When we first came to Korea, we were very ignorant of how things work here. We had “free” housing included in our contract so we were very happy to know that we didn’t have to pay rent every month. The problem was that we didn’t expect what was waiting for us here. Our apartment was a little bigger than a shoe box. After about 6 months we asked our director for a bigger apartment. We were now living in a one bedroom apartment and although it wasn’t huge, it was big enough for the two of us. We lived in this apartment for another 3 years. Before we moved down to Busan we decided to try and get a housing allowance instead of the housing the school offers. Check out the type of apartments given with contracts in Korea.

When we were negotiating our contracts, we both asked for a housing allowance to rent our own apartment. We got a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in Marine City, Heaundae. Here is our monthly rental breakdown

• 1,000,000 won – rent
• 300,000 won – management fee; free gym, sauna, parking, electricity

We’ve lived here for almost 6 months and although the apartment is more expensive than anticipated, we’re very happy with our decision to live in a 2 bedroom apartment.

What would you prefer?