During today’s explorations, we were driven around in a coach bus. This form of transportation was convenient, as the locations we visited would have been long and costly rides on the subway.
The first place we visited was the Suwon Fortress. We explored multiple parts of the site, as the whole facility is huge. We first took part in an archery activity, where I failed to hit a target. Then, we walked around the fortress’s walls and saw how the walls were specially designed to protect against invasion. Small slits in the walls protected archers that would shoot at enemies and larger gaps allowed hot oil or other substances to be poured on attackers. On the other side of the fortress, we saw more of the king’s and queen’s quarters. I learned that King Jeongjo constructed the area in memory of his assassinated father in the late 1700s. Soon after the creation of the fortress, the Joseon dynasty in Korea started to deteriorate, as the nobles that took the power after King Jeongju died only had their own interests in mind.
After a brief “lunch,” where I had gelato and other snacks, we traveled to the Samsung Innovation Museum. I cannot express how fantastic that tour was, as we learned so much about the past of electricity, and how Samsung has innovated for the future. I made so many connections to the Physics 0175 class I took last semester, such as induction and Ampere’s Law, as we heard more about how electricity developed into the tool that we use today. Some of the future innovations include a phone camera that stays fixed on its target, even when shook, a TV turning up the volume when the environment gets loud, and a fridge that knows what food is inside and what food was removed.
Lastly, I traveled through the Namdaemun Market, looking for souvenirs, before eating at a food court under a collection of luxury stores. The food court in Seoul was much different than the ones in the United States, as the restaurants were arranged as stalls and there were far fewer tables. There was also a large supermarket nearby, which I explored, that housed some live octopus and mussels.
