Our day started with a trip to Hanyang University on their Seoul campus. I was really interested in how college on the other side of the world would compare to Pitt! Walking up a huge hill to the conference room, I felt like I was back in Pittsburgh, hiking up cardiac hill on the way to upper campus.

Our welcoming presentation was led by the department of international affairs, and I learned that Hanyang University has a big commitment to international outreach programs. When I asked how common it is for Hanyang students themselves to go abroad, I was surprised to learn that it’s not as popular – many students go abroad in high school instead. Later, we visited the campus museum to learn more about the history of Hanyang, which was established as Korea’s 1st engineering institute in 1939. Because the university has produced so many prominent engineers, it’s been dubbed “The Engine of Korea” – although since engines have been surpassed by more innovative technologies, the current preferred nickname is “Beyond the Engine”. A few of their current projects include self-driving cars and a robotic exoskeleton that could be used for the military or in physical therapy.

Next up was the cooking class that I and about 7 other people signed up for. We made Tteokbokki, a stir-fry of rice cakes, egg, onion and carrot in a red chilli sauce . It was less labor-intensive that I was expecting – we only had to chop a few vegetables and sautée the ingredients in sauce – but the end result was still delicious.

By then it was evening, and Dr. Yun treated a group of us to dinner in Hondae, a neighborhood of Seoul. He refused to tell us what we would be eating before we got there, though, and it ended up being octopus! I was definitely more nervous than most of the group to try it, but it just tasted like a tougher kind of shrimp. He promised us that in Busan we’ll try live octopus – not sure how I feel about that!