Throughout the study abroad trip to South Korea, I have made so many great memories and learned so much about so many different things. Going into the trip, I knew that our days would be full of activities, but I really did underestimate the number of things you can fit into two weeks in another country. Although it was completely hectic at times and so tiring, all of it was so worth it. Everything from our K-pop dance class to touring a steel mill each taught me something new and made me appreciate this trip differently.

Going from knowing the names of about 4 other people on the trip, my groupmates, to spending every waking hour with all of the amazing people that made up the Plus 3 South Korea trip was definitely a little bit of an adjustment to make, but the trip wouldn’t have been the same without them. Each day, as we would take either a coach bus or the subway to our activity location, I was made so aware of how lacking the public transportation in the US is. The public transportation in Korea was so nice and made it very easy for us to travel ( except maybe when it was rush hour and we had to squeeze 20 of us into an already full train car). It is something that I will always miss while travelling in the US, as we are pretty dependent on cars.

Something I found interesting while in Korea was our visit to TOPIS, where we learned about Seoul’s traffic management. In the part of TOPIS we were able to view, we could see the hundreds of cameras everywhere that cover all different parts of the city, recording data for the government to use to optimize public transportation and roads. While this is something that is ultimately very important and useful to the public, it brings up many different privacy concerns about the government being able to access so much information about the location of its citizens. Additionally, it was mentioned that a lot of this information is viewed by independent companies hired by the government, which means that private information is accessible to a lot of people. It is interesting to consider the ethical implications of this, especially as we are entering a new era of AI-based technology. Ensuring that private data stays private should be something that the government takes very seriously, so learning how Seoul handles that information taught me a lot about how to ethically deal with this situation. 

Educational breadth is also something that helps develop professionally. I believe that through this trip, I was able to develop professionally by expanding my viewpoints and knowledge. Before this trip, I understood that extracurricular activities and things other than class were important to developing engineering skills that would be used as a professional, but I feel as though I underestimated the impact that they can have on professional development. While on this trip, as a group, we were able to tour many different companies and learn more about them. Each of the companies we visited was different, all the way from a water purification facility to a Hyundai car factory. While these companies are not all necessarily involved in electrical engineering, which is my major, they were still all very fascinating to learn about. As a professional, a lot of the time, all different types of engineers will work together on projects, so having a basic understanding of a lot of different engineering fields will be helpful. 

Continuing lifelong learning was also something that I learned a lot about while studying abroad. To me, the definition of lifelong learning is never stopping the mission of always learning and developing your knowledge. Going to a different country and seeing firsthand the culture of Korea was an eye-opening experience, which helped me to realize that I don’t want this to be the last time I get to experience a new culture. One example that comes to mind about this was the temple stay that we did at the Golgusa temple. Before, I did not really know that much about Buddhism, and just spending one night there helped me to learn so much already. I gained a new level of respect for the religion after doing part of the 108 prostrations, where I listened to some of the guidelines that they follow in their lives. Without this experience, I never would have known that this is something that I find interesting or have a desire to learn more about. That, to me, is the importance of lifelong learning. It is opening up your eyes to perspectives you may have never even considered before, without experiencing something new first. Even though staying at a temple may not directly correlate with developing my engineering skills or career, it will allow me to keep my mind open to learning new things all the time. 

During the trip, I learned a lot about working with others in multi-disciplinary teams. While this is something that I could have learned anywhere else, I still appreciate the lessons it has taught me. Teams can include so many different types of people, so even when they are not your personal ideal teammate, it is still important to work together so you can produce the best possible outcome for whatever you are working on. This also ties into the social environment of professional life, where culture can have a big impact on the way things are perceived. Relationships with other people are one of the most important parts of functioning as a member of society, so it only makes sense that it is important to learn how to properly hold professional relationships. One thing that I noticed in Korea is that the interaction between people was very professional, and there is always a high level of respect for each other. This respect is what makes professional relationships possible, and it is something that I took note of while learning about Korean culture. In my future career, I will always look back on what I learned in Korea, because it has made such a big impact on my perspective.

To continue, some of the engineering issues that we discussed in class before leaving for the trip were surrounding smart systems. Then, while we were in Korea, we got to see these smart systems in action as they are integrated into the culture there. One cultural aspect that we had previously discussed in class was the effects of the Korean War on their culture. After the main conflict of the Korean War, Korea became a very poor country and had to build itself back up again. This led to a culture focused on hard work and creating a better life for you and your family. This was reflected in a lot of what I witnessed in Korea. While visiting Postech, we witnessed the hard work that students there put into studying and the extreme pressure that is placed on them to succeed. This leads to a lot of the smart systems we saw in Korea. The focus on palli-palli was something that led to the development of better smart systems to become more efficient and better. This led to companies like POSCO to take over in industries, not because they had a ton of resources, but because they innovated and made something new. We learned about this a lot when we went to visit POSCO and saw their museum, which had lots of information about the founding of POSCO.

It is really hard to sum up a trip as incredible as this in around 1,000ish words, as I could probably talk about it forever. But, in Korea, there has been so much I have learned about, and I will forever be grateful that I have had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks there. Learning about Korea, engineering, and growing friendships will be something that I carry with me for the rest of my life.