Most university students need a considerable amount of money for purchasing textbooks or living cost every semester. Especially when they are buying several textbooks, they feel like it a burden. This kind of burden is the same as university students in foreign countries as well. Students in the U.S. find some ways to buy their textbooks with cheaper prices compared to students in Korea. At Salisbury University (SU) where I was studying last year, students can buy textbooks at the school bookstore. The store sells new books, rental ones and both of them. They can purchase used books at a low price through websites like Amazon.
Most of my friends use the bookstore in the school. I could not use the rental service because I had changed some classes at the beginning of the semester. It was a huge burden for me to buy several books because a book is usually priced at around 100,000 won. There are some other schools that students can rent books for free at the bookstore in their own universities. However, students at SU should pay over the half price of textbooks when they use rental service. It is unique that people who want to buy the used books from students come to our campus after the completion of a semester. Students can sell their books under a half price of original one. In my case, I sold a book at 2~30,000 won which was priced at 90,000 won originally.
School Cafeterias in the U.S. provide good quality and tasty food, but it is expensive than Korea. Snack bars and snack vending machines on campus are a bit more expensive compared with outside the campus. For example, the price of a fresh and tasty sandwich is 4,000~5,000 won. The cafeteria is a buffet where students can eat delicious food as much as they want to eat. Moreover, the cafeteria provides special food on a special day such as Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. Students could not be bored of the food in the cafeteria because the menu on normal days is changed day by day. The price of the dinner is about 12,000 won, so I could not go there frequently at that time.
Some restaurants and cafes are located near the school. There are McDonald, Burger King, Starbucks and some other American franchise restaurant that sell hamburger or pizza or several Mexican food like Chipotles. In case of those kinds of restaurants, the price is similar to the school cafeteria. A burger is 1,000~2,000 won cheaper than the one in Korea and the price of a pizza is around 15,000 won which is much cheaper than Korean one. Since its prices are generally high, during my exchange student period, I like many students cooked by myself in the dormitory. It was also a fresh experience using a shuttle bus and going to the Walmart every weekend. We usually bought some foods at Walmart and cooked every week. Although the cost of living in the U.S. is more expensive than I think before. However, these kinds of experiences will not be given for me again and I cannot forget the days in Salisbury as an exchange student.
By Lee Jung-mi, Senior, Dept. of English Language and Literature