LAST DAY!

Hey Everyone!    

   Today, being our final day in Ulsan, we got to do some pretty cool things! We started out our day by heading back to Busan to visit the dragon palace temple, which is called Hae Dong Yong Gung Sa. The direct translation is East Sea Dragon Palace Temple. It is a very cool temple that is bulit into the side of a mountain. 

The gate to the Dragon Temple

A view of the temple as we walked up to it. That is the East Sea on the left

One of the many dragons that were around the temple. 

     Then we walked from there to an aquarium/fish museum. It highlighted old fishing techniques as well as housed a lot of the native fish. Towards the end of the aquarium, there was a tank full of doctor fish that we were able to put our fingers in. These Doctor Fish came and nibbled at our fingers. They eat the dead skin off of them, basically its a really weird feeling exfoliating thing. 

A picture of the Doctor Fish. Sorry for the poor quality, it came from a phone. 

     The next item for the day was lunch, which was not too exciting. Afterwards we headed back towards Ulsan, but stopped before we got there to visit a pottery village. This village specializes in Ong-gi pottery. Which is making these very large urns that were used for a variety of things, including taking baths, or storing food for long periods of time. While we were in this village, we also got to make our own Ong-gi, or at least make something that looked kinda close, or not. We just got to have some fun making some pottery.

Mackenzie molding her clay.

     We got back to the dorms and prepared for our presentation we were giving to the head of the NAOE department, along with one of the other professors. It went a lot better than we expected it to, and Professor Ahn said it was the best presentations he has seen in all his years with this program. So that was really exciting to hear. They then treated us to a really nice farewell dinner, which was really nice, but also bittersweet, because it means we are going to have to say goodbye to our new friends. 

     It is going to be tough tomorrow to be saying goodbye to our friends that we have spent every waking moment with for the past three weeks. They have been fantastic hosts to us and have provided us with so many good memories that will never be forgotten! 

     I also want to thank you guys for reading this and keeping up with it! I had a great time writing this and I hope it was just as fun to read! Until our next adventure!

- Jake

Winding Down

Hey everybody!

     I am so sorry that I didn't put up a post yesterday. I just wasn't able to sit down and make it happen. So I guess I will start out this post with yesterday.

     We got to sleep in a little bit, which was nice, and then we headed to the down towards the port to visit the whale museum. Ulsan used to be a very large whaling community, and this museum was dedicated to that. We saw some of the old whaling vessels which was interesting to see. Then we went to another building that had an aquarium that had dolphins! We got there a little before their feeding time, which included the dolphins doing some tricks and jumps. It was cool to watch them!

A view from the museum. In the background you can see a crane from HHI's offshore division

Here is one of the dolphins!

     After that we got some lunch and then headed to the beach. It being such a cloudy/rainy/cool day, the beach was pretty much empty. Which was good and bad; good that we had the beach more or less to ourselves, but bad because it was cloudy/rainy/cool. We still managed to have a pretty good time though!

Here is our group on the beach. It was really cloudy and windy!

     The evening finished with an awesome dinner of shabu shabu (I think thats how it's spelled. Thats how it sounds at least). This was the same place that we had dinner the very first night. It was nice to be going back there, but it was kind of sad to know that our trip is winding down.

     So today was pretty exciting, we were up early and then we got on the bus to take a three hour trip to KRISO, which is the Korean Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering. It is a large facility that is dedicated to creating engineering solutions to better shipbuilding across the world. They have some pretty cool things that we got to visit: a tow tank, an offshore environmental basin, a couple of cavitation tunnels, a bridge simulator that is much bigger than the one Samsung has, and they have an ice tank. Many places have tow tanks, but not too many places have all of these facilities. It was a really neat place to see.

     We then made the three hour trip back to Ulsan, and then went out to a nice dinner! Now we are working on a final presentation that summarizes our three weeks. It's weird how fast this trip is winding down! We are all getting excited to be back stateside, but saying goodbye isn't going to be easy. Our final day is tomorrow, so look forward to one last post soon!

- Jake

Tours of SHI and DSME

     Today was an early start for us. We were up and out of the rooms by 730 this morning. We had to make a 2 hour trip further south to get to Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) so we could tour their shipyards. Both of the yards are on an island called Geo je. So we had to take a series of bridges and a tunnel to get over there. The bridge and tunnel system is a very impressive feat of engineering. We got to stop at a little rest area before which was also had an exhibit of the construction and the fundamental design features of the bridge.

A replica of one section of the bridge/ tunnel structure.

     The bus driver got a little lost on our way to SHI so we showed up about 20 minutes late to our tour. It started out in a large exhibition hall that highlighted the shipyard and all of the products SHI produces. It also contained a bridge simulator (not a bridge you drive on, but one you drive the ship from). It was so cool! I got to drive a little boat, around New York Harbor. It was such a realistic simulator that Sam was stumbling all over the room as the image on the screen rocked with the waves, and my turns. Then we got an abbreviated bus tour of the actual yard before we headed to lunch.

     Lunch. Lunch was..... smelly, weird, gross, unappetizing.... any number of negative descriptors could be used to describe lunch. Or maybe just a picture will suffice...

"What do you think of lunch?"

     After lunch we walked around a large exhibit of a US Army POW Camp. In during the Korean War, the island of Geo je was used to house POWs. It was a cool place and well put together, although it was quite humbling.

     Next on the schedule was DSME. It was a 10 minute bus trip from the POW camp. We got off the bus, saw a PR video, and then jumped on to another bus for yet another bus tour of a shipyard. We were on time for this one, so we got the full 30 minute tour of the yard. Which was pretty cool, and we were able to stop for a photo at the top of a hill.

A shot of the DSME yard.

    Tomorrow we are staying local, a trip to a museum, and then the beach I think. Be praying for good weather for us!

- Jake

Buddha and Chinese Delivery

     Today was our first weekday not at the shipyard. We started our morning off by meeting one of the naval architecture professors. He gave us a warm welcome and then an overview of the schedule for the rest of the week, which we are all excited about! 

     Following the meeting, we jumped on a bus and headed to Gyeongju. Gyeongju is the old Capitial of South Korea, which was neat to see. We started our tour of the area at a very large Buddhist temple. It was just as big, if not bigger, than the palace we saw in Seoul! This place had all sorts of buildings with different types of Buddhas, each representing something different. It was really neat to see all of the different buildings and gold castings of Buddah. There was a cool pond in the garden as well.

The entrance gate to the temple

Standing in front of the temple

Some of the absolutely amazing paintings on the ceilings. At this place, they don't do any restoration to the paint, everything that was there was original!

These are stacks of prayer rocks; each one represents a prayer that someone gave to Buddah. We learned it is unlucky to knock over a pile, so we were super careful walking around them.

Here is the pond in the garden.

     Next was lunch followed by a short bus trip to a museum. What the museum was for, I still don't know. We pulled up and turns out that it is closed on Mondays. The outer areas were still open, so we walked around for a couple of minutes, and then got into the bus again for a 2 minute ride over to the Kings grave yard. But this was not a normal grave yard. Each King has their own HUGE mound of dirt that they are buried under, and most times, with their families as well. The very last one we went in was on display. We didn't see any skeletons, but we did get to learn how the mounds were constructed and what sorts of things accompanied a King in burial, such as different kinds of jewelry and other things. 

One of the mounds/hills that is actually a large tomb!

     An hour long bus ride home and then we took a little rest before dinner. Dinner tonight was interesting. Since we had spent so much of today walking around outside, we decided to get some Chinese/ Korean fusion delivery food. It was really good, and we got a lot of it. The weirdest thing was how it came to us. In this large silver box, which had all of this heavy duty plastic dish ware. We (the Americans) were really confused as to how delivery food didn't come with disposable things to eat off of. Turns out, when you are done with the meal, you load the silver box up with all of the dishes and any uneaten food, and then leave it outside for the delivery guy to come and pick it up later. Weird.... 

Dinner!

The large metal case that it came in. (and sorry for the poor quality, Iphone pictures at night....) 

     Tomorrow is a early morning for us as we are heading 2.5 hours south to the Samsung and Daewoo shipyards for more tours. It will be really interesting to compare these two yards to HHI! 

- Jake

Oh and here is a bonus picture from friday of us with the CTO of HHI right after he treated us to lunch!

A Weekend in Seoul!

     We spent the past weekend in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. And when I say "We", I mean just the American students. The Korean students have been to Seoul before and we figured after two weeks in Korea, we could handle it. Which we did! It was an absolutely great time! We did so much in such a short time! So I apologize in advance for a long post, but it was just such a great time, and there is so much to share!

      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.

Seoul Trip!

Hi everyone!! 

     Our time at HHI is coming to an end, as our last day at HHI is tomorrow and we are looking forward to all sorts of new cultural experiences in the coming week! To start off our cultural week, we are going to take a trip up to Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. 

     I'm hoping the past two weeks of training is going to pay off as we are making this trip without our wonderful University of Ulsan counterparts who have been helping us navigate Ulsan. Being a bigger city, Seoul should have some more english speaking people and places to go to, so we aren't too worried about functioning while we are there. I think the plan as of now is to see some of the large historic palaces and gardens along with visiting some museums! 

     I do not know how much wifi will be there, or if I will be able to post to the blog while we are there. So if you don't see a new post over the weekend, that is why. Be looking out for a long post about our travels after the weekend!

- Jake 

Another Rainy Day Full of Presentations!

Hi everyone!

     This is going to be a short post because today was another really boring day full of presentations. All from different departments, some were more interesting than others, but they were all informative. 

     One of the best stories from today was from breakfast! Even after almost two weeks of being here, not being able to read Korean is still an issue.... After putting away our breakfast plates, Sam went to get some hand sanitizer, but.... turns out is was simple syrup!! HAHA! The nice Korean lady stopped her before she was able to rub it into her hands. That would have been even worse!That was such a great way to start our day! 

     Dinner tonight was pretty good too! It was a Korean style beef barbecue which was absolutely delicious! 

     Tomorrow is our second to last day at HHI and I think the plan is to go to the offshore production facility, which should be very cool! 

- Jake

The awesome beef that we had for dinner!

Followed up by some raw beef, covered in raw egg, topped with asian pears!

And all washed down with Somek, a mix of Soju and Korean beer (called Mekchu). Its not the best tasting thing in the world. But when in Rome...