#aliencard

If you are planning to stay in Korea for more than 3 months, well, you need to make an Alien Card. Without this card it will be impossible for you to obtain many other services that might be useful and even necessary for you long-term stay in Korea. For example? You can't get a korean medical insurance (3 times cheaper than italian one), or obtain a korean simcard for you phone, and more, it may be almost impossible to open a bank account, and more. Basically, being the Alien Card an ID card, granted to foreiners who got the visa, without this document you can't be recognized as a (temporary) korean citizen. So, how can i make an Alien Card, and what do i need? Maybe you're thinking that it will be an hard job but, trust me, it's not hard as it looks like. First, don't worry: you don't need to make it as soon as u will arrive in Korea! If you got a visa you have 90days time to go to the Immigration Center, fill the request and receive the card.  (Maybe not everyone knows it but, if your plan is to stay in Korea less than 3 months, there's no need to make a Visa or Alien Card)  Second, let's see together which documents you need before go there.  1. Application Form:  you can find it directly in the office but, if you feel more confortable to fill it home, you can download it from the website 2. Your passport 3. A copy of your passport 4. Photo 3.5x4.5 5. 20.000won (can change) When you will fill the application form will be required your korean phone number and korean adress. Well, don't worry! You can use a korean friend phone number or just skip this part. About the adress... remember to ask to your house owner, or to check on the hostel, livingtel, goshiwon, school dormitory, etc. website. I was not ready with this information so, if you wanna finish as fast as possibile, i suggest you to prepare everything before :) How long will it take to receive the Alien Card? Usually where and how long it takes to receive it is different and can also be chosen by you.  Let me explain. For me, for example, it tooks just 1 working week and i received it directly in my hostel.  For some of my friends, it tooks 15 days and they had to go there to take it personally. Honestly i guess it may be because not many workers (even in the immigration center) can speak english, so understand the questions they are gonna ask you, in korean, if you have never studied korean before or even just for 3 months, is really hard. Luckily for me, i found a really kind girl who could speak english enough to ask me if i prefered to receive it "home" or not and so it was not as stressful and i thought it could be. How to extend my Alien Card? What i need? At one point of your stay, whatever visa you have, (besides the working holiday visa, at least if you don't get an official job) if you plan to stay longer, u must extend your Alien Card date. Basically to extend will be almost same that make it, just you will need some different documents: 1. School certificate or application (you can request it to the office in your university. For the Yonsei KLI, for exemple, you can go to the 2 floor office and fill a document with your informations as (name, passport number, number of copy, etc) and pay 800won is u want a korean copy or 1200won if u like more an english one (if u need it to extend your visa there's no need to pay more for an english one, u are in Korea after all... XD) 2. A proof that you extend you accommodation period (i asked it to my hostel responsable and she was so kind to write it for me, Basically it's like a sponsorship letter in which thet say that you effectively are gonna stay there for more than 3 months. 3. Passport 4. Money. (i'm sorry, i paid with my credit card so i'm not sure how exactly was it but, next time, i will check) That's all what you need! Where is the immigration center? If i'm not wrong, there are 3 immigration offices in Seoul. Each office is responsable of a determined area of Seoul and so you need to check before in which area you are and which office is responsable for that area. 1. Mok-Dong Adress: #319-2 Shinjeong 6-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul Way to go there: take the green line (line number 2) direction Sinchon -> Hongdae, take off at Yeongdeungpo-office/엉등포구청 and transfer in the purple line (line number 5) and take of at Omokgyo/오목교 station. From the station is 10 min far by walk

Bismillah

So now I’m officially an alien living in Korea :) hehe Alien registration card is used for foreigners who live in Korean for more than 90 days (cmiiw). My friends and I had to give our photo, passport, health certificate (chest x-ray) and finger prints in order to get it.

I feel like a lot has happened these past couple of days. Prepare for a long post.

Saturday I didn't do much of anything this day. Since it was the weekend, there really wasn't much to do and I couldn't get to do what I wanted to do. Here's something rather troublesome about Korea for foreigners who stay here for an extended amount of time. The FIRST things you have to do when you get here is (besides your food and shelter): 

Apply for an alien card. (It's basically an ID for foreigners; you'll also need this before you can do the rest of the stuff)

Get your phone figured out. Does it work? Have an unlock code? Just need a SIM card?

Make a bank account. (You'll get a bankbook and if you have an alien card, your debit (check) card) 

The rest of the stuff is basically your necessities which shouldn't be a problem. You should also already have at least $300 worth of Korean won just to be on the safe side. A lot of places especially with shopping like at outdoor stands don't take plastic so shopping with cash can be pretty convenient especially if you find something super cheap!

Anyways. Saturday, I pretty much just chilled with Jackson the whole day. Meh. 

Sunday I went with Jackson to Seoul this day to meet up with Natalie (a friend from OSU and my LS from KPL who temporarily is back in Korea). I had plans originally to chill with her sometime when I came but I kinda didn't want to go to Seoul alone so I asked if Jackson wanted to come along. Now, I'm probably comfortable going there by myself if I wanted to. 

We met up with Natalie in Gangnam. It's so weird seeing her in Korea. It's weird for her as well, haha. We went to get lunch and afterwards we went shopping a little bit and just walking around. She said that much of the sights and areas in Seoul are very similar. Lots of cafes, small stores here and there, street food, bars, karaoke, DVD rental rooms and et cetera. People just tend to go to the area that's closest to them. Unlike other cultures or something, Koreans rarely hang out at each other's homes let alone invite others over. That explains a lot. We then got on the subway and went to the E-Mart. I wanted to get a hairdryer since I didn't bring one here. E-Mart is basically like Wal-Mart. There's so many things in there. Also they are CONSTANTLY busy especially since Korea is, after all, a small country with tons of people. 

Afterwards, we went to go karaoke somewhere until like 7:30PM and Natalie had to go home to eat dinner. So we parted. Jackson and I are two indecisive sonofaguns. I am especially when I don't have an agenda haha, so we couldn't figure out what to eat. After some walking around and exploring, we decided to just go back to Suwon especially since we didn't know the bus schedule. We got back to the dorm and that was the end of our Sunday basically. 

Monday Today was the first day of classes. Pretty much everyone is back on campus now. It's so weird seeing so many people compared to the few who were here just a few days ago. Jackson had to go see Kate today so we went to the OIA office but she ended up not seeing her because she wasn't even there. So we talked to Mr. Kwon instead. It was easier to communicate with him fortunately, perhaps because he's had more experience dealing with international students? 

I usually want to know everything that's happening in my life, so the more details, the better. I asked him a ton of questions like about the alien card, bank account, dorm fees, meal cards, phone business, and a lot. I have no idea what's going on here as a foreigner and the orientation or welcoming here is really not that great. There's practically nothing for me to work with besides me fighting to figure out the need-to-know. He told me that the information that the university provides for foreign students isn't that great because they are not that experienced in it, which honestly kind of ticked me off. It just doesn't seem right to have exchange students come with very little information, you know?

After we figured some stuff out, we went to the bank to try to open a bank account but there were too many students trying to open an account as well so we left to go get lunch. Apparently, students in Korea have to open a bank account or something at the university in order to get their student ID? That's something different than America. Speaking of America, I've been using the word America A LOT lately. Foreigners here just tend to know the word AMERICA a lot more clearly than the UNITED STATES. 

We went back to the OIA office to double check the buildings where our class was at and we stumbled upon Meme and Evo(?) [Both from different parts of Africa], both who happened to be in each our class. We left to go to class eventually (Meme left somewhere beforehand). I went to my programming class and I was just shocked at the amount of Koreans in there. It was supposed to be taught in English but...I don't think the professor in there could speak English very well. Meme eventually came in with this other guy. I moved to sit next to them and this guy's name is Yun Gi(?) [Sorry, I forget the exact spelling but he also goes by Gongi or something like that]. Gongi is basically a Korean returnee from the States so his English is pretty good. He helped translate the entire class for me and Meme. I was so grateful that he was there. 

After class we went to the bank and I finally opened a bank account and deposited the money my mom transferred to me. But because I don't have my alien card yet, I couldn't get a check card. So...basically the money is useless just sitting in my Korean bank account at the moment. Sigh. So much hassle. 

Gongi had to go to a career study group meeting so we parted and Meme walked me back to the dorm since it was just on the way to the bus stop anyway. We talked and he told me a few things about the alien card and stuff. He was very helpful especially since he has already been here for a semester beforehand. As we got to the dorm, we stumbled upon Amanda. Amanda is a Brazilian exchange student who was here the semester beforehand as well. She used to live in the dorm but now lives in Seoul, which she loves now. She was there to visit a friend. Meme then left to go home and Amanda and I went up the dormitory. Afterwards, we parted as well and I met up with Jackson again. We eventually went down to get dinner in the cafeteria. Let me tell you, the cafeteria food is seriously a hit or a miss. Today, it was both but mostly a miss. Blah. >___<

Well that's it so far. Hopefully the rest of the week is okay.