Plus3 Korea gave me a greater overall understanding of engineering and technology not only at the professional level, but also at a global and multidisciplinary scale. Before going on this trip, I thought about engineering mostly through my experiences in my classes and from what I had heard professional engineers speak about. After visiting numerous…
Author: wvc4
The End
Today, I woke up and had my last hotel breakfast of the trip. Other than taking the time to pack everything up, because I hadn’t started till this morning, I really didn’t do much. Once I packed everything up, I went down to check that my suitcase was light enough, which it was by far…
Traffic, Final Presentations, and Cooking
Today, we went back to Seoul City Hall but instead of going on a tour through the building like last time we went to the basement, to what looked like a top secret government facility. After going through extremely thick doors because apparently this area also doubles as a bomb shelter, we watched a video…
Uninvited Visitors, Cars, and a Tower
Today, we began by leaving our hotel in Pohang and heading to Ulsan to visit HYUNDAI on the way to the KTX station. We quickly ate lunch in a coffee shop while waiting for our tour, where some weird guy posing as an employee kept following people in our group. We went through the tour…
Steel, Hot Furnaces, and More Steel
Today, we began with another visit back to POSTECH, where students gave us a campus tour. Even though we already saw the campus yesterday, we primarily focused on the higher level labs. It was fun to see it from a student closer to my age’s perspective, and I enjoyed talking to my guide. He spoke…
Back to School, Quantum Computers, and Particle Accelerators
Today, we went on a visit to the Pohang University of Science and Technology, also known as POSTECH. We first watched a presentation given by an Industrial Engineering professor who gave a presentation introducing us to POSTECH, and advertising the potential to study abroad with POSTECH’s partnership with Pitt. Afterwards, a graduate student who has…
Beef, Hilly Tombs, and Pohang
This morning we were told that a loud bell would wake us up for an optional meditation session with the monks. I told myself that if I woke up for the bell, I would go, and didn’t set an alarm. I never heard any loud bell, and neither did anyone in my room, so we…
Long Tunnels, North Korea, and Baseball
We began our day with a guided tour through the DMZ at the border between North Korea and South Korea. I’m already somewhat familiar with the history of this landmark, but it was fun to learn about it directly. Being able to see it in person made the history behind the DMZ feel more serious…
Arrows and Smart Fridges
Today, we began our day with archery and a visit to the Suwon Fortress. While our experience with archery was short because they only let us shoot ten arrows, I still had a great time. I have actually done archery before, but I remember being a lot better than I was today. Once we were…
City Hall, Water, and Barbecue
Today we started with a tour of Seoul City Hall. We were divided into two groups, each with two tour guides and were given a tour of the building. One of the most interesting parts of the city hall was its emphasis on sustsainability and green spaces. Right when we walked inside the building, there…
Day 3: Scavenger Hunt
Today we all woke up and met in the lobby, only to notice Dr. Yun wasn’t there and wasn’t ever going to show up. He instead texted all of us different clues and pictures trying to help us figure out where he was in the city. The first location ended up being the Jogyesa Temple….
Day 2: Finally in Seoul
Day 2 began immediately after landing in Korea with a bus ride from Incheon International Airport to our hotel in Seoul. So far, I have had little problems adjusting to the 13 hour time difference, much less than times I’ve traveled to Europe, which is very surprising. During our bus ride, we met our tour…
Day 1: From Finals Week to Endless Flights
Today, we officially began our journey to Korea. After a long week of finals, moving out, and making sure I was ready to experience an entirely new culture, it still doesn’t feel real. Having taken my Calc 3 final yesterday, it’s exciting to shift from final exams to about 25 hours of travel. I started…
Getting Ready for Plus3 Korea
Hello, my name is William Cramer, and I am a first year Electrical Engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering and Group D’s leader. I’m from the suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh. In high school, I was involved in varsity swimming and diving, Boy…