I cannot think of many valid reasons to wake up at 3 AM on two consecutive days, but I imagine traveling to South Korea to start what I believe will be an extraordinary two-week whirlwind of an adventure, to be one of those few good reasons. That is why I did just that this past weekend. Before the Plus3 Korea group boarded a plane to fly half way around the world, the we gathered for our predeparture meeting and dinner at Korean Garden. There we continued our introduction to Korean culture through our first culinary experience. To accompany an assortment of new shared and side dishes which included bean sprouts, radishes, kimchi, and spicy rice cakes, I ventured gently into Korean cuisine and ordered bibimbap. I am excited to be able to compare Korean food in the United States to Korean food in Korea and to start trying authentic and more adventurous Korean dishes. We had an opportunity to begin to do that a day later when we arrived in Korea and attended a welcome dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant which accompanied our in-country orientation.

After the predeparture dinner it was essentially just a countdown until Saturday morning when we would be getting on a 3-hour flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas and then a 14-hour flight from Dallas to Seoul.

While we waited at the airport, we had the opportunity to meet with our teams and discuss the companies we will be focusing on during our travels. After researching those companies, I am particularly excited to be visiting the Busan New Container Terminal because I am fascinated by their implementation of the CyberLogitec OPUS terminal operating system and I am intrigued to see how this system has affected the organization of the shipping industry.

As we traveled to our hotel in Seoul, after finally landing in Korea, one of our guides began pointing out some of the cultural differences between the United States and South Korea, particularly the impact of the collective mindset of South Korea in juxtaposition with the individualistic thinking of the United States. For example, something our guide mentioned is that in South Korea the vast majority of the cars are black, white, or gray because the people of South Korea tend to not want to stand out or come across as showing off.

I am extremely excited to gain a deeper insight into Korean culture and just to see what tomorrow in South Korea will bring.