Day 3

We started the day bright and early with a continental breakfast at the Hamilton Hotel. It was very interesting because they had both Western and Traditional Korean breakfasts foods – meaning variety from French Toast to Caviar. After breakfast we went to the Korean folk Village. The Village was a display of traditional Korean Culture. There were ancient houses, temples and markets. In one part of the village they had ancient Korean torture devices. I do not know the exact name for them but in essence the person being tortured would be strapped to a board and hit repeatedly with a large stick. We practiced on Youssef, it took about six of us to one of him. After a bit of practice and a few sword fights, we moved on and saw the rest of the village.

From the village we went to the Samsung D’Light Center. Although our original plan to go to the R&D Center of Samsung did not work out, the D’Light Center was fun to see. At the center they exhibit new and upcoming electronic products of Samsung. One that seemed to impress the entire group was the video room they had set up. The monitor was tiny, unlike any I have seen in the US. I think they told us it was only 1.5 centimeters thick.

After Samsung, we went to the Lotte Department Store. The sheer size of Lotte is amazing. It is 13 stories with brands including Prada, Gucci, Ralph Lauren and some Korean brands that we do not see in the states. They had almost anything you could possibly dream of purchasing.

The final part of the day was the alumni dinner. We joined the Korean USU Alumni and enjoyed a delicious Korean buffet on the 36^th floor of the Lotte Hotel. The alumni were all very nice. They welcomed us very warmly and enjoyed mingling and networking with us. While we were eating we had a chance to visit more individually with USU alumni. At our table, Mr. Lee told us stories of his time at USU and shared experiences of his career in Korea. He was very interesting and loved talking to us. By the end of the banquet we had all become good friends. Mr. Lee gave us his card and told us to call him if we needed anything, he would be sincerely happy to help us in any way. It was a great banquet with good food and new friends.

-Nikel