We started off the day by heading to Suwon and visiting the Hwaseong Fortress. We went to the east gate and viewed the battlements and learned about how the armies used them as defensive points during sieges. Then we walked along a stretch of the walls which helped give a sense of scale to the nearly 6 km long fortress. After we finished walking around the fortress we went and did an archery exercise. We were tasked with striking down the black bears with our arrows, and I’m happy to say I made all ten of my shots.

After archery we headed into town to grab lunch. I got a toast sandwich with kimchi and ham, it was very good and had a complex texture profile. Next I went down some of the alleys of the town to see some beautiful street murals. Along the way we ran into a few cute street cats that were lounging in the sun. After we grabbed some ice cream from a local shop, I got blueberry and it had a very smooth flavor.

Next we went to the Samsung Innovation Museum for a guided tour. We learned about the history of the company’s founding and that Pitt’s ECE department has a small connection with Fessenden. Then we learned about how Samsung is working on implementing new smart designs into homes, some examples are: a washer that automatically dries after, a fridge that knows that items are init, and voice activated curtains.

Then we went to Meyongdong to shop for a bit before the welcome dinner. I purchased a butter plushie since it was just too cute. After the shopping we went for the traditional dinner with a few alumni. It was an incredible meal and it had 18 side dishes to complete the main beef dish. It was nice getting to talk with the alumni here in Korea about their experiences at Pitt and in Korea.

I’m looking forward to visiting Fredit and TK elevators tomorrow and having a traditional Korean soup.