Being eligible for and choosing to join Plus 3 are among some of the best things that came to me since I became a student at Pitt. As a Political Science and Marketing student wishing to attend Law School one day, I knew I wanted to study abroad in a place with a political climate…

The title means: “Thank you, South Korea!” as Saturday was the last day we were to be on the Korean Peninsula. The alarm, as always, woke me up early as heck in the morning but the feeling of excitement for a new day of exploration and adventure was gone. It was the morning that I…

Friday was a great chill day. After all that craziness, we finally have a day of free time to relax and soak in the beautiful sun shining over the Busan beach of Haeundae. It was also our last real day in Korea, signaling that the end was coming. I woke up to an alarm of…

For Thursday, our first original company visit was canceled so we were scheduled to visit the U.S. Consulate General in Busan instead. I thought this was going to be a very interesting visit and I was right. I have been to a U.S. Consulate before—in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, so I kind of had…

This Wednesday was just another busy day for us in a busy city. We started our day with a company called Trainor—fairly boring. It was a very brief presentation and the best part about this company is that the candies they have for us in their front desk are pretty good. Besides that, not much…

There’s so much to talk about today I don’t even know if I’m gonna be able to fit it all into 300 words so I’ll just start right away. We first went to Hyundai Motor Industries. We went into sort of a showroom but more for business partners and engineers, not the general customer. We…

We started our week with another traveling day. We got up early and got on the bus headed to Ulsan. It turned out to be a very industrial metropolitan and there wasn’t really much going on in this city. We first visited a shipping firm called Jinsan Marine Management Corporation (JIMCO). The hosts were extremely…

Our Sunday was packed with activities and cultural visits since Gyeongju-si is an essential piece of history of the Republic of Korea. We were informed that construction one one side of the city is strictly regulated to preserve the historical architectures and looks of the Silla era, while the other half is allowed to grow…

Saturday started very early. We took off from Seoul to travel to the more secluded city of Gyeongju-si. We stopped at rest stops on the way. I noticed that rest stops in South Korea are very modern, clean, and the food is quite decent compared to what you would imagine is offered at a rest…

We departed early on Friday to go to my most anticipated site of visit in the Korean Peninsula: the Demilitarized Zone at the 38th parallel N. As the bus drove closer and closer to the region, we could almost feel the eerie atmosphere of an ongoing war zone: border patrol troops, guard towers, security cameras,…

Our day began at a tech firm native to the R.O.K. called Naver. It is a diversified tech company with numerous subsidiaries in South Korea, Japan, and other East Asian nations.  The presentation was particularly interesting. For me this is the coolest introduction to a company I have gotten to see since I got to…

Wednesday was not as great as Monday and Tuesday, but it was still very interesting. We visited several companies and tourist attractions. We started off our day with another long bus ride to a firm called Samsung Biologics. I was very impressed with the technology they have shown us. The VR goggles were also very…

The first day of this journey was among one of the longest (and best) days of my life.  I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, took a shower, and we headed off for the airport. I fell asleep almost immediately after getting on the plane to Dallas. The same would have happened for the…

Hi there! My name is Thomas Vo, I am an international student from Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. I was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh as a freshman for the Fall 2018 semester and am currently pursuing a double degree from the College of Business Administration and the Dietrich School of Arts…