Final Reflection:
Firstly, this trip has been a dream come true, and I enjoyed every part of it. I didn’t know when I could be going back to Asia again, and I never thought a trip would be as good as my previous vacation to Japan. As this was a study abroad made by Pitt, it was much more organized, and we had many necessary company tours, but I truly enjoyed the trips to Samsung, POSTECH, POSCO, Hyundai, and TOPIS. I loved going to and learning about these companies, and I would never have been able to go to them if I hadn’t been on a study abroad trip. These opportunities provided firsthand experiences that cannot be replicated through classroom lectures at Pitt.
Beyond the company visits, one of the most valuable aspects of the trip was simply experiencing daily life in South Korea. Before this trip, most of my knowledge about Korea came from online research, presentations we had in class, and a few videos. Actually, living in the country for a period gave me a completely different perspective. I was able to use the public transportation system, visit local restaurants, navigate unfamiliar areas, and experience how people live their everyday lives. These experiences helped me become more independent. Being in an unfamiliar environment forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and solve problems on my own or with a small group of people. Whether it was figuring out directions when all the map apps did not work at all, communicating despite language differences, or adjusting to cultural norms, every day provided a new learning opportunity. These experiences helped me grow personally as much as the company visits helped me grow professionally.
This study abroad was centered on smart systems, and we didn’t go into much detail about systems or specifics; however, most of Korea is run by smart systems. As we learned on the trip, it is much easier for small countries to be technologically developed, and Korea and the city of Seoul are mostly like this. You don’t realize it, but you see smart systems everywhere you go in Seoul. Out of all the companies we went to, TOPIS (Seoul Transport Operation & Information Service) was the company with the most smart systems. TOPIS is the “control tower” of all of Seoul’s public transport and road networks. TOPIS has thousands of cameras running all day, scanning vehicle license plates, speed, location, and all other kinds of personal information. They also have autonomous cars and buses driving throughout the city to measure congestion and speed times. Topis then takes all the data from their cameras and sensors and uses it to inflict fines and improve their road system and public transport. TOPIS had the most smart systems and was, in my opinion, the coolest company we visited.
As an engineer, along with making a good, sustainable product, you must also be wary of ethical issues in your work. All engineers in the fall semester had to take an English engineering writing course where we had to learn about ethical issues companies have done in the past and then write about a fictional ethical issue and how we would act in the future to address the dilemma. TOPIS, having all this data and information, is beneficial to the city of Seoul but also raises many ethical issues. There are cameras everywhere, including in residential neighborhoods and outside hotels and apartments where people live. Based on what we learned, there is almost no area where you are not being watched. This brings up many ethical issues, and as a young engineer, I don’t know exactly how to react to this. However, I believe Seoul understands ethical issues and does a great job of being open to its citizens. Most live road cameras can be viewed by anyone, and much data is shown online. Having data and surveillance also open to citizens lessens the ethical issues posed by TOPIS.
Moreover, on this trip, there was plenty of educational breadth. As an electrical engineer on a smart systems trip, there were many electrical engineering companies and experiences. Additionally, there were also many other experiences for other majors. Firstly, our first trip to Arisu was mainly in chemical engineering. Learning how to take river water and turn it into clean drinking water through many different chemical processes was not my field of study, but it was still very interesting to learn. Moreover, on our trip to the POSCO steel plant, we learned about steel making and how iron ore, coal, and other materials are made through blast furnaces, pressing, and cooling into thin sheets of metal. This POSCO trip was mainly material and mechanical engineering; however, I also still loved their company visit and the extra knowledge I gained. Learning was not only company-school-wise but also cultural. Our trip to the Buddhist temple I didn’t exactly love; however, it was a great learning experience about different religions. Seeing how Buddhists live and how they act and perform their spiritual/inner activities was worth learning.
The main reason I came on this trip was that it was a trip centered around smart systems. As an electrical engineer, I am very interested in learning how these systems work and how they are developed. I strongly believed that developing new or improving smart systems would be my dream job in the future. This trip to South Korea has solidified this thought in my mind. I loved this trip for the experiences, but also for all the smart system company visits. This trip, bolstered by education and my knowledge of engineering, taught me things I will never forget and will be useful in my future career. Moreover, our two-day visit to POSTECH made me think about studying abroad for a whole semester in Korea. If the classes are the same as Pitt’s and I can put it on my resume that I studied abroad, it is very plausible for me to go. I have connections with a few companies whose headquarters are in Korea, and if I did study abroad, I believe my chance to be hired for a job would be greatly increased.
During this study abroad, Group A worked together very well. I only knew Chris and Dominic were coming in before, and well, Chris couldn’t come on the trip, so I was only familiar with Dominic. We had a few problems like any work would have when they don’t know each other and they are in a different country; however, I believe we worked together well and had a great complete presentation by the end of the trip. I also made friendships and familiarized myself with many people from other groups. In this trip, I made countless new friends and people I will meet up with again during my classes and outside of the classroom.
More along with my teamwork in my group, I learned better how to function in multi-disciplinary teams. In my group, we had two electrical engineers, including me, one computer engineer, one mechanical engineer, and one SCI. In our presentation, specifically, since I was the only electrical engineer working on it, because Emily worked on the whole video, I wrote and presented the slides on smart systems in Hyundai factories and new lines of cars. Other people in our group work on parts that interest them more, and we split the work very evenly, based on what we liked most and were best at. Moreover, during our time at POSTECH on our first day, when we ate at the E-sports museum, we were placed with a student from POSTECH. I didn’t, and I don’t believe anyone else knew we were going to eat with a student from the university, but talking to someone else from a completely different background was so interesting. There was a major language barrier, but we had respect for each other and tried to always find ways to communicate with each other using some words we didn’t know. We were always placed with a different student from POSTECH on our second day at the college. This time, however, the student spoke almost perfect English. He was our guide around the college, showing us all the different buildings that are regularly used by students. During the tour, we had many great conversations learning how a student in Korea lives and what they like. My time at POSTECH was one of my favorite parts of our trip in Korea.
I am writing this final reflection weeks after we came back from South Korea, but I am still thinking about my trip every day and am still explaining what I did in Korea to family and friends. I will always remember this trip and my time studying abroad through Pitt. I am truly grateful to be selected for this program and to tour companies. I see things in person I never thought I would. I loved this trip and am so glad I was chosen for the Pitt Plus3 Study Abroad program.