Friday was the last day of our internship with HHI, which was full of pictures and goodbyes. The highlight of our final day, was our lunch. The CTO of HHI heard that it was our last day, and he wanted to take us out to lunch before we left. We had no idea what to expect, other than we were going to lunch with one of the most important people in HHI. Boy were were surprised when we walked in to what must have been a 5-star restaurant! It was so nice! It was a buffet so we were able to get all kinds of wonderfully tasting food! AND we were eating with the CTO! After lunch, the R&D Department was super generous and gave us all a parting gift, a beautiful handmade business card holder! We had such a great time at HHI! And to anyone at HHI who is reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH! It was a fantastic experience!
After we said our final goodbyes (or so we thought), we rushed back to the dorms, grabbed our bags and jumped on the 17:22 train to Seoul! Two short hours later and after a mind boggling movie in the theatre car, we arrived in the Capital. We pieced together our directions, with the signs that we were seeing (thankfully most were in English) and made our way to the hotel. Which was super nice! We unpacked and then went out for some dinner, Italian because we needed a little break from the rice, pork, and kimchi diet that we have had the past two weeks. That evening we stayed in to plan out all the spots we wanted to get to the next day.
Tired after a long day of work and traveling to Seoul
Heres a shot of our hotel!
Our Saturday started out fairly early, out the door by 8 and on our way to tour Seoul! Our first stop after breakfast was the Gwanghwamun Palace. The was the first palace ever built during the Joseon period. When we were first walking up, the changing of the guard was occurring. The guards were all dressed in traditional gowns and it was really impressive to see all of them moving as a unit, with the traditional band in the background. We finally walked inside, and we were blown away with the sheer size of land that this thing was on! Every time we turned a corner, or walked through another archway, there were more buildings! It was endless! I am so amazed at how far back all of this history goes... Back home we have buildings and places from hundreds of years ago, but here, its thousands of years old!
The Gate outside of the palace
Patterns on the Ceiling of one of the building
Pictures inside the palace!
Then we went to the Dongdaemon market, which was a huge flea market. Anything you could have ever wanted was there! This one was kinda cool because it followed a little stream up and down the road. We made some more purchases, and then it was time for lunch, so we headed to a mall to order our first Korean food on our own. Anxious, we figured it out and got ourselves some bi-bim-bop. It wasn't as good as the first time we had it, but it still hit the spot after shopping and walking around for a couple of miles.
The market! With one of the many mopeds that FLY around the markets! We are always turning our heads to watch them!
Our next stop was the Deoksugung Palace and City Hall. This palace was just like the other one, just a little bit smaller, because it was more in the heart of the city. The girls some good pictures with the Palace guards. Heading inside, we walked around and there was a cool little art museum in one of the buildings. The Korean artwork was fantastic! Then we went to look at city hall; there was a protest going on outside, so we didn't get to venture inside, but it was still neat to see city hall.
Pictures with the Palace guards
We headed back to the hotel to drop off our newly acquired Korean goods, and take a rest before we went to Itaewon. So after a break in the air conditioning, we started our trek to Itaewon, which is the international neighborhood, full of foreigners, shopping, and lots of restaurants! On our way to Itaewon, we saw an unexpected friend. In the middle of Seoul Station, Jiyong (who we call James), our boss from HHI ran into our group! It was such a pleasant surprise! And funny enough he was going out to Itaewon later that night too. So we made some plans to meet up with him later that night. We got to the shops and market and then went to get some dinner. We then went to Bermuda Triangle, which was a cool, beach/ Caribbean themed place. After which, we met up with James and one of his friends to go to a different place to hang out and recap the past two weeks. That was so cool to hang with them. After that we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.
Today was not too exciting. We slept in, got packed up and headed over to do yet some more shopping and touristy things. We went to the old Seoul train station, which was really neat! It has been turned into a really cool art museum. We grabbed some lunch and then got on our 14:15 train back to Ulsan! We survived Seoul all alone! So that is a summary of our weekend. Tomorrow we are meeting the President of the University of Ulsan and then touring some more of the city here.
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