Life as an Expat

Living as an expat in Korea for three years has taught me many things, especially, that it is always better to be self-reliant and prepared for worse case scenarios. Although it is not possible for us to factor all the parameters of life, it is still better to be as informed as possible, from as many types of sources as possible (mainly to avoid echo-chambers and prejudice). So, I am using this space to provide a list of things that were/are useful for me, and hopefully it might be useful to others.

So far I can think of three distinct ways I can categorise the information: Visa/Administrative Processes, Personal Space Management, and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM).

Visa/Administrative Processes

For details of Korean Visa categories, check out the offcial website. Here, the detailed list of document are listed for different categories (e.g. E3 for Postdocs, D-2 for students etc.). The information here is the most accurate and often might save one a lot of time when the local administration (e.g. Uni, local immigration office) is unclear about the rules.

One tip, for postdoc applicants, who are yet to obtain their PhD certificate, ONE CAN GET E-3 VISA WITHOUT PHD DEGREE, as the requirement is Masters’ and 3 years of Research Experience.

Personal Space Management

  1. How to arrange a small kitchen in a Studio Apartment: Link

  2. How to divide places into urgency zones: Link

Personal Knowledge Management

For, reference management, I have been using Zotero for the last year and it is absoultely brilliant! The fact that it is cross-platform and has a free plan as well, makes it even better. The syncing across devises had been wokring nicely as well.

For note taking, I would strongly recommend Obsidian, as it is basically in Markdown format, provides knowledge network graphs, and includes mind-map or canvas.

Moving House 3rd level of hell

One of the most daunting task, which I am presently going through, is moving houses, especially across different cities. One of the new things that I found was door-to-door delivery service provided by Korea Post, which allows up to 30kg boxes, having a maximum dimension of 160cm. Price was 13,000 KRW/box. Bulk order is possible and delivery takes a day or two.

Another option would be to rent a storage box, if there is gap between the moving dates, and/or in a scanario where moving all the things seem like a hassle. Alphabox can be good option, storage units vary in size, 2.3*2.3*V, V=1.9, 2.3, 3.0. Prices vary between 150,000 KRW to 240,000 KRW per month. Depending on the city or neighbourhood, this might be cheaper option than extending the apartment lease.