I am already an expert getting around Seoul. Well, maybe not an expert, but much better than I was yesterday. This morning, I went on a scavenger hunt, trying to find Dr. Yun based on the clues that he sent. First, he was at the Jogyesa Temple, which had beautiful lanterns hanging. Each lantern has a note attached, asking for prayers, with colorful lanterns for the living and white lanterns for the deceased. Then, Dr. Yun was at the National Museum of Korea, which had multiple music performances outside, as well as the regular exhibits inside. While traveling to these different locations, my group had to use the busing and subway systems, even needing to change subway trains to get on a different colored route. The public transportation systems in Seoul are much more sophisticated than in Pittsburgh, with information easily accessible for everyone to see. On the Naver app, you can easily see how to get to a location, with the app describing walking distance, which subway train to get on, how many stops, and when to transfer.

We ate lunch at the National Museum of Korea, courtesy of Dr. Yun, and then we explored a bunch of exhibits. I was incredibly impressed at the quality and craftsmanship of some porcelain items that were being displayed, as they were functional while still being so beautiful.

Our last activity together was a K-Pop Dance Class, led by someone that has also worked with BTS and Blackpink. I did the best that I could to follow along and imitate the instructor’s movements, but I do not think I will get invited to join a South Korean boy band anytime soon.

Then, during our free time, I went through the Daiso department store. The store had a small surface area for each floor, but it reached up twelve stories. To save space on the ground the store needed to be stretched vertically, although it was organized effectively so I knew where everything was.

Lastly, I went through the Myeong-dong market and had so much good food to eat, including chicken-on-a-stick, an egg cake, pork dumplings, and another hotteok. I was surprised that there were so many people out, but today was Children’s Day, a large holiday in South Korea. South Korea celebrates multiple different holidays than the United States, and I am lucky that I was able to see this aspect of their culture today.