Hi guys, whats up. Today the video is gonna be about how and why I moved to Korea...
"moved", I don't like saying I moved here because "moving" sounds too...permanent, and it's not that permanent yet
I'm here for a trip... a study trip , and... anyways
Some people asked me to make this video, telling about how I ended up here in Korea.
So I'm gonna talk a bit about my experience and
if you want to travel here or move here
I'm gonna try giving some tips
on how to do it and on how to live...
the cheapest way possible, let's go!!
I'm here with my Suhorang balloon, he's one of the mascots for the winter olympics and paralympics
It's cute so I wanted to have it in my video
First, why did I come? I talked a bit about it
in my 35hour trip from Brasil to Korea vlog
But to sum it up
I came here because in Brazil I wasn't very happy
In 2015 I spent some time here, I liked it a lot
When I went back to Brazil I was very sad
I was thinking about how I wanted to be in Korea all the time
It's a longer story than this but to sum it up it's because in Brazil
I wasn't happy doing what I was doing and I tried a lot of things and nothing made me happy
My mind was always in Korea
So I thought "I'm gonna try... I'm gonna try going there and try to follow my dream
which is being a dancer and choreographer"
More specifically, my dream, more than choreographing,
I want to be a backup dancer for idols
This would be my life goal
being a backup dancer for idols because it seems like a fun time
And I know it's hard, I have a friend who keeps on kinda pushing me down
saying things like "Idk why you want to study dance here, it's to hard to be a dancer, there are already too many people that dance well here"
I know it's hard, I never thought it'd be easy, but because in Brazil nothing was making me very happy
I decided to try, because yolo
Because it's what I really wanna do, and it's worth to try, even if it ends up not working, at least I tried
This is the reason I came here this year
So, how did I "move" here?
Since we're talking about move... don't forget to stream Taemin's MOVE MV :D
Also, I might or might not be preparing a very special dance cover of Taemin's Move... so stay tuned!!
First, let's talk about how I'm going to stay here this long.
Some countries, like Brazil, the citizens can spend 3 months in Korea without a Visa.
I'm gonna stay at least until May, my initial plan is to stay more, it's to be here permanently, but we don't know if it's gonna work, so
But at least until May, which is like 7 months. The easiest way to stay here for long is being a student.
If you have the student visa you can stay here for long, I think the visa is for 6 months but you can renew it.
While I was still in Brazil I applied for a language course here. In Korea they have this thing called Language Programs, which is a course for foreigners to learn korean here.
So it's not a university course, it's not a major, it's simply a language course.
I searched a lot about this, I searched a lot of universities that offer this language program, and I chose the one that was best for me.
I liked the location, the opportunities it would give me, like scholarships (they give scholarships to the best student in class, if you never miss class you might get a scholarship also
and if you do really well on the language program they might give you a scholarship for a major course).
They have a dance major course, which is what I want.
Also the price was cheaper than some other unis
But there are lots of options of universities, which different prices, different locations, different scholarships,
so I'm gonna leave in the description the website where I got all my info from, and you can look it up and choose the best program for you
Besides univerisities, you can also study korean at hakwons, which are language institutes, so it's not a university, just an institute
I didn't search a lot about institutes, I only know one, which is where my friend studied, it's called "Best Friend Korean Language School"
And the price is kind of the same as the ones in universities
What do you need to know about this program?
It's divided by levels, usually, it depends on the place, but usually 1 level is 3 months
The price for 1 level varies, from what I've searched, from 1,300,000won up to 1,900,000won (price for 3 months)
So there is a big difference, so it's good to look it up
Before classes start you take a placement(?) test and see which level you're in, there are usually 6 levels
I haven't taken my test yet...
I can't say much about this language program because my classes haven't started yet, they'll start in december, then I can talk a bit more about it
Another option is to apply for an actual major at a university, I thought about applying for the dance major at K-arts, which is like my dream
but I didn't feel confident enough in my korean skills and dance skills to apply, so I decided to do the language program first
I don't which tips to give you about where to search how to search , because all I searched about were dance majors, that's all I know...
But there are tons of universities and different majors you can apply and usually it's just apply->pay->you're in
So that's that, being a student is the easiest way to get a visa and stay here for a long time
Some countries have a visa called Working Holiday, which is a working visa but... like short-term working? Brazil doesn't have this so I know nothing about it, but you can look it up.
You can also try for scholarships. Last year I tried for the Korean Government Scholarship (KGSP) and didn't make it
You can search about it and apply, I think the applications are usually in august or september.
So it's a scholarship from the Korean government that covers all your studying expenses if you pass
I also heard it say that if you have a student visa, if you live here for a while, like... 6 months or 1 year or something, that after that you can get a working visa
I heard about that, I never searched it, so I can't talk much about it, it's just something I've heard
Now let's talk about housing
Per month, the cheapest thing you'll get is 350,000won/month
Some options are: hostel. There are a lot of cheap hostels to stay for a while
But even the cheapest hostels, if you stay long it's gonna accumulate and you'll see it's not that cheap.
For example, I once stayed at one of the cheapest hostels I could find, and even then it was like almost 670,000won per month
So hostels are an option but they are not the cheapest option
Another option is what they call here a Goshiwon, which is a small individual room, I'm in one of these right now, maybe one day I'll show it to you guys
It's really small, you can't do a lot of stuff in here, so it's basically a room you rent just to sleep
There's a bed, a desk, a chair, so you can study here, most goshiwons have TVs, there is a wardrobe thingy
And you usually have the option to choose a room with a private bathroom, or a shared bathroom in the hallway, I have a private bathroom cuz it's way better
There's also a kitchen, you can cook there, there's a fridge, some goshiwons offer a mini-fridge inside the room, there's wifi
The goshiwons usually offer some free food, like the one I'm in gives free rice, kimchi and ramyeon, and there's also one special item each week
Like this week it's soup, last week it was curry. Some goshiwons also offer free eggs...
Prices
I searched a lot of goshiwons and the prices ranged between 350,000won per month and 600,000won per month
There's a page that's called Goshipages where I found all the info
If you're a student you can also stay at the university dormitory. I'm at a goshiwon now because my classes havent started yet,
but in december i'll move to the uni dorms, which ended up being cheaper than the goshiwon.
Another option is renting an apartment by yourself or sharing with friends, but the problem is,
idk much about apartments but this is what a friend of mine told me,
She rents an apartment, the rent fee per month is almost the same as the goshiwon i'm staying
her rent is like 500,000won , but the problem is, to rent an apartment, they ask for a deposit
and the deposit is expensive...
my friend had to pay a deposit of 5million won which is roughly 5 thousand dollars
5thousand dollars!!! It's a deposit, so yes the money is gonna go back to you eventually,
but not everyone has 5 thousand dollars sitting on their desk at home, "let me just get my 5K dollar over here", y know
So this is the problem with renting an apartment, the deposits are expensive
but it's an option... if you have 5k dollars...
About food. If you're gonna eat out every day...that's a no no
Eating out the price ranges from 3,000won per meal, like a row of kimbap, up til 10,000 or 12,000 like a samgyepsal or something like that
I'd say that the average is like 7,000won per meal,
which is roughly 7 dollars.
which is the normal price for eating out in Brazil as well,
but if you eat out every day it's gonna weight on your wallet
So what I recommend is cooking
I suck at cooking I've never cooked before
but here I'm trying to cook more because it's way cheaper
I went to the supermarket
and I bought broccoli and mushrooms (mushrooms are reall cheap here, it's amazing)
It was like 3,000thousand won, both of those things,
and I cooked 3 days with that
I grabbed the free rice from the goshiwon, and cooked broccoli and mushrooms
1dollar per day for having lunch, compared to the 7 dollars if I ate out
So cooking is always the best option because it's way cheaper
Transportation: subway and bus is around the same price, which is around 1,300won
I think that's all I have to talk about transportation
You'll always need transportation so there isn't a big way to save money with that
Only if, for example, I'm in Sinchon and I wanna go to Idae, I'm not gonna take the subway cuz it's just one stop, so I'm going to walk
That's the only way to save money on transportation cuz it's something you'll always need
You'll have to spend money on that
How did I manage to come here?
I have money saved
and I also receive a monthly allowance from my mom who is deceased
That's how I managed to come, and I know not everyone has the means to do this
but this video was made to show you guys kinda how I came here
What I spend on, how I spend
And if any of you want to come here I was trying to say tips on how to spend the least amount of money possible
I didn't know very well what to say in this video, if you have any questions comment down below
Also this was all based on my experience, maybe there are some cheaper stuff that I don't know about because I haven't experienced it
Also to try and save money, try to focus on the important stuff, don't buy a thousand kpop albums,
don't eat out everyday, don't buy clothes you don't need
Of course leisure(?) is good,
you can spend with things that aren't "necessary", because it's good to have something that brings you joy
But if you're short on money and you really need to save money you must focus on the bigger necessities
Another thing I wanna talk about, can you get around with english here? yes, but not that much
Most people are willing to try to help you and communicate through body language and a little bit of english
but it's always good to know at least the basics of the korean language
so you can communicate better
It really sucks being somewhere and not understanding what's going on, so I'd advise you to learn at least the basics of korean
And someone asked me to talk about how I found the practice room I've been using
It was very simple, I opened Naver and I typed "practice room" and like a bunch of them showed up , throughout the entire city of Seoul
I saw the prices, the information, found one that got me interested, seemed good, clicked, payed, reserved!
So finding a practice room is super easy here, which makes me even more sure of the fact that I'm in the right place
Because back in my city in Brazil I tried finding a practice room for months and I couldnt find anything
And here I just opened Naver, typed what I wanted and found a bunch of practice rooms
I hope you liked the video, don't forget to like, subscribe, comment and share!
If you have any questions write it down below and I'll answer
I think that's it... I'll see you guys in the next video
BYE
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