Hello (안녕하세요) my name is Ellen Groenvall,  I'm a senior at HPU and I'm currently studying abroad at Konkuk University in  South Korea. As for my first blog post I thought it would be good to talk a bit about the university location and how to get around in Seoul. 

Konkuk University is very conveniently located in central Seoul making it very easy to get around the whole city. There is an extensive metro system in Seoul and fortunately Konkuk has its own station, Konkuk Univ. Station, where two of the metro lines (l 2 & 7) stops. Additionally Line 2 of the metro run as a circle around Seoul and connects to all the other metro lines making it even more convenient to travel around the city from Konkuk. 

There are a few ways to pay for the metro. At every station there are ticket machines where you can buy tickets using cash but if you are staying here for a whole semester that's a bit inconvenient. Most commonly you use a T money card which, as a foreigner without a korean bank account, you can load using cash either at the ticket machines in the stations or at your local convenience stores. Currently they are also trying out a Climate card alternative which you pay around 60 000 krw in advance for a month's use of metro and buses. However, the Climate card works only within Seoul while the T money card can be used all over Korea. Lastly, when and if you open a Korean bank account you can choose either an international card that will work in countries outside of Korea or a domestic card that will also work in the korean metro! 

I hope this was helpful whether you are going to Korea to study abroad or if you wish to go as a tourist, I wish you all the luck!

Mahalo, 

Ellen