As I said in my last blog, I was exhausted. So after exploring Pohang, I just didn’t have the energy to do a blog. But here we are now. Yesterday, we all went to POSTECH, a quite prestigious university in Pohang that focuses on research. Starting next fall, Pitt students will actually have the chance to study here. Also, one of POSTECH’s students will be at Pitt next fall as well. During the campus visit, we were presented with what they do, and then went to their labs to see some current projects made by graduate students. The coolest thing about all of this was quantum computing. Sadly, we didn’t have time to really study it, but somehow POSTECH owns at least three of these bad boys. Each of them are multi-million-dollar machines that take up a whole room too. It was like looking into a computer room in the 1975s where it was still in early development but massive at the same time. After all of this we visited PAL.

PAL, or Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, is like CERN, a particle accelerator. I actually got to see a particle accelerator in real life. Holy shit. Anyways, there wasn’t much to see as you can’t actually see particles moving like that, but that thing was using around 10 Giga Electron Volts with only .3 Amps of Current. If you ever took Physics 2, that’s just insane. Still can’t believe it, and it was so cool to learn about all the experiments it helps with. It even helped create the first treatment for COVID. And that was it for the day, now onto my favorite night of the trip so far.

Pohang, a city built on the coast of Korea, not only produces large amounts of steel but also has beautiful beaches and waterfront property. For this reason, a group of us decided to go to said coast. After getting a bag of spicy shrimp chips and being baited by a Chinese restaurant that said it had duck but DID NOT, we went to the beach. First, Rohit and I, as any college freshman would do, made an Among Us character in the sand. Because why not! Then, I tried to swim. You would think after four years of polar plunge, I would be ready for the May ocean water. I was not, that was almost colder, and I could only put my feet in. After failing to swim (very sad), our big group all split off, and it was just Rohit, Nick, and me walking the beach, how romantic. Along the beach, there was this stunning temple on a pier that we took many pictures of and chilled on for a while. Then, we found a boat dock! I proceeded to take pictures of every boat, as they were traditional fishing boats, and we found a cat looking for something. Then, we found another boat dock!! More pictures and reminiscing about being on a sailboat, Nick left with another group, and Rohit and I went up to the Space Walk. Made out of Posco Steel, the spacewalk is a really unique artwork that people can walk on daily as regular stairs, but with a stunning view. Sadly, they closed at 8pm, and it rained today, so we couldn’t go on the artwork, but we got some stunning pictures again. We ended the night by getting a Korean dessert that didn’t have a good English translation, which I can’t even describe either. All in all, this town really reminded me of what Erie is like, and I just felt calm the whole time. However, somehow, 500,000 people live here, and it looks smaller than Pittsburgh. Finally, we had to get on the bus to get back to the hotel, and when we did, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of being in a Formula 1 car. This bus driver was flying! I swear we almost flipped 5 times, we passed 20 stops, and Rohit and I felt sick once we got off. But I got another bag of spicy shrimp chips, and everything was ok again. Once finished with the whole bag, I passed out. Stay tuned for today’s blog later today about more POSTECH and Posco!