2 words:

1) Cultural
2) Eye-opening

2 Key Highlights:

1) Early in the morning, we had to bid farewell to our buddies of three days, where we had made many good memories and learnt many things from one another. It had been a fun experience and I really appreciate the efforts from both sides to make this a success. I look forward to meeting them again in January to explore and learn more.

2) We also went to the 2 UNESCO Heritage sites in Gyeongjoo,  Bulgaksa Temple and Seokgulam Grotto. Through the visit, I learnt many things about the Korean history and religious harmony in Korea, like the story of the carpenter. It was something that cannot be found in Singapore and I was fascinated by both places' history and Gyeongjoo.

2 Things I learnt in about Korea:

1) Gyeongjoo was once the capital of olden Korea and last time, the kings and royalties were buried there. Gyeongjoo is one of the places in Korea that has a lot of historical value and we can learn much about Korea's history there.

2) When we reached the Grotto and Temple, the guide told us about how the structure was made and it was actually mainly composed of granite. Though the Chinese used marble, the Koreans used granite and achieved the same result, which the 1, 500 years old structure is still sturdy and looks new.

2 Things I learnt about myself:

1) At first, I was not exactly fit and I had not really much stamina. Even after spending few weeks exercising, I thought that I was much fitter than before. However, during the trip at Seokgulam Grotto, I was already panting at the first few steps climbing up to the Grotto.

2) After these three day, even though I had a language barrier with my buddy, I could still communicate with her as best as we can and I really enjoyed her company and guidance during the project. I feel that I could cope under the pressure of having a language barrier and still make use of much of our experience in Busan Science High School.

2 Things I did not do that well:

1) During the farewell party, there was a sharing of projects between both schools. However, after the presentations, I did not really ask many questions on the project, which actually reflects my lack of critical thinking. Next time, I should think more on their presentation so I can actually check my level of understanding of the project and really learn from it.

2) I seldom eats fish as I do not really like fish. However, during lunch, the main course was fish. I was very hesistant in eating the fish so I did not really eat much. Looking back, I realise I should have try new food in Korea, which was an important part in learning about the Korean culture and really get as much as I can from this experience.

2 Things I am looking forward to tomorrow:

1) Tomorrow, we will be heading to the National Science Museum, which I hope would be an interesting experience getting to understand more about the Sciences. This can allow me to gain new knowledge and this knowledge would be extremely useful for our projects.

2) Last but not least, we would be leaving Korea for Singapore. Even though it was a very fruitful experience where we had made my good memories and learnt new knowledge, I look forward to going back to Singapore to share this new knowledge to my friends in SST. This can allow everyone to learn together, which is one of the main aims of GCP in SST.


C-E-C

Today, during the farewell party, there was a student who went through about robotics and humanoids. Using my prior knowledge in robotics obtained from my CCA, Robotics@APEX, I realise it was very similar to what we do during our CCA: Building robots. One thing that really extended my learning was that other than Singapore, there could be another country that really welcomes a diversity of religions. Even the Bulgaksa temple accepts people from other religions and have spaces for them to respect their religion. However, during the farewell party, a person was going through a project on the electromagnetism and the rotation. He was saying that he was just looking at a infinite spinning top and decided to do this project. This really challenge my thinking as I did not think that such a simple everyday thing could allow someone to think of such of an elaborate project and I feel every time we are thinking of a new project, maybe we could start with something simple instead of immediately thinking of complex ideas, which seldom works during the project.