For the last site visit, we went to a Buddhist temple and then went to COEX, a mall and exhibition center. I thought the Buddhist temple was so gorgeous. The colorful lanterns were so pretty to walk through, and I really enjoyed looking at the fine paintings on the side of some of the buildings. We then got to see the Gangnam Style hands statue, which was really cute! There were even little kids doing the dance! Afterward, we ate at the COEX mall and went into one of the lar

I was surprised upon entering the Hyundai Motor Studio to see that everything was pink with cute characters on it. I'm still not sure why this was the style, but the whole experience felt surreal. On the first floor, you could see the electric and hybrid vehicles displayed in a setting that looked straight out of Barbie. We were all very impressed by one of the Hyundai vans, which had reclining massage chairs in the back, a foldable TV, and cameras all around the car. Unfortu

On this day we visited HiKR (Hi Korea), which was so much fun! I think this tour was the best example of great human-computer interaction. Each sign, mirror, or activity was meant to be enjoyed with all five senses. There was everything from simulators to karaoke to photo and video booths. The designers clearly put a lot of thought and effort into every activity, making it fun for both kids and adults. I really enjoyed the stamping station, where you could layer multiple stam

I'm a huge fan of architecture, so the hanok village was very fun to see. I loved learning about how they built houses to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The architecture is very intentional and uses minimal technological intervention to get the job done. I think this was such a good example of using the resources you have to find a solution, and I was very impressed by all of the things commonfolk built during this time period. Not only were the builds clever

The next site visit was to Yonsei University, which had a very beautiful campus. I enjoyed the guided campus tour because I wouldn't have otherwise known how much history was a part of this university. One of the coolest things was seeing the bullet marks in one of the statues, which became a battleground during the Korean War. Afterward, we got to speak with some professors from Yonsei, who were very welcoming to us. It was interesting to hear about their research and see h

The tour of the DMZ turned out to be my favorite site visit by far. Not only was the area incredibly beautiful with amazing weather, it was so interesting to learn about the history between North and South Korea and get to see it for myself. It's a topic that continues to be relevant to this day, so I knew everything we saw was incredibly important to millions of people. The history between these countries is complex and has definitely shaped South Korean culture. I have a lo

At the Namdaemun street market, negotiating is a normal part of the shopping experience. You're expected to haggle for a lower price, which I find very interesting and different from Western culture. In the U.S., that may come off as rude or absurd, but here it is customary. I wonder if it's because any sale is better than no sale at all. Maybe the risk of losing a customer is worse than selling something for cheap. Christina and I bought some corn dogs, which were delicious

At Korea University, we visited two labs. One was focusing on driver awareness and safety, while the other was focused on robotics. I really enjoyed talking to the graduate students and seeing how similar their research is to things we're doing in the U.S. I would have loved to talk to them a bit more about how they would like to apply these technologies, but overall, I enjoyed learning a bit more about these labs. The campus was beautiful and everyone was very friendly.

For the third site visit, we stopped at the CIEE building first before getting on a bus to go to the Samsung Museum. It was so cool to see the evolution of technology, including TVs, phones, vacuums, and washer/dryers. I really enjoyed the setup of the tour. It was very immersive, and it was cool to walk through inventions chronologically. Some of the other students and I walked to a bingsu spot, where I tried bingsu for the first time! My favorite was the strawberry flavor,

The second site visit was to the DDP and to try a local Dongdaemun tteokbokki restaurant. We really loved the tteokbokki and enjoyed the experience of watching it cook in front of us. At the DDP, we walked around an interestingly shaped building. It had long, white hallways, which I actually found quite refreshing. It's a bit calming after seeing colorful, busy artwork. I think it was meant to make you feel more grounded and present in the moment. Afterward, we went to a par

For our first site visit, we went to the National Museum of Korea. It was very interesting to see all of the historical artifacts, including the Silla gold crowns. I liked seeing some of the more casual artifacts, like the pottery and old tools, as well as the shinier objects like crowns and gold jewelry. The museum also had a guide robot that moved around. It had a map and information about the museum, as well as games for kids to play. It was mostly kids who ended up using