We went to Seoul city hall today. Specifically, we went to TOPIS. TOPIS stands for Transport Operation & Information Service. It was the transportation systems in Seoul. I first, had to go to the gift shop for Hetchi merch that I had not yet gotten. Everyone else had Hetchi merch but me because I was sick when they went. I found a Hetchi neck pillow, which served very useful in my very long flight back.
We walk down so many flights of stairs and there was a big lock on the door when we arrived at the bottom. This was in case of a nuclear bomb. We walked further into TOPIS and sat at a round table with a big screen at the front. They had cameras everywhere that were so detailed. They could zoom in and see people’s faces. They used it to find missing people. This is unheard of in America. Americans care too much about privacy, but in all it is probably a useful system to help people.
At some point she revealed the glass across from us was tempered and it was now see through. There were so many screens with so much data. The screens could change to look at a variety of things. I felt like I was in the bat cave
We had this breaded thing with cheesy filling that our professor took us to. It is a Korean traditional snack he said. It was not the best thing I have tried in Korea, but it was not bad. After that We had shaved ice. My friends and I had already had shaved ice before, so it was nothing new. I was also super hungry for more than a snack and ice. My friends, however, wanted to go to Stussy… It is a very expensive store in Gangnam that sells Seoul merch that you can only get there. I did not want any, but I did not want to be alone. I had fun nonetheless.
After was the presentation. It was bittersweet knowing this trip was over. I am going to miss Korean food the most. Everything is so delicious. I wish they had Gimbap in Korea or Onigiri in the states because I will just miss it so much. I will miss hanging out with the friends I made every day. Hopefully I stay friends with them after this is all over.
The final part of the trip was a cooking class. We made, my favorite, Gimbap!! It was so much fun to make. I did better than I thought at rolling it. I was friends with so many people now. It was cool to see how all of these relationships grew over time. I ate the Gimbap and it was an amazing way to send off our last activity in Korea. I will miss you Korea, but it will not be the last time I am here.
