So it's about time I let you know about how much life in Seoul costs. Some people say it's an expensive city, some people say it's cheap. I think it all depends on what you buy and what your tastes are. For the most part, produce you buy in the stores are pretty cheap, and if you frequent the multiple family owned markets located everywhere as opposed to the large chain grocery stores (like Home Plus or E-Mart) things are much cheaper. You can get pretty much all you need to make a decent meal at these little grocery stores: vegetables, fruit, soda, juice, cereal, milk, plus things like shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies. Cereal and meat tend to run a little expensive though, I can't usually find a box of cereal for under ₩5,000. Minute Maid orange juice is really cheap here. A bottle about 2 liters is ₩1,800 (or $1.50). Korea loves there coffee, so there are tons of brands of canned coffee. Some of them just add a straw and drink. These are pretty cheap as well ₩1,000 - ₩2,000 each. Getting coffee at a shop can be pretty expensive though. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts can run up to ₩5,000 for a tiny cup that barely has coffee in it. As I said, Koreans love coffee, but they can't make a good cup to save their lives.

Going out to drink can run pretty high. If you stick to the college-esque Korean beers like Hite and Cass, you're night will be cheap, you can get a big mug for about ₩3,000. Getting better beers costs more money, and switching to liquor gets worse. I would say they average cost of a mixed drink would be ₩8,000 - ₩10,000 of course getting more expensive the more foreigners you find yourself surrounded by.

Taxis! Although the subway system in Seoul is pretty good, and you can get just about anywhere for very cheap, sometimes it takes a while to get there, especially if you have to transfer. Taxis usually start at ₩2,400 when you get in, and they increase a certain amount depending on the taxis driver's preference. You have to be careful though, if you're coming out of somewhere popular (like Seoul Station or Itaewon) there are taxi drivers standing out front, and they'll ask you where you want to go, but then they usually tell you some ridiculously high price to get you there. On New Years Eve, when trying to get a taxi, one guy told me it would be ₩30,000, but when we got into a random taxi, it wound up being ₩14,500. So if you know where you are, are how far away you're going, you can gauge how much it will take to get you there, so you don't get swindled.

For some reason, towels are ridiculously expensive here! From what I've heard, most Koreans use towels the size of a hand towel when getting out of the shower. Me personally, I like a little more coverage. A regular sized towel costs about ₩25,000 here, though if you're lucky you can find ones on sale. Sheets are also really expensive. I think this is because Koreans don't sleep in beds, the sleep on mats, so they have no need to have bed sheets. My apartment came with an ugly pair of orange sheets, which I am going to stick with, because the only sheets I found were ₩45,000.

Getting food from home can be expensive too. Cheese, whoa, a block of cheese was like ₩15,000. And that was from Costco. You can't even get normal cheese in most places, it's usually that processed Kraft-type stuff. Pasta sauce is another expensive item. Spices and oils are pretty cheap, but if it's not a main Korean ingredient, you'll have a hard time finding it.

Going out to each can be expensive. Galbi is usually about ₩20,000 when Grace and I go. If you go out for meat items, it's going to cost more, but if you get more traditional Korean food, it's less so. A typical gimbap roll that I would get is only ₩2,500 and it is enough of a meal for me, or a thing of dolsot bibimbap is usually around ₩5,000. Going to fast food places like KFC or McDonalds is a probably a few dollars more expensive than back home. Getting pizza varies. They have specialty pizza places like Mr. Pizza, where a medium costs ₩23,000. or there are other places like on by my house where a pepperoni pizza costs only ₩6,000.

Basically I've found that if you go places that a lot of people go, especially foreigners, it's going to be more expensive. But if you shop close to home, or you eat in the tiny restaurants in the back alleys, life is a lot cheaper.

Oh, and when it comes to utility bills, my gas bill is only ₩2,000 a month, and my electric is about ₩50,000. And luckily for me, if you loose a few bills in a row, it's ok, they just send you a warning letter after a few months, with about ₩2,000 in late fees, and you can pay it all at once! Way to go Korea for not being uptight on paying bills on time!