Banks

The first thing I did while I was in Korea was go to the bank. Unfortunately, I went to the bank on a Saturday and banks are never open on Saturdays. They are not open on Sundays either. I hit up IBK, Woori Bank, KEB, KB, Shinhan, Standard Chartered First Bank Korea Limited, and KDB. All of them have the same exchange rate (a few cents difference) except KDB. So if you want the biggest bang for your buck, I would definitely go with KDB. Some banks will ask for your passport and some will not. Some will ask for your Korean address, just put down where you stay. I just put Hong Guesthouse for mine.

You can get a bank account at Woori Bank on the first floor of 서강대학교.

All you need is your Korean address, passport, and your admission letter. My alien registration card was not necessary to get one. If you left your admission letter home like I did, you can get Mr. Kim on the 7th floor to reprint it for you. The whole process was extremely easy. After all is finished, you'll get a bank book:

If you chose to get a debit card, it'll look like this:

You can use your debit card as a T-money card too if you want as indicated by the T-money symbol. It's definitely a good idea to get one just in case you run out of cash on the weekends. Most stores don't take credit/debit cards, so always have cash in your pockets.