I never knew I liked water so much. Yesterday, since once we got back I was too tired to write a blog, we first visited Seoul City Hall and then went to a water purification center. At the city hall, we met Mr. Kim, our tour guide, and went through the new and old halls. To start, the new one was extremely eco-friendly and smart, as it had a vertical garden for controlling humidity, escalators that sense when people are trying to go up or down, and all the power created by solar. On top of this, we went through its history in Seoul and even went downstairs, where there was a gallery that was celebrating Seoul and its accomplishments. Then, we moved on to the old city hall, where we had the chance to sit in the old mayor’s office! Finally, once it was over, there was a gift shop where a lot of people got Hetchi and Soul Friends merch, and everyone got a free balloon with every purchase.
After the Seoul City Hall, we had lunch, then went to Arisu for our first company visit of the trip. For lunch, we actually got Vietnamese food for about $7, which was amazing. For the company, Arisu is a government-owned water purification company, so no pictures were allowed inside. We were toured throughout the facility, seeing all the parts of purification (which there are like 12 steps, it is insane) and overlooking the whole factory. Afterwards, we went to the small museums outside that had facts about water and how Seoul did it before Arisu. Finally, we went inside the old 1908 water purification plant, where there was just sand and gravel that did everything. What I find most surprising is that Arisu still uses sand and gravel as a pre-treatment filter. I guess some things don’t change since the 1900s, and nature is the best way to solve certain problems.
Finally, we finally had our welcome dinner. Pitt reserved a Korean BBQ restaurant for all of us, and I was in heaven. The saddest part was that my stomach wasn’t infinite, and I got full. We did the traditional way of eating it with lettuce wraps, but also had many side dishes before the pork. My favorite was this noodle dish that had seaweed in it and tasted like Pad Thai. After that, my friends and I went out to Hongdae as we heard it was a popular neighborhood in Seoul, and then came back to fall asleep. The most impressive part was our ability to navigate the subways so well, and only getting a little lost because we put the wrong Ibis Styles Hotel in. And that’s all! Today we have archery and Samsung, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it either tonight or tomorrow morning my time!
