For today’s agenda, we had two main activities planned: Oil Tank Park and the Water Purification Facility. We headed to the park first at 9:00 a.m., and it took about an hour to get there using public transportation. When we arrived, they explained that the oil tanks were originally built as a backup power source…
Tag: Ethan Bell
Day 10 (Baseball Game, DMZ)
Today was a lot of fun! At 9:30 a.m., we headed to our first destination: the DMZ. The DMZ is the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, where there is technically peace. It’s also a place where you can look at North Korea from a distance. Before we got there, though, we stopped for…
Day 9 (Camp Casey, Soyosan)
Today we went to the U.S. Army base in South Korea called Camp Casey. Camp Casey is the northernmost stationed base, so they are always on high alert due to its proximity to North Korea. When we first arrived, they made everyone get off the bus and check in with our passports to verify that…
Day 8 (Seoul Tower, Cooking Class)
Today, we started our journey later than usual—around 12:00 p.m.—with the class, so I went to get breakfast somewhere other than the hotel. The place we ended up going to was really cool and had a jungle/rustic vibe. I decided to get a plain bagel since I hadn’t had one in a while, and it…
Day 7 (Village, Buda Temple)
Today we started at 9:30 a.m. because many people on the trip were getting tired and sick, so they gave us more time to sleep. This extra rest was much needed, but I still felt tired from all the walking over the past few days. We took public transportation again to get to the village….
Day 6 (Yonsei University)
Today, we had an all-day tour scheduled at Yonsei University. Due to some conflicts, such as the weather, we had to postpone it by an hour. It was a long journey to get there because we didn’t have a private bus today, so we had to take public transportation. Our route included two transfers—both on…
Day 5 (Taekwondo, Seoul City Hall)
The day began early at 6:00 a.m. with a quick workout in the hotel gym, followed by breakfast at 7:30 a.m. After that, we had an hour or two to rest before heading to our first event of the day—taekwondo. Instead of using a private bus, we took public transportation, which added to the cultural…
Day 4 (Hyundai, Han River)
We started our day at 6:50 a.m., heading out for a company visit. On the bus ride there, we had a Korean breakfast with fruit, granola, yogurt, a sandwich, and mochi. The ride took about two hours to reach the Hyundai factory, where 2,000 cars are assembled every day. It takes about 20 hours to…
Day 3 (Fredit, TK Elevators)
On day three, we began with a bus ride to Fredit, a probiotic yogurt company known for producing healthy yogurts enjoyed by people in Korea and worldwide. With three main factories in Korea, we visited the largest one, which was an impressive facility showcasing the company’s advanced production techniques. The most fascinating part of the…
Day 2 (Fortress, Samsung, Myeondong)
The day started early due to some jet lag around 4:00 a.m., which was frustrating—especially because breakfast wasn’t until 7:30 a.m. When we got to breakfast, I was intrigued to see that it included chicken wings and other foods you wouldn’t normally see in America. After breakfast, we headed to Hwaseong Fortress, where we walked…
Day 1 (Royal Palace, Street Market)
Today we arrived in South Korea! The total travel time was estimated to be about 24 hours, including bus rides to and from the airports and two flights. We arrived in South Korea at 4 a.m. Although it was early, we hit the ground running. One of our first stops was a convenience store called…
Introduction
I am Ethan Bell, a mechanical engineer at the University of Pittsburgh. I would first love to introduce myself and what I am interested in, which includes my desire to protect the oceans and marine life. Using engineering to monitor rivers and ocean health, I am determined to find solutions that impact climate change, plastic…