Dorm Life

Ended for me a long time ago... And now that I'm back in it... It's NOT as much fun. Probably because I don't have as cool of friends that I had in college :D... or maybe it's just because I'm older. Anyway, I wanted to let you know what dorm life here is like.

When I talked to Karin, her experience isn't the exact same as mine, so it sounds like not all schools in Korea are as strict as the one I'm at... I was under the impression at first that this is what all schools in Korea would be like... Not fun. And I thought my alma mater was strict... Not so much. But at least I know that not all colleges in Korea are this way.

I live on the first floor (annoying) and as you enter the building, there's one or two security guards (or maybe they're the dormitory managers or something) in a closed room with windows and a couple of big TVs where they monitors the CCTVs. They seem nice, but it's always awkward.

There are also signs all over that say:

So... if you have guy friends (like I do) you can't go to each other's rooms or even their floors... You also can't have any friends who live off-campus come over... Even if they are girls! Which unfortunately, the one other girl I know lives off-campus...

The other thing is the laundry. I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier when I talked about doing my laundry, but men and women don't share laundry machines. They have two sections of laundry machines, each with four washing machines and two dryers. One side for women and the other for men...

 Honestly, I wouldn't have noticed these signs and wouldn't have cared about the fact that there was a partition between the laundry machines, so I'm thankful that a friend pointed this fact out prior to me doing laundry. I don't care a ton about getting demerits, but I also don't want trouble while I'm living here...

Speak of demerits... I'm not sure if I ever went to a school that actually used the demerit system. If one of my schoolmates knows this isn't true, please let me know, but it was never an issue because there were usually warnings prior to anything... and ordinarily it would be a BIG thing that would give you a demerit, like killing someone... Just kidding. But serious things like graffiti or ruining public property, etc...

However, HERE... Seemingly RANDOM things will give you demerits. See below.

Besides the whole boy/girl thing, there's a lot on here that I just don't get. It could be a translation thing, but either way, I think it's a little out of hand... What do they mean by "Private occupying seats of study room"...? Would I get 5 points for sitting there too long? Or by leaving my coat there...? Why would I be more likely to lose my personal items there than the lobby or cafeteria or wherever...? "Violation of the using time of washing machines and dryers"... ??? Do I have a time limit? Can I only do 1 load at a time? Or are they saying I can't leave laundry in there too long... Or what? I didn't see any signs in the laundry room that said I had a limited time to use the machines...? "Putting up notices" also seems weird to give demerits for.

One of the big things I have a problem with is the fact that they don't allow other people into the dorm at all. Deliverymen must stand outside and even bringing people to the gate could get you in trouble apparently. Which means technically I could be in trouble too, since Oppa dropped me at the gate to the dorm. One other thing... you can actually bring SOME people into the dorm... But they must be family and they must register with the dorm and they must wear "visitor" badges. ... ... ... I can't help but think of the process to visit someone in prison... O_O

Another big thing to note here: we have curfew. Can't remember if I had this one in college or not. I don't think so... I think the boys and girls just had to go to their own floors. But we could be out as late as we wanted and never get locked out. NOT THE SAME HERE. Curfew here is midnight or 1am, depending on if its a weeknight, weekend or holiday. If you are out past curfew anytime, you are locked out until the dorm reopens the following morning at 5am. So... not only do you get demerits, you also have to find a place to stay for at least 4-5 hours. One night I got back at 11pm (curfew that night was midnight) and found the basement door locked up with bars... I was starting to panic and ran up the stairs to the first floor when I saw the security guard was still there... My card key worked to let me in and all was well... But I was really worried for a moment.

Side note on the demerit thing. There are bulletins posted in the hallways and elevators in the building. Most of the time they say nothing, but sometimes I notice some of them contain names and room numbers... They put up the names and room numbers of individuals who have received demerits and also those who have been kicked out of the building... I've seen a couple of these so far, one was for letting someone stay in the dorm and the other was for "poor maintenance of the room". Still not sure what that means. Although I'm going to guess that it depends on the person doing the checking. ... I really hope the person who eventually checks my room isn't a neat freak. Because its not like my room is super messy, but it's also not OCD tidy. My bed isn't always made, my books and papers are usually scattered on my desk, I usually have one or two bags on my bed, etc...

I can put a lot more questions marks on here, but I'll let you come up with your own questions. If you can't read the image (I'm sorry, it was laminated and in a bad place for lighting...) see this link, it contains the same list at the bottom of the page.