3 words to describe today's experience

Insightful

Reflective

Encouraging

3 highlights of the day

      My first highlight of the day was visiting Busan Science High School for the first time, and meeting my buddy. The campus of Busan Science High School is very large, and I found out that they have an entire block dedicated to science laboratories, for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy and Earth Science. I was given a chance to visit the Biology and Physics laboratories, and I am excited to explore the observatory if I am given a chance. My buddy also told me about her school's curriculum. I have learnt that there are many people who work hard to achieve academic excellence, even studying until 11 pm at night every day. My take-away is that we have to keep learning and improving ourselves throughout our lives to stay ahead. 

     My second highlight would be the traditional costume wearing lesson (Choongryeolsa

 ), where we learnt the proper way to wear a traditional dress such as the hanbok. The teacher who taught us to wear the hanbok as well as carry out formal Korean traditional greetings voiced his concern that traditions were slowly disappearing in Korea as they became less popular and I feel that this applies to us as Singapore is a multi-cultural society. Thus we have to work hard to ensure the survival of these traditions. 

      My third highlight would be the 'Infinite Ball' game where we were given styrofoam and pins to create a structure that allows marbles to keep rolling for the longest period. The objective of the game was to allow us to think about ideas to achieve our goals, using as little resources as possible. It is heartwarming to see schools in countries teaching the importance of resource management, and I hope that this will help all of us build a more eco-friendly future. 

3 things I have learnt about South Korea

      One thing that I learnt is that the sun rises earlier and sets earlier when it is winter in South Korea. This is interesting as I can relate this with my knowledge from Geography class. I am also interested in how this will affect humans' biological clocks, especially that of foreigners who are not used to the change in timing. 

      Another thing I learnt about Korea is about her history. In the 15th century, Korea was invaded by Japan during a period known as the Sengoku Jidai. Korea was invaded by Japan again during World War 2. This has helped me to learn more about the relationship between Japan and Korea in the past. Since Busan is the closest point in Korea from Japan, Busan serves as an important strategic location, and I hope to find out more by doing research, as well as asking by my buddy about her understanding on these topics. 

      The last thing that I learnt is that the South Korean education system has many differences compared to Singapore's. One example is that South Koreans attend elementary school for 6 years. I wish to find out more about the reasons behind these arrangements in the system.

3 things I have learnt about myself

     I can speak with and interact with buddies better than before (compared to my earlier GCP trip to Beijing). I am also able to apply my skills that I picked up during the Singapore Amazing Machine Competition for making Rube Goldberg machines during the session in the imagination lab.

Lastly, I can apply my knowledge from Biotechnology classes for the Biology experiment today. 

3 things I didn't do as well in 

      I should have spent more time talking and asking my buddy questions so as to learn more about Busan and the lifestyle here, instead of keeping myself busy with taking notes. I realise that talking with a local student would prove more beneficial and I can learn more. 

     Another thing I didn't do as well in is my decision not to bring my LD to school today. I should have planned ahead and brought my LD along to do my reflections on the bus.   

     The last thing that i didn't do as well in is not able to keep up with the lesson during Biology. My group was unable to start on DNA extraction as we spent too much time on agarose gel electrophoresis. I will tell myself to improve my time management during lessons so that I can keep pace with others.

3 things I like forward to tomorrow

    Firstly, I am looking forward to the visit to the City Office of Education as I can observe and find out about the differences between South Korea's and Singapore's education system and how we can learn from each other. I am also excited about the visit to Samsung Renault motors as this is an opportunity to find out more about one of the world's leading brands in smartphone technology. 

Finally, I look forward to attending regular classes with my buddy tomorrow as I would like to observe the regular classes, and draw comparisons with the classes we have in SST.