Today, Plus3 Korea lived up to its name as we visited the Korean DMZ (demilitarized zone) and saw the other half of Korea first-hand. The funny thing about a post on the DMZ is that you can’t really take pictures in the DMZ, though. That said, we started off by bussing out to the DMZ…
Departure Day
Today was finally the day we were leaving Korea. It felt strange waking up knowing the trip was officially coming to an end. I got up around 8 a.m. and spent some time hanging out with V before we went upstairs to get breakfast. While eating, I kept thinking about all the Pokémon keychains and…
Last Day in Seoul
Today was our last full day of activities in Korea, and it was also the day of our final presentations. It honestly felt strange knowing the trip was coming to an end because it felt like we just arrived. We started the morning by visiting TOPIS at Seoul City Hall. TOPIS is the transportation management…
Back to Seoul
Today we headed back to Seoul, but before leaving we had one more exciting stop: the Hyundai Motors plant. After finishing packing, I headed downstairs and we left for the day. Before the tour, we stopped for an early lunch. I had bulgogi along with several side dishes that I wasn’t completely sure what they…
Seoul Speed Ahead
Day 10: Today we sadly left Pohang, but we were heading back to Seoul. Before getting back to Seoul though, we had a really exciting stop planned, Hyundai Motor Company. We started by visiting the museum and learning more about Hyundai’s history. After that, we got to actually tour the factory itself and see how…
Costa Rica Blog Post 7 – 05/17
Today made the wet season feel very real because the rain affected almost everything we did. Walking through the rainforest canopy on the hanging bridges was wetter, muddier, and a little more slippery, but it also made the forest feel more alive. The rain brought out the sound of water, the smell of the trees,…
Hiking and Intercrop Farm: How Rain Affects Tourism
Today was a long and extraneous day; we went to Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges, a nearby lake, and Arenal Vida Campesina. At Místico we had a scavanger hunt where we had to find a variaty of plants, animals, and other features of the park. I teamed up with Taliya to win a stuffed sloth and…
Can’t Rain on Costa Rica’s Parade
While exploring the rainforest on the hanging bridges trail, we experienced a couple of short periods of mild rain. I actually felt that the rain added authenticity to the experience because being in a rainforest without rain would almost feel unnatural. We also learned that the rain can make certain animals like sloths, less likely…
Only rain and Pura Vida here
The rain today was very unexpected! It would start, then stop, then start, then stop, and on and on. It was actually crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It would POUR so hard for 5 minutes and then be sunny skies a few minutes later.I will say, it was cool to see how…
Touring TOPIS and Cooking with Too Many Toppings
On our final planned-out day in South Korea, we’ve returned to Seoul to learn about Seoul’s widest-reaching smart system: its transport systems. The Seoul Transport Operation & Information Service (TOPIS) is a collection of countless cameras, sensors, and servers, all communicating in tandem to keep Seoul’s streets safe, swift, and efficient. From the TOPIS offices…
Day 8 – Day Trip to Uruguay
We got a bit of another break today and went on a day trip across the Silver River to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. After a bit of a rocky boat trip across, we began our walking tour around Colonia, looking at the historic district that once belonged to the Spanish and Portuguese prior to…
May 17th – I’m Scared Of Heights
Today we did the hanging bridges hike, paddleboarding on Lake Arenal, and toured a sugarcane plantation. Being at the start of the low season meant rain was basically guaranteed. The hanging bridges felt completely different because of it. It started as an on and off drizzle, which honestly made it feel more like an actual…
Caught in the Downpour
Today really showed how unpredictable Costa Rica’s climate can be. At Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park, we got to see some really cool things like spider monkeys, leafcutter ants, and rare birds while walking through the rainforest. The rain made the entire forest feel greener and more alive, but I also feel like it made…
A Hankering for a Hyundai
Checking out of our hotel in Pohang, we begin to file onto the bus to Ulsan where we will see Hyundai museum and their base of operations in South Korea. Today was another long day of travel, but after the temple stay, we’ve luckily gotten much more used to it. After arriving in Ulsan, we…
The Other City of Steel
Day 9: Today we started our day by meeting up with some of POSTECH’s student ambassadors, who led us on small group tours around the entire campus. One thing I really liked was their GROW building and how they encourage students to start their own startups and ideas. They even had spaces designed for students…
:( Last Day in Korea
This whole trip has been so memorable, and I have enjoyed every single moment of it so far. But, today is the last one, which means my last blog of the trip. Are you going to miss me? Our final day started off again with another trip to the Seoul City Hall. But, this time…
POSTECH, POSCO, and Pohang Nights
Today we returned to POSTECH, given a guided tour by students. My group, led by Hyoeun, consisted of Emily, Ben, Madeline, Chris, Noah, and myself. The first place we visited in the university was the library, which extended into a small exhibit which showcased the history of POSTECH. We found it interesting walking around and…
Postcards from Morocco: Bridging the Gap
If the past few days of site visits and lectures gave us the theory behind Morocco’s startup ecosystem, today was all about putting it into practice. Day 9 brought new perspectives. We moved from observing to doing, culminating in an intense, cross-cultural entrepreneurship exercise. But before we even put pen to paper, we needed a…
Under Seoul City Hall
On the last day of the trip, we went on a tour of the Topis which is both a government operated system and a private company in Seoul that monitored all of the traffic in South Korea. We saw this headquarters that was in the basement of City Hall, and it was amazing. they have…
Moving Back to Seoul
Today we are heading back to Seoul the place where this whole trip started. Earlier today we went on a visit of the Hyundai Museum which was really interesting. We were able to see the first car that Hyundai exported that was actually the Ford brand as well as their first signature car that Hyundai…