Today was the dreaded 5 AM wake-up call. Fun fact: I got up at 6:50. My bad.
Basically, we were told that there would be drums over the bedroom intercoms to wake us up for the morning meditations, but after speaking with others, I guess that didn’t happen. That said, my entire room missed the morning meditations. Plus side, we set an alarm to wake up at 6:00 in case we missed the wake-up call for the (optional) morning meditations. Downside, Manav set the alarm for Monday. Today is Sunday. Suffice to say, that alarm did not go off. Fortunately, we only missed breakfast, and we were able to find the rest of the group at the top of the mountain, visiting the stone Buddha! It was such an impressive sculpture, and I’m glad our Sunmudo instructor told us about it yesterday. Ever since I heard about it, I’ve been on a mission to visit the statue, and I can confidently say that it was worth every moment of anticipation. From the view at the mountaintop to the actual stonework surrounding the Buddha, everything was just so picturesque.
After we made it back from the Buddha, we had our final Sunmudo training where we learned some new breathing techniques for meditation and accessing the first chakra. If nothing else, the session was extremely calming. I enjoyed the controlled breathing, and it provided a good break after a full week of late nights, early mornings, and packed itineraries.
With that last training, we said our goodbyes and set out for the town of Pohang where POSTECH and POSCO reside.
Speaking of POSTECH: wow. I chose to go to college because I love to learn, and I went to Pitt because I love science and the research that Pitt is famously at the forefront of. With that background, I could only describe POSTECH in one way, that being “awe-inspiring.”
POSTECH is home to state-of-the-art research labs, and as Korea’s first ever research university (founded 40 years ago), POSTECH proudly fulfils every expectation. We were guided through many of their research facilities and even shown some of the devices they are working on/with. The acoustics and waves lab was really entertaining as we were shown the university’s research related to improving existing electrically-activated light filters and planar speakers using glass. The researchers even gave us a demo of the speakers using Pitt’s pregame show played by the Pitt Band (H2P)! That wasn’t even the coolest part, though, as we were then taken to their quantum computing labs where they detailed some of their research in that field, including the quantum entanglement (linking) of individual qubits (quantum bits) between computers. Seeing the quantum computers in-person and seeing them cover the entire laboratory was unreal. I loved every moment of the experience, and there was so much more beyond just these two highlights.
Tomorrow we’re heading back to POSTECH on a guided tour with students and then ending the day with a tour of POSCO where I can experience a taste of Steel City overseas.