After starting off the day with hotel breakfast, we went to the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. It was interesting how there were some modern stores and restaurants integrated into the area of the fortress. I really liked how they built around the fortress, showing how the Korean people are proud of their history! 

One of my favorite parts of the fortress tour was shooting bows with a bow and arrow. It was super fun!! (even thought I barely hit the target…)

Walking through the fortress some more led us to a little area with food and coffee shops. Because my group got 2nd place in the race back to the hotel yesterday, we got free lunch with Dr. Yun and Chris. We went to a small and homey restaurant that served very traditional Korean food. I got a cold soybean soup with noodles and a kimchi pancake. We were also served many sides- my favorite was kimchi cucumbers. After eating, my friend Gabbi and I got some coffee. I got a strawberry matcha, which was delicious. 

After eating lunch, the bus picked us up and we went to the Samsung Innovation Museum. We got a tour from one of the museum tour guides. She took us through the museum and spoke about Samsung’s history in semiconductor production, televisions, and phones. My favorite part was seeing the evolution of the televisions. I also really enjoyed the showroom of new products they have recently released. There was a smart living room set up which was controlled by their AI voice assistant and the guides phone. She showed us how she turned on the TV and closed the blinds all with one click on her phone! She also demonstrated the AI voice assistant by asking it to change the lights to a different color. 

Another cool appliance that the guide presented was Samsung’s new smart refrigerator. While she showed us the fridge’s innovative features, I compared it to the first fridge made which we saw in the first part of the tour. It was really interesting to see how far technology has advanced. We’ve progressed from bulky fridges that were designed like safes all the way to smart fridges that tell you what recipes you can make based off what it detects in your fridge!

Later on, we went to Myeongdong. Here, we had some free time for shopping and had our ‘welcome dinner’ as a group. 

My friends and I walked around the stores and found an store filled with keychains and knickknacks. a I was super excited to see this because I had a whole list of products I wanted to buy. 

At our welcome dinner, our group was joined by three Pitt alumni to eat more traditional Korean food. We talked about what they did at Pitt and what they are doing in Korea now.

I’m excited for a great day tomorrow!