Side dishes in Korea are included with your meal for free! You can eat an unlimited amount of them! When I go to a Japanese restaurant to eat sushi, the side dishes are tempura and miso soup. In California, the Japanese restaurants always charge extra for them. The fact that they are included in my meal makes me very happy I am in Korea! Luckily, my internship allows me to purchase up to 8,000 KRW for lunch, so I use my stipend as an opportunity to try different restaurants.
Normally, I try to cook at home. It's difficult to cook food I normally eat in California because the ingredients and spices are different in Korea. Foreign food is more expensive, and you see the price difference reflected in restaurants that serve foreign food. For example, watermelon costs between 17,000-25,000 KRW! I haven't gotten the chance to eat watermelon, but I miss it. It's one of my favorite fruits. Grapes and meat are also pricey. Mandarins, tofu, figs, onions, and eggplant are cheaper because they are grown locally.
Because I did not receive a dorm room, I live off-campus in an apartment with two other housemates. We all share the kitchen area, but only two of us cook. I have my own room and private bathroom, but my walk to Yonsei University's main gate takes 20 minutes. I don't mind the walk because I like to exercise and I enjoy my private space. In comparison, my friend lives in a goshiwon, which is a very small room mainly used by students to study and sleep. The room is so tiny that only a twin-size bed and a desk fit in the room. While my friend lives in the heart of Sinchon and is a four-minute walk away from the main gate, it is often noisy since there are many restaurants and bars around her apartment.
