Starting Summer with some Travel!

So far this summer, I have had the opportunity to do some travel abroad and nearby.  I spent the first two weeks of summer in South Korea with the Viterbi iPodia program.  This experience was really amazing; part of the class was getting to know students from China, Korea, Israel, and Germany, and it was awesome working with these students all semester and then finally getting to meet them!  My team had students from PKU in Beijing and KAIST in Daejon.  We also got to explore a lot of the Korean culture.  Naturally there was a ton of Korean BBQ, but we also got to learn how to make the traditional meal of bibimbop.  We also spent a day at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea which was particularly interesting- we were only 600 ft. from the border! One of my favorite parts was spending the night in a Buddhist temple.  Even though we had to get up at 4:30 am to do 108 bows to Buddha, it was a really immersive experience to learn about the culture.  It was such an amazing trip!

Once I got back to the states, I had an adventure a little closer to home.  I spent a weekend in the mountains and got to experience the beautiful scenery that the California Sierras have to offer.  It’s amazing the different types of scenery you can find in California, and that you can be at the beach in the morning and drive just a few short hours to the beautiful mountains.   It was great to have a peaceful weekend watching stars and going on hikes.

I have a few more short trips to the mountains planned for the summer, and I’m also very excited about my internship at a nanotechnology company in Orange County, which I started a few weeks ago and will definitely blog about soon!