On Tuesday, we went to visit the prestigious Hanyang University which has an acceptance rate of around 3%. At the university, we initially sat down and learned a little bit about the different programs that are offered there for students all around the world. They have a four week summer and winter program where students can come and take three classes as well as participate in activities to see what the Korean culture is like. The more established summer program has students from all over the world, including 19% from North America.
Hanyang University opened in 1939 as the first engineering college in Korea. There founder was a musician and today that can still be noticed throughout the school. In 1959 they became a comprehensive university. In the QS World University Rankings, they are ranked 151st with the goal of eventually cracking the top 100.
While we were there, we had one of the professors there teach us about the culture of Korea. He talked about how they are a resilient people, having overcome so many times in their history where others tried to conquer their land. While being resilient, they are also very emotional, and status conscious. Respecting your elders is very important, if you do not use the proper wording, people will yell at you.
Later in the day, a group of us decided to visit Gangam. We took the subway over and walked around. We noticed the COEX Mall after walking around for a little and decided to go in. The COEX Mall is the largest underground mall in Korea, and we could notice that right away. We were there for hours as we walked around checking out all the stores and getting dinner there.
Once we were done with the mall we decided to walk around for a little. We saw a statue from the song Gangnam Style which was huge in 2012. We decided to walk to the Olympic stadium and when we got there it was amazing. While there, we heard noise and saw bright lights from a stadium near there so we decided to walk towards it and when we got there we noticed there was a baseball game going on. We decided to go in and it was a spectacle. The two teams fans were cheering as if it was a European soccer game. They were loud the entire game while cheering as loud as they could. We got to see the Doosan Bears win on a walk off hit and that was very exciting. My second full day in Korea was amazing and I am excited for the company visits that we are going to have soon.
