My dorm | CJ International House

Hey guys! One week of uni has passed and it's been a rollercoaster. So many things have happened from the time I last blogged... buuuut as I've promised, I'll blog about my dorm, which is CJ International House!

All the on-campus accommodation at Korea University are all within the same area, so I'd always see Korean and international students roaming around. There are separate accommodation for local Korean students and international students. For international students (including those on exchange/visiting program), they offer two dormitories - CJ International House and Anam Global House. And lucky enough for me, I got my first option, which is a single room at CJ International House.

So before coming to Korea, I researched how the dorm was going to be like, and everyone was saying how there is a huge hill before you climb up to CJ International House...... well here's a video from the entrance of the on-campus accommodation area to the lobby of my dorm.... it's self-explanatory I reckon. I apologise in advance if the video is a bit shaky.... I have shaky hands...

A convenience store just down the hill from CJ International House

CJ International House

The entrance of CJ International House

At CJ International House, there are three different suite types. There is a 2 bedroom suite, 3 bedroom suite and a 4 bedroom suite. I was assigned into a 3 bedroom suite, and I share this suite with 4 other people. All of them are put into double rooms, while I'm the only one in a single room. Photo spam coming up!!

Lift to the suites

Info on all the facilities available

Walkway to my suite

My suite! 601 :)

When you first enter the suite, there is a sink
on the left and the bathroom on the right

Walkway to the rooms (My room is on the very far right)

Bathroom - shower and sink

Bathroom - toilet bowl (Do you notice something? #muslimproblems) 

When you first enter my roooom!!
Bed on the left, wardrobe and study table

The study table in my room (which I doubt I will use for study purposes)

Facilities
CJ International House has a range of facilities available, of which it includes:

Shared kitchens
There are two kitchens per floor; Kitchen A and Kitchen B. In each kitchen, there are two refrigerators, cooking stove, an oven, a microwave and cupboards for storage. The only difference between the two kitchens is that Kitchen A has a water purifier dispenser, while Kitchen B doesn't. For me, Kitchen A was the closest one to me and it was the most crowded one. The fridge is always filled with food and it's a pain to store food in there.

Lucky for me though, I met Atirah and we both decided to cook our dinners together. It's a win-win situation for us because we both have the same palate for food (Melayu food 4evaaaaa) and our expenditure for our groceries is shared. Anyway, Atirah lives on the 4th floor and her suite is opposite Kitchen B, which is SUPERRRR empty. I think we conquered most of the space in one of the fridges LOL.

Kitchen B on the 4th floor

Kitchen B on the 4th floor

Laundry room
The laundry room is located on the basement floor, and it is equipped with washing machines, dryers and ironing board.

In order to use the washing machine/dryer, you need 2 x 500 won and your own detergent/softener. Or if you prefer, you can buy a little sachet of the detergent/softener for 500 won from this little machine in the laundry room.

For me, I bought my own detergent from Daiso because it's way cheaper than buying a small sachet every week. I spend 2,000 won weekly for my laundry, which isn't too bad I guess.

I've never tried the ironing board before but all you have to do is press a button and the iron will be on for 10 minutes.

Laundry room

Music Halls/Seminar rooms/Conference rooms
All these rooms are located on the basement floor. I've never entered these rooms, because you need to book the room and obtain a key to get in. And if I'm not mistaken, you'd need to pay for the seminar and conference rooms.

Prayer Room
There's a prayer room!!! It's also in the basement floor. I've never entered the room though, because you'd need to inform the reception desk and get a key. But apparently, one of my friends tried to get a key but the reception desk lost it.... oh well.....

Gym
There's a gym located on the 2nd floor, and it's only open at designated periods (not too sure on the actual timings, but it's open for a few hours in the morning and night). Again, I've never entered here because climbing up the hill is already a workout for me lol. Probably when it gets colder.... I'll enter and take pictures.

Study Rooms/Lounges
There's a study room on each of the residences floor, and it's open to only residents. Againnnn, I've never entered here becuase I haven't actually studied any of my lecture notes yet LOL. But yeah, I will take pictures next time I enter the study room.

On each floor, there's also huge lounge room on each of the residences floor, but no one uses it really. The only lounge room that I see people use is the lounge room on the 1st floor, where guests are also allowed to hang around. There's also another small lounge room somewhere between the suites. Don't really see people hanging around there either. Oh there's also a mini alfresco area at the balcony.. which I have no photos of at the moment. I usually see people sitting at the balcony during breakfast time.

Lounge room on the 1st floor

International Cafe
There's also an international cafe, located on the 1st floor, near to the reception area. When you first check into your dorm, you'll receive like a meal plan for the whole semester. If you plan to sign up for it, you'd have to go to the cafe during the designated times (i.e breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Printing/scanning facilities
There's a few computers and a huge printer/scanner machine on the 1st floor, near the reception desk. Not too sure on how it works, but you can use your student card/T-Money card to pay for it.

Random stuff about CJ
- There is no curfew! You just need to remember to bring your card to enter the building.
- Smoking inside and outside the building is strictly not allowed.
- Alcohol is strictly not allowed.
- Visitors can only enter the lounge room on the 1st floor. Penalties apply if they catch visitors in your suite.
- There are two lifts for each gender. Right one is for females, and the left one is for males.
- Males are not allowed on the females' floor and vice versa. Males are on 2nd and 3rd floors, while the females have the 4th - 6th floors. They take this rule very seriously...
- The gym is also open for people living at Anam Global House.
- Cleaning ladies will clean the bathroom once a week.
- Wifi connection is pretty good anywhere in the building.
- You can't control the temperature of your air-conditioner unfortunately!!! :-(
- Bedsheets and pillow can be rented out for 20,000won.
- I think they will inspect the rooms during the semester... but I'm not too sure when.

My personal review of the dorm
Honestly, the dorm is actually pretty amazing. It's equipped with so many facilities and there's always a security guard at the reception desk. Although the security guard speaks minimal English, there's always a person who can speak English at the reception desk, usually at the night. I paid 2,000,000 won for a single room, and I reckon it was worth it.

The only cons for the dorm is the location... Since most of my courses are down at the Science campus, it sucks having to walk for a good 15 mins to get to my classes. And not to forget, the mighty hill that everyone dreads. Just to make it clear, the hill to go to my dorm is VERY steep. You'd need some kind of stamina to walk uphill. And especially during summer time, I get tired easily because of the heat. Buuuut on a positive note.... I don't need to go gym because this is a good enough workout for me LOL.

And that's about it for my dorm! I'm really sorry I don't have the images for all the areas that I've mentioned above, but I'll definitely update this post if I have pictures!