I could not sleep Friday night into Saturday; not because I was excited for the full day of traveling that awaited us, but because I had started to become sick. All day Friday I was coughing but never thought anything of it until I woke up miserable on Saturday. I really felt miserable and could…

Our last full day in Korea had unfortunately arrived so quickly. With the full day free, naturally we went back to the beautiful beach we first went to when we arrived in Busan. The weather was perfect for a beach day. Haeundae beach was about a thirty minute taxi ride from the hotel. There are…

Thursday, our last day of official visits, finally came. Today’s agenda only consisted of the US Consulate in Busan and Pusan National University. The consulate felt more like a cultural visit; we learned about the history of Busan and its relation to the United States and also Japan. Many of us were curious about the…

Our Wednesday morning started off with a visit to Trainor, a safety certification company. This was another company that I didn’t think had much to do with smart systems, so I could not sense the engineering aspect of it. It was still a pleasant visit, and afterwards we were able to explore Korea’s largest shopping…

We started our day by heading to the Hyundai Motor Company plant in Ulsan, which is the location of the company’s largest plant, producing about 1.4 million cars a year. We were only allowed to take pictures in the showroom where they displayed all of their latest models. Sitting in those cars, I liked their…

We left our short stay in Gyeongju for an even shorter stay in Ulsan which is an industry heavy port city. It was not as magnificent as Seoul or as beautiful as Gyeongju, but it looked like it could be a neighborhood taken out of Seoul. Dr. Yun referred to it as the Cleveland of…

Gyeongju is separated into the old and new towns, each on one side of the river. The old town is full of traditional style buildings which must be kept under 5 stories tall, and people need permission from the government if they want to renovate their homes and such because when breaking ground, it is…

I was very sad to leave Seoul early Saturday morning for a 5 hour bus ride, but Gyeongju, a smaller city on the other side of the country, seemed promising. Gyeongju was the capital city of the ancient Silla kingdom. It is almost the opposite of Seoul; the buildings are not tall nor are they…

Friday was my most anticipated day: the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. As we made our way from Seoul to the border between the two Koreas, the buildings became less dense, and the land felt more spread out. Entering the zone, a South Korean soldier came on the bus to check out passports and count the…

Thursday’s visit to NAVER was one of our first looks into smart system technology. NAVER is essentially the Google of South Korea, offering web searching, news and entertainment, and also messaging services. We were given a presentation on their newest project, Clova, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to perform many things. For example, if given…

During Wednesday morning’s visit at Samsung biologics, I felt more in my element as the only bioengineer on this trip. Biologics are drugs produced by living organisms, and this company works on isolating and purifying those drugs for pharmaceutical use. This process that they go through of of growing the organisms, extracting the drug protein,…

Tuesday was our first university visit to Hanyang University. My first impression was how beautiful the campus was. The landscaping was amazing, and Oakland was nothing (sorry) compared to the scenery and view. The only similarity between the two campuses was the hilly terrain. The Hanyang campus was even more so with all very steep…

After the flying for 14 hours straight and navigating our way through the Incheon airport, we were finally able to breathe in Korean air. We met our Asian Institute host, YJ, and tour guides and got on the bus to take us to Seoul. Rob, one of our tour guides, lectured us on many interesting…

For most people, waking up at 2:30 AM for 17 hours of flight time would make them feel miserable, but for me, it was the opposite. Although all of us in Plus 3 Korea were excited to arrive in Seoul, many of us were not looking forward to the 14 hour flight to get there…

Hello! My name is Emily Molitoris, and I am very excited for my upcoming study abroad experience in South Korea. But first, I must finish up my first year at the University of Pittsburgh in the Swanson School of Engineering. I plan to major in bioengineering on the cellular track with at least a minor…