Wow. What an incredible experience I just underwent over the past two weeks visiting a jump-started foreign country full of unique cultural and technological attributes throughout society and life. Having had some time to process, it is time for me to share my personal thoughts on various aspects of South Korea and the trip that…

Today was certainly a long one. It began early in the morning, leaving the hotel around 7am to head back up the country to the Incheon International Airport near Seoul. With a few rest-stops, we made it to the airport and it really became clear that our time here was quickly over. After working our…

The final day. (Weeps are heard in the distance) I know, it seemed like we only just arrived. Today was unscheduled free-time until the final dinner and presentation, which we chose to spend wisely: beach day. We hopped in our taxis and made our way back to the ‘business casual beach’ (or Haeundae Beach if…

Today was our final day of scheduled activities, including a trip to the U.S. Consulate in Busan as well as Pusan National University. At the consulate, we met a U.S. diplomat who provided insightful background on present-day Korean politics from the U.S. Governemnt’s perspective and shared insight in U.S. goals in the near future to…

Today was another day of company visits, with today’s two being Trainor and Busan New Container Terminal (BNCT). The day began with Trainor, which is a European company that has expanded into South-East Asia, providing electrical safety training. With largely manpowered facilities involving electronics here in Korea such as Hyundai and Samsung, electrical safety training…

First up, we checked out of the hotel as today we traveled to our final destination: Busan. Busan is the 2nd largest city in South Korea, with over 3 million people and is located beautifully along the coast, home to numerous beaches and seaports. Before continuing with Busan, however, I must talk about what came…

This was another travel day, during which we headed closer to Busan by stopping in Ulsan, a coastal port city home to Hyundai Heavy Industries’ factories and dry-docks. Before Hyundai, we took a stop at Jinsang Marine Management. Jinsang works with various national shipping corporations providing goods such as spare-parts, crew food, and small consumer…

Our day in Gyeongju was filled with cultural and historical sites from start to finish. Up first, we visited the site of 30 Silla tombs (a historic dynasty of Korea). They are sometimes called the ‘Korean Pyramids’ as they are manmade, above-ground tombs for leaders and royalty similar to the Egyptian Pyramids. They look like…

With the main purpose of the day to travel to Gyeongju, it started out with not much to do. We drove for a few hours with some rest-stops in the middle before arriving at the hotel in Gyeongju. My eyes were immediately drawn to the large rollercoaster clearly visible across the lake next to the…

Today’s main event is visiting the DMZ between North and South Korea, also known as the “Most Dangerous Place on Earth.” The first immediate surprise was finding a small theme-park just outside the DMZ. I mostly expected the DMZ to be considered a very ominous and sad location, however, I quickly realized it is a…

Today’s company visit was to Naver, which is common reffered to as ‘Korean Google.’ Naver serves as the primary search engine for most Korean’s, and they invest heavily in various AI projects such as text recognition and translation, live-following cameras, and voice synthesis. The company tour was very interesting, as they showed us some of…

Today began with an early departure at 7:30am in order to wiggle through traffic to Samsung Biologics. The presentation and tour were filled with confidential information, but I was overall very impressed with the facility. After describing their strategies and purpose of investment it is no surprise they grew to be a large competitor within…

As a University Program, it only made sense that we would visit a University in time. Today we went to Hanyang University in Seoul, one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. The “Engine of Korea” is a globally acknowledged school, admired for the successful graduates it produces. It’s no surprise though, since we…

The first full day begins with brekfast — well more accurately at 1, 3, and 5am when I woke up in the night from jet lag. Downstairs in the hotel I get a plate of scrambeled eggs, toast, and dumplings. The scrambled eggs were a little difficult to eat with the chopsticks at first, but…

Day 0 begins around 3pm as we exit the plane in Incheon, and slowly regain control of our bones and muscles from the flight. We went through customs and a final security check and we were outside the terminal of the airport. I went to the currency exchange and became a 6 figure man carrying…

Our trip began back in Pittsburgh with a full group dinner at Korea Gardens where we were introduced to a few of the common Korean dishes. It’s a good thing we had that first dinner because I was clueless on what anything was or even how to eat them correctly. What I learned very quickly…

Hello! My name is Jefferson Boothe and I am glad that you have found your way to my blog following my incredible experiences to come in South Korea. But before we can get into the exciting details to come, it seems an introduction would be appropriate. I grew up in the Valley of the Sun…