Wednesday was our company visit with Eaton! Eaton is an Irish/American power management company that works within the auto industry, they have multiple branches throughout the world. The senior vice president gave us a mini presentation and held a Q&A with us all. He discussed the company’s sustainability measures and where they hope to be in 2030. Their current work and plans are right on track with where they need to be. Learning more about how the company operated on a day-to-day basis was fascinating despite the fact they lean more towards engineering. Afterwards, we toured the lab and we had to wear special footwear and goggles to ensure our safety as we were there.
Our next venture was to the fish market. From the outside, the building looked like your average building. That is until you walked inside and were met with the smell of 100+ live fish. To be honest, the smell reminded me of the Jersey Shore a little bit. Now, it is definitely not as fishy but the ocean saltwater scent was there. Dr Yun had us try live octopus. We witnessed the octopus swimming in its tank to then being served in a Styrofoam box. Seeing the octopus squirm around as it had already been cut made me even more hesitant. The taste was definitely an acquired taste. However, some people were even going back for seconds and thirds. Personally, once was enough for me. I cannot see myself eating a live octopus in the near future, but I think it was a fun thing to try.
After our fish excursion, we went shopping at a traditional mall. It was called the Hyundai Seoul. My group and I started on the top floor and made our way down. The first thing I bought was a delicious Nutella donut. My friend Meena bought tiramisu which is what the store was heavily known for. Aften continuing to explore the various different floors I saw others with Dr. Yun. For some reason, he really wanted to buy us ice cream so then we were on the hunt for an ice cream store. The closest we were able to come to one was a shop that sold shaved ice. Dr. Yun bought all 4 flavors, red bean, milk tea, strawberries and cream, and mango. The strawberry was my favorite. It was so sweet yet also cold and refreshing. Mango was definitely a close second. Nate and Jackie were able to find an ice cream store and they surprised Dr. Yun with a vanilla cone! His face lit up when he saw it. After our sweet treat, the whole group met back up to go to the baseball game!
WOW. Baseball games in Korea are truly something else. The field was in a dome-like building that was enclosed. A part of me wished it was open because it was so nice out and the wind would have felt so good. The game was exhilarating. There was so much chanting and singing, unfortunately, I was unsure of what was being said. The team we were chanting for sadly did not win. The final score was 6-1. Regardless, it was a fun experience, and the food was amazing. I bought a Korean corndog, yet again, and a bulgogi burger. Many of my friends bought jerseys/hats from the store, however, I could not bring myself to spend that much money. I wish we were able to teleport back to the hotel. Instead, we took the subway back home after the game ended. I think I speak for everyone when I say we were all exhausted. We did so much in just one day. Who else could say they tried live octopus and went to a Korean baseball game all in 7 hours… I know I could.
