
14. Umbrella (especially if you go during July-August, the rainy season)
15. House slippers, shower slippers, samseon slippers (the rubber ones with white stripes for short trips outside)
16. Hangers for your clothes
17. Blanket
18. One of the cute containers as featured in my video for putting your makeup in!

This was kind of a big topic, so if you have any questions about goshiwons, my experiences, or housing in Seoul, feel free to let me know in the comments !

  Kellie

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