There are loads of things you need to include in your backpack when you're about to transplant yourself in another country for a year. There is also something called OVERPACKING!
Korea is going to be your home so even though we are telling you to minimize, we also want you to make it feel like your home rather than seeing your dorm as somewhere to crash for awhile. One student says of the things she misses most, "I miss the personal items that I didn’t bring."
What to bring
Clothing
A warm winter jacket it gets very here
A pair of shoes, if your feet are over size 9 for men,
At least one sweater for winter and a light zipper sweater to wear at school
Summer clothes...shorts, t-shirts, etc
A couple towels for showers (the ones here are hand towel sized)
Personal Care
Deodorant ...bring a year's supply. It can be found here if you search hard enough, but you'll pay a premium.
Your favorite cologne--it'll be expensive here
Your favorite toothpaste, unless you want to try out 2080 or Perioe
Electronics
Plug converters can be found here for cheap, but you might want to bring a couple with you to get started
Bring your laptop from home; you can buy a laptop here, but Windows will be in Korean
Leave the cell phone at home; cell phones from most countries won't work here
Medication
Some Tylenol/Advil
Dimedapp cough syrup
Some allergy medicine if you suffer from allergies
What not to bring
Batteries: Batteries are plentiful here. All shapes, sizes, voltages, etc.
Shampoos: Good, moderately priced shampoo in Korea- Elastine/Kerasys/Mise'en scene brands are good as well as Shiseido(Aquair).Unless you absolutely need a certain brand, I think you could use that space to pack other things.
Electronics: Stereos, hair dryers, etc. Korea is famous for its electronics. You can purchase many of the latest gadgets here, and a lot of them even have a 110/220 volt converter switch so you can take them home. The main problem with bringing electronics from home is that the voltage here is 220V. Adapters for the plus are cheap and plentiful.
DVDs – DVD players and most legitimately-manufactured DVDs have a regional coding that prevents them from here. If you bring DVDs from home you’ll either need to bring a DVD player from home, or buy a ‘region-free’ DVD player. The same with DVDs purchased/rented here – they won’t work on a player brought from another region.
Cell Phones (Mobiles):
Most won't work here without replacing the SIM chip/card inside. Even then, unless you want to pay roaming charges the whole time you’re here, you’ll need to find a local provider.
