Throwback Thursday
In May 2017, I was lucky to be accepted to a Maymester (a nearly 2 week course after Spring Semester of college) to South Korea. This was my dream - to study abroad in the country of those students I had met at a summer camp years before. I wanted to immerse myself in their culture, food, entertainment, and country. This would also be my first time traveling anywhere far away without my parents - something that was as hard for me as it was for them.
The post below will include several travel logs, which I wrote back in 2017 as part of the class assignments. These are my un-edited, un-filtered thoughts and observations of my time in the country. Directly below this paragraph is our itinerary for the course. I may interrupt the logs to input additional activities that I partook in during our free evenings, food advice, and pictures of the country.
Aside: I apologize to those trying to read the schedule on their phones. The formatting is wonky.
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May 16 (Tue):
10:00 am Meet the group at Millennium Hall in Incheon International Airport
Located between Exit C and D of the Public Area level 1
Time for currency exchange and mobile phone rental (if necessary)
11:00 am Move to the KTX Station
B1 level of "Transportation Center"
(Approximately 10-15 min by walk from the terminal)
12:00 pm Depart for Pohang using KTX 461 at the airport
3:35 pm Arrive Pohang (Pohang Station) -- Depart for Postech by Charter Bus
4:00 pm Check into Hotel (POSCO International Center)
6:00 pm Welcome dinner at Hotel Restaurant
May 17 (Wed): POSTECH campus tour
08:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
09:30 am – 10:45 am Group Meeting at Hotel
11:15 am – 11:45 am Welcoming remarks from POSTECH
12:00 pm – 01:30 pm Lunch of your own at the Student Union.
01:50 am – 04:20 pm Campus Tour with Group Photo
(Pohang Accelerator Lab and Digital Library)
04:30 pm Return to Hotel
May 18 (Thu): Gyeongju visit
07:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
08:00 am – 08:30 am Group Meeting at Hotel
09:00 am Bus Departure Time
09:00 am – 05:00 pm Gyeongju Guided Tour (Royal Tomb Complex, Bulguksa,
Seokguram, etc)
Group lunch of Traditional Korean Foods
06:00 pm Arrive at Hotel
May 19 (Fri): POSCO visit
08:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
09:00 am – 09:30 am Group Meeting at Hotel
10:00 am – 01:00 pm Depart for POSCO
POSCO Tour (POSCO Plant and POSCO Museum)
01:00 pm – 02:30 pm Lunch of your own
03:00 pm – 04:00 pm Tour of Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence
04:00 pm – 06:00 pm Meet and Discuss with POSTECH Students
6:00 pm Group dinner with POSTECH Students and Host
May 20 (Sat): Travel to Seoul
8:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
9:00 am Group Meeting at Hotel
10:00 am Check out Hotel
11:30 pm – 12:30 pm Lunch of your own
12:45 pm Depart for Pohang Station by Charter Bus
2:08 pm Depart for Seoul using KTX 464
May 20 (Sat): Arrival to Yonsei University, Seoul
4:24 pm Arrive Seoul Train Station – Depart for Hotel by Charter Bus
5:00 pm Check into Hotel
6:00 pm Group dinner
May 21 (Sun): Seoul Tour
10:00 am Brunch and Group Meeting at Hotel
12:00 pm - 05:00 pm Explore Seoul using Subway
1. National Museum of Korea (http://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/home)
2. National Hangeul Museum (http://www.hangeul.go.kr/lang/en/)
3. Leeum Samsung Museum of Art/Itaewon
4. Seoul Tower/Myung-dong/City Hall
5. Dongdaemoon Design plaza/Cheonggyuecheon-ro/Euljiro
6. Coex/Gangnam/Seolleung
06:00 pm Return to Hotel
May 22 (Mon): Yonsei campus visit
8:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
9:00 am Group Meeting at Hotel
10:00 am Welcoming remarks from Yonsei, Meet with Yonsei Students
10:30 am Campus Tour, Lunch, Group Photo, Meeting (itinerary provided separately)
5:00 pm Return to Hotel
May 23 (Tue): Hyundai/Kia Motor visit
7:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
8:00 am Depart Hotel
10:30 am - 12:00 pm Hyundai Steel Plant Tour
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Lunch of your own and break
1:15 pm - 2:00 pm Transit to Kia Motor Plant
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Kia Motor Plant Tour
4:30 pm Depart for Hotel
6:30 pm Return to Hotel
May 24 (Wed): Seoul Cultural Tour
8:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
9:00 am Group Meeting at Hotel
10:00 am Gyeongbok-gung (http://www.royalpalace.go.kr/html/eng/main/main.jsp)
Changdeok-gung and Biwon (http://eng.cdg.go.kr/main/main.htm)
National Museum of Korean Contemporary History (Tour at 2pm)
Bukchon (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?
5:00 pm Return to Hotel
May 25 (Thu): Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Tour
7:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
7:30 am Depart Hotel for the Main Gate of Yonsei University. Bring your passport.
8:00 am Take the DMZ tour bus from the Main Gate of Yonsei University
Imjingak Park
Freedom Bridge
The 3rd infiltration Tunnel
DMZ Theater / Exhibition Hall
Dora observatory
Dorasan Station
Unification Village
Drop off at City Hall
2:30 pm Return to the Yonsei Main Gate
6:00 pm Group dinner
May 26 (Fri): Depart Seoul
8:00 am Breakfast at Hotel
9:00 am Group Meeting at Hotel
10:00 am Check out Hotel – Depart for Incheon International Airport
Airport Shuttle 7737; Expected Travel Time ~ 1:30 hours
Airport Subway from Hongik University Station; Expected travel time ~ 1hour
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Travel Log #01
Date: 5/16/17 (Tuesday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Plane trip from Chicago to Incheon.
-Passing time in Incheon Airport.
-KTX ride from Incheon Airport to Pohang.
-Bus ride to POSTECH.
-Group dinner at POSTECH.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-Landed at the airport after a flight of just over 13 hours. Went through immigration, customs, and baggage claim without a hitch.
-Played cards with group members as we waited for people to show up. We then ate a breakfast as a group (mostly complete) in a Korean place on the lower level. Then we walked around the airport a bit before heading to the train terminal to wait for our boarding time.
-Rode the KTX through several other city stops on our way to Pohang. For the most part it was a quiet ride, as many people took short naps. I tried to have Professor Han and Professor Choi help me with the Korean language until we got complained at by someone for being too loud.
-Upon arrival to Pohang, we boarded a charter bus to take us to POSTECH.
-Group dinner consisted of several new dishes that I tried. Some include, but was not limited to, jellyfish salad, rice punch, sashimi, some form of pickled garlic?, and acorn noodle soup (as said by Prof. Choi). The group dinner was also very quiet as we struggled to stay awake. To conclude the dinner, Prof. Han went over the itinerary for tomorrow and explained other aspects of this course.
-In our free time at the end of the night, the whole group walked to the edge of campus by the Posplex facility to a convenient store to buy things. We then walked back.
Interpretations:
-The Incheon Airport is a very nice place with lots to do in every corner. It, like the other portions of Korea that we saw today, are cleaner than what one might expect in the United States.
-I think one of the most interesting things that happened today was the view of Korea when on the bullet train. Besides the fact it had more hills than I was expecting, in the book we were assigned to read, it had mentioned the sprouting to high-rise buildings in cities. However, this in combination with the description of the intense internet and speedy wifi, it is hard to imagine Korea as anything less than a sci-fi movie. However, upon actually seeing them, I think the buildings often look out of place. Maybe this is one step of a long process to urbanize more of Korea.
-So far there is one cultural dimension evident - men in their middle ages like train rides so silent, you can hear a pin drop. Of course, in America, if someone was bothering you with noise, you might ask if they could please quiet down. The abruptness of the man’s complaint is something that is usually not seen.
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Travel Log #02
Date: 5/17/17 (Wednesday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Breakfast at the hotel.
-Group reflection of the previous day.
-Conference meeting with POSTECH representative.
-Lunch at a student cafeteria.
-Tour of the POSTECH electron particle accelerator.
-Tour of some of the POSTECH campus.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-Breakfast was exciting. Pumpkin soup may very well be my new favorite type of soup. It has a consistency of slightly watery (but still thick) grits and has an aftertaste of hot vanilla pudding. Smoked salmon was ok. It was strange to see french fries and green beans being served at breakfast though.
-As a group we talked about the things we had mentioned in our previous travel log and discussed those in more detail.
-We had a brief introduction to POSTECH and what it’s known for. Learned that it is about 3,500 students with class (year) sizes of about 400 to 600. Smaller than my high school. It is a relatively new college and has been ranked as the number one college of colleges under 50 years old.
-We ate lunch at a relatively new cafeteria on campus. I don’t even remember what I ate, but the pork was perhaps the best pork I’ve had in my life.
-We took a shuttle bus up to the particle accelerator. This one is different than Purdue (which uses mass spectroscopy to date carbon and other samples) as it uses electron beams for imaging and other similar things. It shoots electrons into a long straight section which speeds up the particles close to the speed of light and then the particles enter a circular area where sections of tubing at 15 degree angles branch off in a tangent way from the main section and lead the electrons into another space (there are 24 spaces total) where different groups perform different experiments.
-We walked past the POSTECH water fountain and other major photo-opt parts of campus. We stopped by the old library, which is now classrooms because they got a new library. The largest classroom on campus is in this building and only seats maybe 45 students.
-We were almost in the home stretch for free time when the professors sprung another project on us. Our task is to make a PowerPoint as a group that introduces Purdue, Purdue engineering, and West Lafayette to the students of POSTECH. We have until Friday to make this and then give a presentation on it. My group is working on the Purdue engineering portion.
-After we did some work on the presentation, we decided to go out. Beto, Matt, and I were going to try to catch a bus and get to the beach, but we couldn’t quite figure out how we wanted to get there, so we ended up walking down our hill to the downtown area instead and walked around for about an hour trying to find a place to eat. We settled for Korean BBQ. Words cannot describe how good it was.
-As a small side note Melon Milk and Coffee Milk are pretty much the best things ever. Going to try the Banana one tomorrow. And also we found a fidget spinner on the sidewalk. Those things plague Korea as well. They have the largest kiwis I’ve ever seen in my life here. And also inside one building they had umbrella plastic protectors to put your wet umbrella in so it doesn’t drip all over the floor. One last thing - the world globe tab in facebook changes when on this side of the globe so that instead of the Americas being visible, the Asia/Australia part is.
Interpretations:
-The building we ate lunch at was relatively new on campus. The main way to order food is through computers (orders are not taken by people) and waiting for your number to appear over some station in the cafeteria. There are some places in more urban areas of the United States with this kind of technology, but very few. As Korea continues to modernize itself, it is possible to see more of these systems here and it is possible for the US as well.
-Another thing that I find strange is that in cafeterias where we eat there are no pop machines or other drink options (that I have seen so far). You get a silver cup and there is water dispensers. There is an option for hot or cold water. The cup is about the size of a tea cup so you can’t even get that much water. I have no ideas that could explain this difference either, I just think it’s interesting.
-When we were walking around the downtown through the streets, I noticed that once we got off campus, most of the buildings would be what we might consider run down. It is definitely an older part of the city and it is a striking contrast to the newer parts up the hill from it. That said, as we were walking we noticed several differences. The first is the open street markets that sell fresh fish, vegetables, and other goods and often they have these things lined in baskets in front of their shops. The closest thing to this in America is a farmers market. The next thing we noticed is similar to what Sydney mentioned today in our group reflection, which is that cars really don’t stop. However, the streets are so narrow in between these restaurants and there are no sidewalks, so we walked in the streets like everyone else. Whenever a car would come up behind us, it would slow down, but as soon as we moved and it had just enough room (barely) to get by, it would go for it. I think drivers here are less hesitant than drivers in the US. Also, the parking jobs we saw along the sides of the road were great. There seems to be next to no rules here regarding these behaviors.
-At the Korean BBQ place, the lady in charge did not speak a single word of English (except “poke”). So it was a bit difficult in the sense that we didn’t really know what was happening, but she pointed to something on the menu, pointed to someone’s table, and they we kinda just went with it and I’m glad we did because it was the best, tastiest, decision so far. That said, while we were eating and, admittedly, struggling a bit with the silver chopsticks, she came back and asked us “poke poke?” and said a bunch of other stuff in Korean that I couldn’t make out. In the end she came back with three forks for us. Overall, for the whole dining situation, it was nice how patient and kind the lady was, although the language barrier made things more difficult than they should have been. In America, at least where I’m from, I usually get the feeling that people are often frustrated by foreigners who don’t speak english well. In the end, and after using the limited Korean I knew, I think they appreciated the effort and I made the guy who collected our check laugh. Definitely worth it.
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Travel Log #03
Date: 5/18/17 (Thursday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Bus trip to Gyeongju.
-Walked around Yangdong Village.
-Visited Gwangajeong house and Seobaekdang house.
-Visited Soekguram Grotto at Tohamsan Peak.
-Ate traditional Korean food
-Visited the Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju.
-Visited the Daereungwon Tomb Park.
-Went inside the Cheonmachong Tomb.
-Visited the Gyeongju National Museum.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-Today is a cultural and traditional focused day. We had to wake up and meet early (leaving the hotel at about 8:30 am) to start our day.
-Spent a good bit of time walking up and down the hills that are the Yangdong Village. Got to go inside the Gwangajeong house and another house (of the head guy of the village?) and took a group picture by a tree that is as old as the house.
-Rode the bus up Tohamsan Peak. It was a long trip and the bus took up the mountain most of the way. We got out and did another 10 minute or so hike across the mountain. There, at the peak where the temple is, on a clear day it is possible to see the ocean. However, today there were too many particles in the air and we couldn’t see it. I don’t have pictures of the inside of the temple because photography was prohibited. The temple itself was extremely small, smaller than I had imagined. Upon walking back down from the peak, we stopped at a special water source with water straight from the mountain. It is said to be good luck to drink the water, so we did.
-The traditional Korean food was great. The only downside being we really didn’t know what anything was. Either way, I thought it was nice to eat some perhaps lesser known dishes. While I would love to tell you everything I ate, pictures will have to suffice.
-Our next stop was the Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju. Here, we learned from our tour guide (who was awesome by the way) more about the Buddhist religion through the Korean point of view. We also learned about the history of the temple and other Buddhist traditions. The Temple itself was completed in 774 during the Silla Period. The entire temple was burned to the ground by Japanese invaders in 1593 and was completely restored in the 1970s. We saw the Seokgatap and Dabotap stone pagodas, one of which is going through restoration after it broke in the earthquake about a year ago. As for how the temple is broken up, there are numerous sections of the temple and each is dedicated to different Buddhas. This temple is a World Cultural Heritage site.
-Next we went to the Tomb Park. Here there are several mounds that have been constructed to act as tombs. We were able to go inside of the Cheonmachong Tomb and see the place where the remains were. While there are several mounds in the area, no others were excavated. Each tomb only holds one person (not including the possible body parts of sacrificed servants). So therefore each mound is a tomb for one person. These mounds look like sledding hills.
-The last thing on our list to do for the day was the Gyeongju National Museum. Here, we had freedom to roam the museum (although we mostly stayed with the tour guide because she explained further on some artifacts for us). A large part of the museum were recovered artifacts from the Shilla dynasty. After we walked through there we had some time to look at the Buddhist art/artifact temple, which had quite a few cool, different statues.
-Upon returning to the hotel at around 6:00 pm, our group realized that we needed to get food, as we were on our own for dinner. We struggled, but ended up going to the same place we ate lunch yesterday because we were too exhausted to go downtown again. It was largely uneventful but Beto, Nicole, Sydney, Matt, and I ended up chilling in the Burger King lobby for what was probably almost two hours listening to the college students sing on stage and talking instead of doing our travel logs or the project due tomorrow.
Interpretations:
-Traditional houses like those in Korea are completely different than anything that could be found in America. It was cool to actually walk through one. Seeing the whole village, the difference between the thatch-roof servant houses and the tiled upper class houses was very clear. What I think is a bit strange is that even to this day, the people who still live in these houses choose to keep their houses like this. You would think the people with straw roofs would replace them.
-One thing I’ve noticed thus far, and it makes sense to some degree given the previous paragraph, is that there are so many fire extinguishers. They’re everywhere. Not only are they in every hallway and room and corner in the hotels, cultural sites, and buildings, but they also almost always come in pairs of two. Reflecting on this more, I realized that I hadn’t seen any fire hydrants so far.
-Also thinking of things I haven’t seen here I also will include billboards to that list. On our way to the Bulguksa Temple I saw my first billboard on this trip. I’m unsure if South Korea has laws (like Hawaii) that limit or ban billboards, or if that just isn’t a common method of advertisement, or if I just haven’t seen the others. Instead of billboards, what I have seen quite often is groups of advertisements like banners strung between two poles. Usually there are three poles so there are two sides of advertisements. I’ll try to get a picture of one of these instead. Perhaps this method is more efficient.
-Seeing the tomb sites and the mounds created to honor the dead spoke to the religious backgrounds of the country. It reminded me of Egyptian pyramids, the concept at least, and even Native American mound burials that can be seen across numerous states. All of these were done because of religious views and practices.
-Something that can be seen here quite frequently is a vast number of elderly people doing farm / manual labor. This farming culture is huge and at every single heritage site today there was at least one, if not a group, of elderly people doing various forms of yard work to keep up the grounds. Also, when driving from location to location, it appeared that all the farmers working in fields (or what I should probably call mudflats) were also elderly people. I have yet to see someone who looks under 30 working in this condition and most people who are working appear to be over 50. Someone mentioned it before in our group, but I think it is possible that this could be a problem in the future generations.
-Korea is perhaps the cleanest country I’ve been to. In the United States, we have trash cans everywhere, yet there is still so much trash on the ground. In South Korea, there is literally no trash anywhere, but if you have something you need to throw out, good luck finding a trash can there are practically none. It’s impressive that, despite this, Korea is still so clean. I’m not sure if it is the way it is because of the people doing yard work, or because of the ethic of people in the country and a national effort.
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Travel Log #04
Date: 5/19/17 (Friday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Breakfast at the hotel.
-Tour of POSCO.
-Lunch free time.
-Tour of POSTECH ME and related facilities.
-Meeting with POSTECH students.
-Dinner with POSTECH students.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-We had two tours at POSCO. The first was a POSCO museum with artifacts. The theatre that we watched our orientation video in was absolutely amazing. The sound system made our seats vibrate.
-We then toured the POSCO factory itself by bus tour. We were not allowed to take pictures so they collected our phones. I do not have pictures of the inside of the factory. It was a very huge facility and we began on the raw mineral processing side. They explained how they used the imported raw materials and made them molten. The first or second step being a blast furnace to do this. Then they transfer them on train cars around the area still in molten state. We were actually stopped by one of these trains. The facility is about 90 km^2. It’s the second largest steel factory in the world. The other one in Korea, the name of which escapes me, is the largest. Korea overall is the 4th largest steel producer in the world. The second thing we toured was the shaping and production side where they take the steel created and make it into things.
-We actually toured the facility that does this and walked along the upper railing section of the building (which is really long). As we watched, a steel slab was shot out on rollers - it was orange-yellow-red. It went through a roller and then was reversed back through the same thing. I think this was them rolling it out into thinner sheets. Every time the slab would come out by us, you could feel the heat radiating off of it. It was the coolest thing ever. We kept walking, following our slab. It was getting thinner and thinner, still very much red and orange and yellow. And it was moving faster also. Eventually it was sent through an extensive cold water bath and it turned gray. However, the tour guide said it would still take a few days to be completely cool and ready for shipment.
-We toured the facilities in the ME/Robotics building at POSTECH. Almost everything was above my head in terms of engineering. All I got out of it was that there were extremely cool things being researched. The first place dealt with optics and lasers, categorizing deterioration of lens or something like that. There was also a phantom(?) laser that does something with carbon. And something about carbon releasing carbon dioxide when it’s melted. The next lab was something similar. In this one, they are working with nanoparticles to do things. For example they talked about invisibility cloaks and the science behind how they work in theory and how we have the technology for it, but in reality there are too many variables that we are still working around for this to actually work.
-We gave our presentation to the POSTECH students and then proceeded to talk with them for about an hour. I talked with three people who gave me their names as Yu, Sam, and JY.
-We ate dinner with many of the same students from the previous hour of discussion. It was traditional Korean and we sat on the floor. We drank pop, water, soju, and beer. We ate some kind of meat, some acorn tofu-like stuff, and our choice of rice and soup or noodles in soup.
-Free time started late - around 8:00 pm - and consists of all of us rushing to write our logs before we go out drinking with the Korean friends we made at the dinner. Things that happen there that need to go under interpretations will most likely go on tomorrow’s travel log.
Interpretations:
-The facility at POSCO was extremely eco friendly. Even though Korea is rushing to modernize their country, they still seem to pay a lot of attention to the environmental side. They reuse all of the water in their facility. They say they dump nothing into the ocean. While 98% of the water is reused in the steelmaking process, the other 2% is used to water down the dirt around the facilities.
-The Koreans have a dating culture, which I was taught about talking to three students, at large universities where they go in groups of 10 or more with half guys and half girls who don’t really know each other and they’re all single and they see if anyone in the group hits it off. I’m sure it’s not that this never happens in America, but it certainly isn’t as common there as it is here. At POSTECH, since a class size is only 300 people, JY says that they don’t do that.
-They also say that a typical day for a college student at POSTECH includes waking up at 9:00 am for class at 9:30. Class doesn’t end until 6:30 pm. Then they might spend time doing homework. Then when done they might go out drinking. In the case of every student I’ve asked, they talk about drinking until maybe 4 am and then going to sleep and waking up again at 9am the next day for class. In fact, one of the students in my group had done that the night before. I’m pretty sure that even though American college students drink, they don’t drink as extensively as that, as often as the Koreans say they do.
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Travel Log #05
Date: 5/20/17 (Saturday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Free time (previous night/early morning)
-Group meeting.
-Train ride to Seoul.
-Street food and dessert in Seoul.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-*From previous night/really early this morning* Everyone but two in our group met up with about 6 of the Korean students we had met earlier that day and the 16 of us went to the Log Cabin Bar (which is the only bar on campus and shouldn’t even be there because selling alcohol on campus is illegal). At first we were just getting to know each other because many of us hadn’t talked to the few Koreans there. However as the night went on, we taught each other drinking games and talked about differences in our culture, college life, and other things. Just a side note here - soju is really good.
-The train ride to Seoul was uneventful.
-We caused two traffic jams while trying to get to our hotel. Our bus didn’t fit in the side roads very well because of the parking jobs by others. Koreans really like honking their horns.
-We walked through Yonsei’s campus on the way to dinner and stopped by their outdoor amphitheater where Psi (the man who sings Gangnam style) and Black Pick (A Kpop group) were performing as part of Yonsei’s spring festival. Although we couldn’t see them, it was still awesome to be there. Side note - Yonsei’s campus is awesome.
-Dinner was amazing. We ate at Mapomandu and had tteokbokki, ramen, dumplings, and other things. I tried liver and stomach. The liver tasted just like turkey . . . but the texture makes it disgusting in my opinion. I really love tteokbokki. For dessert we went to a Korean dessert cafe that was four stories tall. We ordered shaved ice desserts. They put some flavorful stuff in the bottom of a bowl and then put what I assume is shaved ice over that and then over that they decorate the bowl with more flavorful toppings. My group split the red bean and green tea flavors. The red bean one was amazing.
-After dinner, and during our free time, we went back out to the same area and walked around trying to find places to shop. We were unsuccessful as most shopping stores closed at ten. However the bars were open so our group went in there for a while.
Interpretations:
-*From previous night/really early this morning* Since we may or may not have been at the bar for almost 5 hours . . . there was a lot of time to talk. I briefly mentioned in my previous log the late night/ early morning drinking stories from several of the Korean people we met. And it was mentioned in the book just how prevalent the drinking culture was in Korea. Experiencing it in person and hearing it from actual Koreans really drove that point home. One person said that they had been out drinking every day so far that week until the early hours of the morning. I’m still shocked by how normal this is here.
-While drinking I noticed that one of the Koreans was taking more caution and seemed to have more authority than the other ones. I asked him about it and realized that it’s because he is the oldest and this is part of Korean culture and is similar to what we’ve read in the book. He took care of ordering food and drink, taking care of the bill, and making sure everyone was okay throughout the night. It seemed as though we drank a lot of beer and soju, however in the end it relatively inexpensive. If we had bought the same amount of food and drink in the US it probably would have been two times as much at the very least.
-Another aspect of the night involved the difference in drinking games. While I’m inexperienced in both American and South Korean games, it was cool to learn both at once. The biggest difference between the two is that in America, many games played have rules where if you lose, you drink. However in Korea, most games rule that if you win, you drink.
-First impression of Seoul is that it is not at all what I thought it would be like. I had imagined it more modern and built up - like Chicago in a way, however it wasn’t and while there are some more modern buildings like those I would expect, there are a large amount of older buildings as well - like those found in Pohang. The difference is that here, these buildings are old but 2+ stories tall, where most Pohang buildings weren’t as tall. Also compared to Pohang, the amount of students outside walking around and the amount of people in the streets in the city was shocking. I had expected more people, but not that many. Granted, today was a concert and festival celebration, but it was still a bit shocking to see so many people. I don’t even know if I’ve seen that many people in Chicago in one area.
-At dinner I experienced a culture shock when our table (mostly the Americans) didn’t want to finish the plate of liver and stomach so we handed it to the half of the group behind us (the Chinese students). I watched Jiawei eat at once two slices of stomach and one of liver. All together. Just watching him do that made me feel a bit sick.
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Travel Log #06
Date: 5/21/17 (Saturday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Group Brunch.
-Planning time at coffee shop.
-Free time to explore Seoul.
Descriptive Segments:
-Even though there wasn’t a whole bunch planned for today, there was still plenty to do. We started by eating brunch as a group.
-Since Professor Choi’s brunch place was out of business, we picked another place instead. We had oxbone soup, which was actually pretty tasty - the broth and the meat. Solid nine out of ten, would eat again. After brunch we walked across to the coffee store across the street where we split into groups and talked about what we were going to do for the day. We then made our way to the subway with our subway cards.
-The free time of my group included a few things. First we went to Gangnam, where we saw the streets and walked down the Kpop star street. We also stopped by the SM Entertainment building. While no celebrities were spotted, it, in my opinion, was still worth the rather long walk.
Next we went back to the park that holds the Seoul Tower. When we got there we went up to the top and then actually went up to the top of the tower as well. The view was excellent. On the way back down, Matt and I decided not to take the elevator thing back down and walk on the stairs instead. It was long, but we had a great time getting lost in the back streets of that residential section and finding our way back to the others.
After that we had some food from street venders in the MyeongDong district as well as shop a bit on the street before we found a restaurant to eat at, the name of it escapes me, where we ate some grilled spicy chicken, tteokbokki, and spicy cold noodles. After that we navigated back to Sinchon station, which is the closest to Yonsei University.
-While the rest of the group decided to go see a movie, I stayed back on campus and walked around close to the hotel instead because I wanted to see more of how the campus is at night.
Interpretations:
-It is becoming increasingly more obvious the difference in breakfast preferences between America and South Korea. While I feel most americans prefer sweeter foods or something like toast, I frequently see soup and rice being offered at breakfast when we eat here, which is kinda what we did today. All countries have differences in what they consider to be breakfast. I didn’t think it was bad by any means, just different.
-The subway system in Seoul is truly amazing. Not only is it insanely clean and well kept - in the stations and the trains themselves - but it is extremely easy to navigate around. Not only is it extremely easy (even without knowledge of Korean) but it is also very quick. These feelings might be due to my previous experience riding subways. For comparison, this subway system is exactly like the ones in France and Britain. We were told that the subway were nicer than Chicago’s but there is always a different level of understanding when you see them for yourselves. While we were riding there was even a nice, Korean, old man who spoke english and tried to help us get to where we were going. Although we already knew, his intentions were kind.
-We walked quite a distance in Gangnam and while I did see differences (compared to the area where we’re staying at Yonsei) they were subtle. In general, both areas have similar buildings overall - a mix of old and new. However, I would say that the new buildings in Gangnam are more upscale and fancy. There were some really unique architecture buildings on the streets. But at the same time, in the areas in between the main streets, the buildings were noticeably not as nice. However, for the most part, they were still nicer than the alleyway buildings near Yonsei. I would say that the differences in prices is also obvious. While near Yonsei there are tons of street vendors lining the street as stores (as well as regular stores), in Gangnam, almost all of the stores were upscale - like a Ferrari shop and other expensive cars. Moreover, there were several of these cars in the streets as well.
-The view from the top of the tower was amazing. I was surprised to see just how big Seoul really is. I think it is much different from Chicago where I think most tall buildings are in one place downtown. In Seoul, it seems like there are multiple small areas of tall buildings. Perhaps these are the different sections of the cities? Regardless, the city stretched on for miles. When Matt and I got lost in the back residential sections, we had two people try to help us by talking to us in Korean. Although we couldn’t understand them, I thought it was a kind gesture that they pointed us in the right direction. It’s experiences like these that give me good memories of Korea.
-I really like the feel of Yonsei’s campus. I think it is very, very similar to Purdue. Even the main walkway reminds me of Purdue’s Engineering Mall walkway. The campus, to what I can see, is fairly well lit at night and does have some emergency call stations. There are almost always people walking around, just like Purdue. The buildings are nice - I can’t wait for the tours tomorrow. It is even extremely close to a downtown area similar, but much better and busier than, Chauncy. However, I think this business is in part because there are so so many universities in this area and also, based on what we’ve seen so far, nightlife and culture is a huge part of Korea.
-While I walked around Yonsei’s campus, several times I was passed by people on mopeds. At first, I thought these were just delivery drivers (and some may have been). However the ones with flashing red lights were police. Even during the day yesterday while walking around there were always either cops or groups of cops here and there in the streets of Seoul or maybe in some University areas. It gives a really safe feeling to this area.
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Travel Log #07
Date: 5/22/17 (Monday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Group Breakfast.
-Group reflection.
-Tour of Yonsei campus.
-Presentation to introduce international programs at Yonsei.
-Meeting the Yonsei ME students.
-Sat in on ME class lecture.
-More time introducing ourselves and meeting the students.
-Dinner with the students.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-Myself along with the rest of the group had the Korean seafood breakfast that came with belgian chocolate ice cream (which was amazing) for dessert. However the group consensus is that we aren’t doing that ordeal again. We all chose Mediterranean/oriental breakfast for tomorrow.
-We walked around and visited a few major points at Yonsei. This included a large lounge park at the heart of the university, the amphitheater we had seen the day before, the gardens, the main walkway, and a small area that is kind of fenced off to preserve some historic side of the campus. It is the area of the old hospital (reconstructed) that has some historical pieces. It use to have the tomb of the Joseon dynasty leader but that has been moved. Moreover, the area has the second oldest astronomical map known.
-We were talked to about the Yonsei international summer school (which is the one I had been looking into instead of doing this two week study because the summer school offered Korean language). They also mentioned the other things Yonsei had to offer in terms of study abroad.
-We sat in on a lecture for an ME class in the engineering building at Yonsei and got a good look at the inside of the buildings.
-We presented again the presentation we had originally made for the Pohang students and then the students introduced themselves and then we introduced ourselves as well.
-We had a bit of free time to visit the gift shop and go back to our hotel rooms before we planned to meet back up at 5:20 to walk down to dinner. Dinner was Korean Bulgogi. It was good. After the dinner we split up our groups to do other things. It seemed like very few people wanted to go to the bars. Two of the Yonsei students, Harry, Jab, Billy, Jiawei, and I decided to go to a Noraebang (karaoke room) and sing to Kpop and other songs. After that we went to a PC-bang (PC room) and played games together.
Interpretations:
-Who knew seafood was a breakfast food? I certainly didn’t. While I can’t say I was in the mood for it at all, the seafood Korean breakfast wasn’t terrible by any means. However I don’t think it is easy to find a place in the US that would serve seafood for breakfast.
-Today was the first day we were at Yonsei on a school day when people were walking around to classes and such. It had a similar feeling like Purdue did. There were students everywhere walking to various locations. I think it’s nice the amount of small parks and areas the university keeps to provide outside locations for students. Purdue has some, but not nearly as many.
-Sitting in on the ME lecture was very interesting. First off, it was an English lecture. There are around 700 classes offered in English at Yonsei. The English spoken was pretty good as well. It was no better or no worse than an international professor at Purdue. Maybe a few minor things that caused confusion but overall the concept was gotten across. It didn’t really help that I had no idea what was going on because I haven’t taken the classes yet, but I don’t think I’m too concerned about that. It was also different because there was not a single question asked by the students in the class. Nor was there any talking between students. There was silence for the majority of the lecture.
-The students here at Yonsei are lit. Everyone seems more alive than they did at POSTECH.
-I had always watched youtube videos about Noraebangs and wanted to try one. It definitely lived up to my expectation. I was surprised just how many English songs they had as well as several other songs in several other languages.
-The PC-bang certainly lived up to expectations as well. The internet speed is amazing there, even though there were so many people and computers, and the setup was super comfortable. The keyboards were nice also and although tons of people probably used them, the equipment all looked in good shape. I was very surprised by how big the computer monitors were as well.
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Travel Log #08
Date: 5/23/17 (Tuesday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Breakfast at 7 am.
-Bus ride to Hyundai steel facility.
-Tour of Hyundai steel facility.
-Lunch at rest stop.
-Tour of Kia motors.
-Free time
Descriptive Segments:
-On the bus ride to Hyundai, we went through the beginning of Seoul traffic. We also stopped at a rest stop on the way.
-On the Hyundai tour, we yet again learned the process of making steel. We also got to go inside the building where they were shaping slabs again as well as bus around other parts of the factory. At one point on the tour we got out of the bus and looked at the giant domes that they use to mix the powder and minerals before starting the steelmaking process. The building was massive - about 60 m tall I believe and 120 m wide or something like that. The lady says they have the best, most environmental friendly plant for this.
-We stopped at the same restaurant we stopped at on the way to Hyundai when we came back for lunch. I had ramyeon with dumplings, tteokbokki, and a squid/fish something dish on the side. It was delicious - like almost everything else here. Dessert was fished shape things filled with different flavors. I had the red bean paste fish.
-We were able to go through the Kia assembly line as part of our tour of the Kia facility. As with the POSCO and Hyundai tours, pictures were, for the most part, prohibited. We walked through a part that was storing parts waiting for assembly, a part with robots doing nearly all of the assembly, and a part with people assembling.
-During my free time, I asked Harry if he wanted to go to the CD/Kpop store in Sincheon. We didn’t see anything we liked so we just walked around randomly. Stopped for bubble tea because we could and then he had to go meet with his group for dinner. I had long before resolved that I was going to eat street food one of these days so I had street food for dinner (tteokbokki) and then ran to the 7Eleven for my new favorite type of tea and then called the night early since I got little sleep the night before because we were out with Yonsei students all night and tomorrow is a decently early start.
Interpretations:
-I didn't think that Hyundai steel seemed as clean and eco friendly as POSCO, no matter what they said. Although I'm not sure of we went to that part for the POSTCO tour so maybe I didn’t see the part with the mixing of materials. Regardless, almost every building at Hyundai was red because of the iron ore and I don't think that can possibly be good for the lungs.
-The rest stop we stopped at was by far better than maybe all but 1 American rest stop (The Chicago Oasis buildings) that i had ever been to. I had expected a small outhouse next to some gas outlet. However i was pleasantly surprised to see an almost mall-like building with several shops including some more street food like places as well as a mart and sit down places inside. The one we stopped at on the way back met my previous expectations better, but it was still nice and had some street food options and super nice bathrooms for a rest stop compared to what you typically find in Indiana at least.
-The steel making process at Hyundai, which we got to watch like we did at POSCO, was pretty much identical (I couldn't tell you a difference unless I watched both simultaneously). The differences I noticed being that Hyundai had a steel tester. You could watch the steel being lasered and scanned for dimensions, quality, etc. I don't remember seeing that at POSCO although I'm sure they had it. Side note - POSCO was way cooler because of how fast the steel slab was moving through the conveyor belts. At Hyundai it was a slow process. But both were making different products so there are definitely going to be some differences.
-On the Kia tour we got to see inside their assembly lines. The whole experience felt as though it was something out of a movie. There were cars being made anywhere and everywhere and transported by large claws on the ceiling. It felt like they were building an army. It was super awesome and I’m not even a huge fan of cars. The robots being used in the automated car assembly lines were very high tech. The last part of that tour involved walking through the manual assembly lines. I'm sure these assembly lines are similar to the ones in the US.
-My quest for street food was great even though it was pretty much a steady downpour and all I had was a raincoat because I gave Harry my umbrella. I stopped at a stand that sold tteokbokki and let me tell you that was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made since coming here to Seoul. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite Korean food also. Anyway, the elderly man at the stand was really nice. Since I had started talking to him in Korean and ordered in Korean, he probably assumed I knew some Korean - which would be a wrong assumption - so he started just talking to me as he prepared. Needless to say, he quickly figured out I didn’t know anything he had just said. After just one scoop of tteokbokki into my bowl, he stopped and I thought he was done. I was a bit disappointed that I was going to be paying about 2,500 won ($2.22) for like 5 pieces (granted these pieces go about the length of my hand palm to middle finger). Really though, at some places here that might be about right? But I was really pleasantly surprised when he took a cup from behind him and filled it up with some broth from something else he had cooking in his stand and gave it to me. It wasn’t something with the meal at all I don’t think and I interpreted it as a kind gesture considering I was pretty much soaked and the temperature had dropped. I really appreciated it though and was extremely happy to watch as he added so much more tteokbokki to the bowl. In the end I couldn’t even finish because there was so much. Definitely worth the experience. And it was amazing street food.
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Travel Log #09
Date: 5/24/17 (Wednesday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Group Breakfast.
-Tour of Gyeongbokgung (The royal palace).
-Lunch.
-National Museum of Korean Contemporary History tour.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-We took the bus to the palace. At the palace we got to watch the changing of the guards and then actually spend about two hours walking around inside of the palace. There was an optional guided tour but Terry and I decided to walk on our own and went really deep into the palace and saw some cool exhibitions that the tour group didn’t get to go to, such as a foreign envoy reception building, library, the place where the King was, and the place where the Queen was and may have been assassinated. We ended with a group picture and then went right outside the palace to a more tourist area of food and split up for lunch.
-I had lunch with both the professors, Billy, Terry, and Jab. We went to a really awesome tteokbokki place where you can mix types of tteokbokki with other things.
-After lunch we went to the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. This ranged from about WWII time until modern day and explained different aspects such as the wars, civilian life, and industrial things. It summed up a lot of the things the book we read mentioned and also some of the things we’ve learned since being here.
-In my free time I went with Terry to MyeongDong where we stopped at a KFC (To see how it compared to American chicken because it’s said that KFC in Korea is way better). We went in the Lotte store and walked around for a long time. Terry bought some Duty Free items. Then we walked the streets of MyeongDong and ate street food while doing some souvenir shopping. After that we took the subway to Icheon and walked to the Han River. Then we came back.
Interpretations:
-I keep forgetting to put this in here so I’m adding it now. I’m surprised by the amount of safety precautions and security measures here. And when I say that I mean I’m surprised because there don’t seem to be many at all, or at least not as strict as the US. I can recall three cases where this struck me as odd. The first being when we were in the subway system. The other members of the group hadn’t tapped their card out as we were leaving so these gates came out and the machine made emergency noises to try to stop them from leaving. I thought for sure some security officer would come out and do something about it but we were able to just leave. Second would be when we were in the Kia motors facility. I’m not sure what the precautions and rules are in the assembly lines, but not a single person was wearing any safety materials that I could see. I don’t recall anyone wearing safety goggles or a hard hat in the area. I even saw one guy wearing crocks. And the third instance is that none of the monuments or areas that we visit do any security checks or bag searches as you enter. In fact, when we were going into the top of the Seoul tower, we passed through metal detectors that beeped for each and every one of us, but the two security guards standing next to us let us walk right through and I thought it was the strangest thing because in America we would be told to empty our pockets and try again or would be patted down.
-I remember when reading the book before the trip I hadn’t known that Japan had taken over Korea. Now that I visited here and went to the history museum and the Gyeongbok palace, I learned that it wasn’t just a take over. I thought it was interesting to find out that the Japanese had been trying for a while to annex the Joseon dynasty but the empress had been stopping them so instead they planned an assassination. I thought it was even more interesting that the weapon used to assassinate is in a Japanese museum.
-I was following a man in maybe his early 20s at some point during the day and he went into the building I was going into but he barely opened the door and then let it swing shut. I wasn’t even that far away, I was really close. And there weren’t any other people around us either so I thought it was kinda obvious where I was going. I had been told that holding doors open for people was not a thing here but actually experiencing that. . . I must admit I was slightly annoyed (because I was literally so close to him) until I remembered that that wasn’t the culture here.
-Conclusion: KFC Korea is nothing special. It’s like taking Chick-fil-a and Pop-eyes and making a child.
-While walking around the Lotte store was confusing. We were constantly on the wrong floor. The main building itself is over 12 stories and easily as big in size as the Macy’s in Chicago or New York. Not only that, but it spans into two additional buildings via sky bridges making it about twice as big. If the sheer size of the building wasn’t impressive enough, the number of stores is nearing an infinitely large number and on the Duty Free floors the shopping is a nightmare to compete with black friday.
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Travel Log #10
Date: 5/25/17 (Thursday)
Major Locations and Activities:
-Group Breakfast.
-Bus ride to DMZ.
-Tour of 3rd Infiltration Tunnel.
-View of North Korea from Dora observatory.
-Tour of train station.
-Free time.
-Group dinner.
-Free time.
Descriptive Segments:
-We drove through the Unification village and across the Freedom bridge. The village is the last village before North Korea and the bridge is the only bridge that connects to North Korea.
-Our first stop was the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. There have been a total of four tunnels found. By this I mean North Korea has dug tunnels in an attempt to come up in South Korea with a surprise attack. Four tunnels have been found but there is suspected to be more. As part of our tour we donned hard hats and took the trek down into the depths of the earth and then went 400m closer to North Korea. We had to crouch almost the whole time because the tunnel is that like a coal mine and the ceiling was low and wet. At the end of the tunnel there is a series of three barricades that look to be made of super thick concrete. These are all that’s separating North Korea from the South in that tunnel. If we were to cross past those barricades, we would have been in North Korea.
-Next we went up to the Dora Observation area where we could view the North Korean country from a distance behind our DMZ. Using binoculars, it is possible to see cars and trucks driving as well as citizens working in the fields. I got video footage of people working. It felt strangely like we were at a zoo observing wild animals.
-The last stop was the train station which was built by the South Korean citizens in the hope that once Korea is reunited, it can be used to transport to and from Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. At this station is the only place that sells wine made in North Korea and also chocolate made specifically in the Unification village near the DMZ.
-During our free time we had an extremely late lunch and I came back after to write this log since tonight I plan to meet with a friend from Seoul National University after our group dinner.
Interpretations:
-For a long distance of the drive to the DMZ there was barbed wire on a fence. I had expected a more solid structure like a wall of sorts. I was also surprised again by the security measures. There were no bag checks or anything once again anywhere in this process - only a passport ID check. I didn’t see armed soldiers either. All appeared unarmed whereas in America they would most likely be walking around with guns.
-When we were at the Dora observatory, North Korea was blasting music toward us, which was cool. It was interesting to know that this music battle has been going on for two years now with South Korea playing Kpop and North Korea playing music from the 1970s. I got to listen to this while observing the countryside. There are close to no houses anywhere, with the exception of one town in the center. This town, however, seemed empty. I was able to see some people out, but there were significantly less than there were in South Korea in the more rural parts.
-Previous to this tour, I had been unaware that there were infiltration tunnels dug into South Korea. I thought this was really interesting and it was even better being able to go down into a tunnel and getting that close to North Korea. There were little windows through those concrete barriers down there and I wonder if North Korea is aware that South Korea uses that as a tourist attraction and if they station soldiers in their own tunnels. I also wonder how many more tunnels there could be.
-I thought that it was a bit bittersweet that so many South Koreans had invested in building this train station in the hopes of unification but over the past 10 years the ties between the two countries has only grown farther apart. The tour guide had mentioned how since this division and war were not too long ago, there are still families who know people (who may or may not still be alive today) trapped on the North Korean side. For holidays they would go up close to the DMZ and picnic, bow, and pray by the border that they will be able to see them again. In the past, there had been ways for families to meet, at a cabin that was kind of a neutral zone between the two countries. However one day a South Korean stepped over the Northern border and was shot and killed. This ended that and since then families have not been able to visit.
-I also thought it was interesting to learn that North Koreans are starting to smuggle television sets and other things from China that have South Korean music, drama, and movies on them. Hopefully the younger generations will be able to rise up somehow. It was also shocking to hear that almost 1000 North Koreans are able to escape and come to South Korea each year (through ways of China or other countries). Although the success rate is low, they still risk their lives. However, it was sad to hear that of the ones that made it to South Korea, 70% say they are unhappy, 20% are happy, and 10% go to live somewhere else. The gap between the two Koreas is so great with the difference in the communism in the north and competitive democracy in the south. If there ever comes a time for reunification, I think it will be a hard feat.
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Bonus:
As I was leaving the country, I had some free time after our morning meeting before my flight. Enough time that I decided to go to The War Memorial of Korea museum in Yongsan-dong. I would highly recommend paying this a visit as it was very well done.
Travel Tip #2: Double check and then double check again your military time conversions!
I almost missed my flight because I did this, arriving at the airport only 2 hours before my flight (what I thought was 4 hours). My flight actually left at 8pm, not 10pm like I had thought. The lady at the front desk who checked my bag seemed stressed for me. I bet they closed the counter shortly after I left to go through TSA. I made it to my gate with maybe half an hour or a little less to spare though. #WorthIt.
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Hopefully you enjoyed reading about my initial Korean adventure. Another Korean adventure is on deck as I will talk about my semester abroad and what I would recommend for a seven day itinerary.
~Wishing all the Wanderlust~
-Maddie
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