I spent my final moments in Korea packing up my stuff and doing some last minute shopping. Some notable places I visited include Muji, a Japanese department store, and SW19, a small Korean fragrance brand. After buying a few things and spending all my remaining cash, I hurried back to the hotel to leave for the airport. Before our class left, we said our final goodbyes to the tour guides that worked with us the whole trip. Personally, I was a pretty sad, as I really took my time to get to know all the tour guides and workers that made our class trip enjoyable.

After arriving to the airport, I was nervous about the long flight back to the United States. However, the flight back home was not nearly as bad as the flight to Korea, since the returning flight ended up being three hours shorter. I also fell asleep mid flight, making my time in the air feel way shorter. I slept for about six hours, waking up with only one hour of flight remaining. Like my departure flight, the most annoying part of my travels was the layover. Although this was not as long of a wait, my flight got delayed, and all I wanted at the moment was to be at home. After being patient and sleeping through my next flight, I finally arrived home at 11:30 PM.

Now, I want to quickly reflect on how great of a trip this has been for me. This trip served as an opportunity to not only learn more about engineering and technology, but has also been an educational experience that taught me more about my own culture and heritage. I hope to visit Korea again soon with my family, as I think visiting would give them a similar cultural experience to mine. Overall, the time I’ve spent on this trip is something I will never forget, and is definitely one of my best college experiences so far.