14 hours is a long time to kill. I love Seoul, but I’m ready to go back home and sleep for the next four days.
We flew in at 7am, got to the Gyeongbokgung Palace at around 10:30, and toured the entire place WITH THE CUTEST LIL TOUR GUIDE! Her English name was Elena and she was a 13 year old volunteering her time to do free walking where she told us the history about each part of the castle as she showed us around. After touring the palace and taking (very few) touristy pics, we caught a cab to Myeongdong, where we coincidentally found Josh, Kirstin, Colette, and Richard. They all went to get samgyeopsal, while I walked around and got some street foooooood (cheese corn dog and hotteok!!!) and omiyage. It was so nice to walk around Myeongdong again and bask in the nostalgia from two years ago when I studied abroad in Korea. It was nice to reminisce when the mother and father actually kind of got along well enough to wanna go on a trip together with us. Josh and I went to the Lotte Outlets earlier than our planned time (even though I told him that outlet sucks LOL). I ended up walking around that neighborhood, buying some bread to take home, and just getting my steps and exercise in as much as I could. We caught the airport express train back, and it was just such a long day that I was getting upset with every little thing and was about to have a mental breakdown. Josh and Patrick calmed me down enough and convinced me to take a shower at the airport which helped cleared my mind and helped me feel better. We ate dinner afterwards (jjajamyeong!!!), before boarding our plane. It was a great, amazing, spectacular, fantastic, thrilling, life-changing three weeks, and as much as I loved (almost) every minute of it, I am excited to go home and focus on improving myself even further, trying to find what I really want in life, who I wanna be, and remembering all the amazing lessons, experiences, friends, and memories I've gained from this trip.
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Last day in Vietnam was spent packing in the morning, getting some quick Vietnamese food to munch on at the mall, meeting up with Kirk to hit up the markets, finally getting our che dau, sweating, talking, eating super spicy but delicious banh mi, drinking pretty underwhelming milk tea, and saying goodbye to my favorite roommate. We left for the airport at 9, caught a red eye to Seoul at midnight, and here we are, back in one of my favorite countries, for the next 14 hours until our next flight back to Hawaii.
^ That picture is from yesterday but I was too busy trynna pack fun into my day that I literally took -2 pictures The first-ever Shidler Global Leadership Summit was held today at the Reverie Saigon, where speakers from all over Asia and Hawaii came to talk about different topics, including culture, agriculture, and finances, gave speeches and participated in round table discussions. The event itself had many many many many MANY things that it could have improved on, but for a first ever event, I think it turned out alright.
The event was originally supposed to run from 8:30am to 5:30pm, but everyone be staying on Hawaiian and Vietnamese time, so of course we started late and the speakers went over their allotted times, and people took forever to come back from coffee breaks, so the times just kept getting pushed back further and further, until we finally finished the event at around 6:20. The only thing that kept me alive during the talks were the memes people made with the Vietnamese mint candies that had been provided at the table. I didn’t mind the long event as much as other people because the content that they were touching on was somewhat relevant to me, and I had good company on my table, but what did irk me was that our professor slipped out about an hour early without telling us, leaving us their stuck, bored and without a professor at a school-sponsored event. It made me feel a little betrayed that he didn’t even have the heart to tell us that he was leaving, no matter what excuse he had, because as students we respected the speakers and our professor enough to stay for the entire duration of the time, but by seeing that it didn’t seem like that respect was reciprocated. BUTTTTT despite the LONG day, it was finally over and we had our final dinner as a group at a terrible Japanese restaurant that was so bad I don’t even wanna spell it out because that means their SEO will just bump up b a little. But let’s just stick with the fact that it was terrible. It was all part of Julie’s master plan to surprise Angie for a surprise Bachelorette party at a bar called Racha Room. The surprise was a success, and we all had a great time (some more than others) with each other. I actually enjoyed a drink of my own, which helped me, the uptight, party-pooper, no-fun, debbie-downer, grandma girl have fun with my group for our last full night together. We got back to the hotel at around midnight, where my poor roommate got sick, and while our beautiful friend Patrick tried to help her, got sick too. This resulted in two of my best friends on the trip puking their guts out while I quietly sat on the hotel bed. We got an invitation for a Welcome Reception for the Shidler Global Leadership Summit that’ll be held tomorrow, literally two days ago. None of us were aware that this would be going on until so last minute, but I guess that pretty much sums up #AFS2019
The reception was held at The Sense – a really boujee apartment owned by Alpha King, which is one of the largest real estate companies in Vietnam, which just so happens to be owned by a VEMBA (Vietnam Executive MBA). The venue was amazing, and we got to network with a bunch of amazing people, not only from Hawaii and Vietnam, but also from Singapore and Korea. Sam and I spent most of our time at the reception with Kirk, a fellow bro in DSP, and Sam’s great grand big. I also ran into one of my favorite ABC leaders Alex and his friend Victoria, who’s dad is a Professor and Chairman of the ITM department in Shidler. This reception was NOT what I was expecting – There was music, alcohol, professional photographers and videographers, limbo?? Karaoke?!?!! You would never expect this kind of reception at a Shidler event in Hawaii, but I have heard that the VEMBA’s go all-out for any gathering, so I should have known it would be something along these lines. All in all, it was a really fun event that helped me wind-down after a long few days. It was nice to sit down and talk with a familiar person about familiar topics, instead of always having to put up a façade for company tours. !!!! LAST COMPANY VISIT OF AFS 2019!!!!!!!!!
We met at the lobby at 7:40am and picked up the Shidler Alumni who were going to be joining us on our company tour at their lobby. Tyson, Unyong, Russell Hata & his wife Val, and three other people that I didn’t know came along to our lecture/tour at Diversatek Healthcare and Fluid Power Controls, where we learned about these two different companies and how a seemingly small business could get big in Vietnam. We all wore surgery-looking outfits before going into Diversatek’s manufacturing facility to see how they make their medical equipment, to ensure that no dust or bacteria got in, and got to watch the manufacturing process at Fluid Power Controls. The two CEO’s, Jonathan and Milton, brought us to a golf resort near the factories for a lunch buffet, marking the first time we’re eating dinner in the past 3 days lol We thought the tour was going to end there, but they wanted to show us around the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park before heading back to the hotel. In all honesty, I was trying SO hard to listen to the presentation, but the past few days have been so tiring that I couldn't understand a word the guide was explaining. I did however become friends with Russell Hata’s wife, Val, who is an amazingly sweet person, so I guess this last surprise stop wasn’t all bad. It’s finally my day!! Each of us got a company to research about before the trip started, and I was lucky enough to get Williams-Sonoma, because of my (limited) background in the restaurant industry. The bus driver completely got us lost, so we were late to this tour – but Adrienne, the person who was in charge of speaking to us, was so sweet and chill. This was by far one of the most casual company tours we’ve been on so far, and it was cool because she brought in her coworkers that worked in different segments so that we could get as much advice from them as possible. They took us to their testing facility where we got to see all the measures they take to prevent any problems for the customers.
Wow okay this part of the day was very upsetting – We passed by a mall after our first tour, but we didn't stop for food then. We were told to get off the bus at a street vendor to buy lunch (which we’ve been advised countless times NOT to do) because they didn’t know how for it would take to get to the next destination – which happened to be a good 3 minute drive. So this counts the second day I didn’t eat lunch. BUT WOW WHAT MADE ME THE MOST UPSET WAS DURING THIS SECOND TOUR. It was an amazing tour, where Pungkook, the company in charge of manufacturing a myriad of big names, showed us around their factory. We got to see the research & development, warehousing, embroidering, and assembling processes. I know it was just miscommunication, but the professor assumed I touched the machines for embroidering the products (I don’t know how because I had both hands visibly AWAY from the machines at all times) and completely called me out in front of everyone. I was utterly shocked at how someone could just assume that I would do something so stupid as to touch a factory machine that’s a.) not mine b.) probably worth more than my whole life c.) punching a needle at 80km/min Aight okay but besides that the rest of the day was great - I went to Sam's relative's house for dinner where they full on made a FEAST to feed a whole village. It reminded me of my family gatherings too, except everyone here actually seemed to enjoy one another's company HAHA |