Sadly, today is my full day in Korea. This trip has been one of my favorites of all time, and I travel quite a lot. We started off the travel by traveling back to the city hall. Surprisingly, we saw the mayor of Seoul outside being interviewed. We stayed for a bit watching the crowded but then traveled deep underground to learn about TOPIS (Transport Operation and Information Service) of Seoul. We sat down at some professional seats where they usually have serious meetings, and we watched a few videos and saw actual footage of CCTV cameras around the city.
We were shown so much data and graphs that are used to make transportation around Seoul faster and safer. We also learned that they have many autonomous vehicles and roads with cameras and sensors on them, sending constant data to TOPIS.
The picture above is of actual data and pictures used for their work. I was extremely surprised by how much TOPIS showed us and how we were even allowed to take pictures of their data. There are thousands of security cameras in Seoul, and when we were able to ask questions at the end of the presentation, a lot of the students pointed out privacy concerns. However, the presenter almost seemed confused, which would be very different from America.
After we left TOPIS, Dr Yun brought us to a market where we got us authentic Korean food. First, we had this honey pancake food, I forgot what it is called. And after we traveled and got Korean shaved ice. My group got strawberry and tiramisu-flavored shaved ice.
After, we finally had our final presentations, which is worth 20% of our grade for the class. My group did our presentation on Korean culture on smart systems at Hyundai. Our presentations were supposed to be 15 minutes long, but some groups went on for way longer, and so when our group started to present, we were rushed like crazy and didn’t get to say everything planned. Moreover, this is very great thanks to our professors and guides, and it was a little sad to not be saying goodbye even though we still had the rest of the day together.
After our final presentations, we had a little break, then we had a Korean cooking class where we made gimbap and noodles. I cooked alongside my friend Noah, and we had a fun time. One of the jobs I work is a cook for a restaurant, so cutting and cooking the meat was easy however I did mess up with egg flipping. Our final product was very good they and tasted great.
This trip was a dream come true, and I loved it so much. This is definitely one of my favorite trips of all time, and I am a little sad to be leaving for America. I am so thankful for the Pitt Plus3 Program for allowing me to go on this trip. I truly loved it.