Greetings!
This will be a post about my dormitory, called Narae Hall! (나래관)
It is currently the newest hall in KAIST (another new one is coming up soon). It has 2 buildings, one has much more floors than the other. So actually it consists of a male dorm (Mir hall) and a female dorm (Narae). People combine the words and call it Mirae Hall! Guess which hall has more floors? Mir, of course! This is a science & tech university, after all.
The basement has a dry cleaning shop and a convenience store. The convenience store opens at night from 6pm-2am on Sundays to Fridays. I don't quite agree with its opening hours, I think it should open all day and all night! I've yet to try the dry cleaning shop..
The first floor is the entrance to the dorms. It has an area for placing delivered parcels. It gets quite messy because many parcels arrive and accumulate there.
The second floor has a gym shared by both halls. Every night, the gym is packed with people. Typically, I would see one or two girls cycling slowly, a few bodybuilders working the weights, and some people walking/running on the treadmills. Its better to go in the daytime when it is almost empty.
The room I'm staying in is a double room. Which means that I, for the first time in my life, am staying with a room mate! Back home, Sheares Hall has only single rooms. They call Narae hall rooms studio apartments because it has a private sink, bathroom and toilet. Its still a tiny room, in my opinion. The room has heated flooring so I never have to bear any cold at all.
A fun part of having cold weather is that I can keep my food and drinks chilled just by placing them outside the window! But over the weeks, the temperature range went from -5 ~ 5 degrees to 0 ~ 20 degrees celsius. Now food would spoil if left out there in the sun.
On my floor, there is a lounge with a TV, microwave oven and water dispenser. There's also 3 study rooms (exclusive to my floor only!) On other alternate floors, there are laundry rooms with 2 washers and 1 dryer each.
So how's the hall culture here?
There's absolutely no interaction between the hall residents here, to my disappointment. The doors are all closed and people avoid each other's eyes as they cross paths. But there are tons of posters pasted everywhere publicising school-wide events. And yes, they are all in Korean, so international students are excluded.
How's living with a room mate?
Back in sheares hall, I'd blast my speakers with blood pumping beats while studying, but I wouldn't do that here. Restricted to my ear phones now! I'd mop and sweep the floor every week, occasionally change some decor. I'd answer calls in my room, but now in here I'd rush out of the room to take a call/skype. What's acceptable and what's not acceptable when sharing a room with another person? Is it rude to talk on the phone even if your room mate doesn't understand your language? Who should pay for the shared items, like dustbin, toilet paper etc? Anyone might say: just communicate with your room mate! But communication takes more effort here because no one really knows the Singlish accent around here.
Is it ok to sleep before/after your room mate and should the lights be turned on or off? Where can I place my toiletries? These are all things I never had to deal with in the 2.5 years of living in Sheares hall.
I must say that I'm very grateful for Sheares' single rooms now. Though there are awesome things about Narae hall, but I'll take Sheares anytime.
Maybe I'll add some photos to this post. But not now.
This will be a post about my dormitory, called Narae Hall! (나래관)
It is currently the newest hall in KAIST (another new one is coming up soon). It has 2 buildings, one has much more floors than the other. So actually it consists of a male dorm (Mir hall) and a female dorm (Narae). People combine the words and call it Mirae Hall! Guess which hall has more floors? Mir, of course! This is a science & tech university, after all.
The basement has a dry cleaning shop and a convenience store. The convenience store opens at night from 6pm-2am on Sundays to Fridays. I don't quite agree with its opening hours, I think it should open all day and all night! I've yet to try the dry cleaning shop..
The first floor is the entrance to the dorms. It has an area for placing delivered parcels. It gets quite messy because many parcels arrive and accumulate there.
The second floor has a gym shared by both halls. Every night, the gym is packed with people. Typically, I would see one or two girls cycling slowly, a few bodybuilders working the weights, and some people walking/running on the treadmills. Its better to go in the daytime when it is almost empty.
The room I'm staying in is a double room. Which means that I, for the first time in my life, am staying with a room mate! Back home, Sheares Hall has only single rooms. They call Narae hall rooms studio apartments because it has a private sink, bathroom and toilet. Its still a tiny room, in my opinion. The room has heated flooring so I never have to bear any cold at all.
A fun part of having cold weather is that I can keep my food and drinks chilled just by placing them outside the window! But over the weeks, the temperature range went from -5 ~ 5 degrees to 0 ~ 20 degrees celsius. Now food would spoil if left out there in the sun.
On my floor, there is a lounge with a TV, microwave oven and water dispenser. There's also 3 study rooms (exclusive to my floor only!) On other alternate floors, there are laundry rooms with 2 washers and 1 dryer each.
So how's the hall culture here?
There's absolutely no interaction between the hall residents here, to my disappointment. The doors are all closed and people avoid each other's eyes as they cross paths. But there are tons of posters pasted everywhere publicising school-wide events. And yes, they are all in Korean, so international students are excluded.
How's living with a room mate?
Back in sheares hall, I'd blast my speakers with blood pumping beats while studying, but I wouldn't do that here. Restricted to my ear phones now! I'd mop and sweep the floor every week, occasionally change some decor. I'd answer calls in my room, but now in here I'd rush out of the room to take a call/skype. What's acceptable and what's not acceptable when sharing a room with another person? Is it rude to talk on the phone even if your room mate doesn't understand your language? Who should pay for the shared items, like dustbin, toilet paper etc? Anyone might say: just communicate with your room mate! But communication takes more effort here because no one really knows the Singlish accent around here.
Is it ok to sleep before/after your room mate and should the lights be turned on or off? Where can I place my toiletries? These are all things I never had to deal with in the 2.5 years of living in Sheares hall.
I must say that I'm very grateful for Sheares' single rooms now. Though there are awesome things about Narae hall, but I'll take Sheares anytime.
Maybe I'll add some photos to this post. But not now.
