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One week at Hyundai + a cultural tour

Today marks the first week spent in Korea interning at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The experience has already proved invaluable as we really have an insiders look at how the best shipyard in the world operates. In America, research and development is rarely, if ever (I think) done at shipyards. It is something that a different division of a company does elsewhere, or in the case of the Navy, research is done in many different places around the country. At HHI, however, they are doing research and development in all areas of shipbuilding from painting to welding, ship hull design, propulsion and engines, vibration and noise control, propeller design, and structures, etc. In fact, we spent each day this week, 8am-5pm in their research facilities, attending lectures on what each department does and learning why their work is cutting edge. We witnessed tow tank tests in their state of the art facility (state of the art is a relative term. It was built in 1984 but is really new when compared to University of Michigan's tow tank which was built eighty years prior in 1904), observed structural steel tests for their massive Liquid Natural Gas carriers, and participated in a competition within our group to analytically determine the load on a cylinder standing vertically in the water in waves. We validated our calculations by performing a model test in their 2D wave tank. This is similar situation to the wave loading that a SPAR oil rig experiences at sea. It should also be noted that this week was entirely spent inside research labs and we have not even scratched the surface of the actual shipyard!

Each evening we have returned to our dorms, exercised in the gym (table tennis is huge here and the gym has four tables), and walked to the local restaurants and bars to experience the culture here. Bar-wise, there are specific Western style bars where pocket billiards are the centerpiece and whereas the local style establishments include food as a major piece of the nightlife. We went to a place last night where we sat on the floor at a table which had a coal pit in the middle and we fried pork and ate it on lettuce with a variety of sauces. Soju is the popular alcoholic drink here and traditionally you may only be served by another person and the respectful method of pouring is with two hands.

On Saturday, we visited several mountain temple sites in the ancient capital city of Gyeongju. The main temple was finished in 774 and was destroyed by Japanese invaders in 1593. It was rebuilt after extensive research following the Korean War. After, we drove up a huge mountain into the clouds to visit the Seokguram grotto which contains what is regarded as the best Asian Buddhist work. The stone carving of Buddha is massive and is recessed in the mountain and surrounded with carvings of different gods and guardians. It was an awe inspiring experience to visit a place so in touch with nature and rich in history.

Tonight Korea plays in the World Cup and we are going with the three Korean students, who are participating in this internship with us, to the HHI gymnasium to watch the game with many many other people. America does not play until 3 am here so we are all going to be sporting red shirts to cheer on Korea.

An-nyong-hi ka-se-yo! (Goodbye for now!)

안녕하세요 - Hello!

Flat maps of the earth are some of the most deceptive things we take for granted. If you were to ask me the fastest path to get from Chicago to Seoul, I would get out a trusty straightedge and draw you a line from one city to the other. Thus it was to my great surprise when stepping onto the plane when the lcd screen in front of my seat displayed out route passing in a large arc through the ARCTIC CIRCLE! No joke! Due to the curvature of the Earth, the fastest route passed into Canada, over Alaska and the Bearing Sea, into the Arctic Circle, and back down over eastern Russia, Japan, and finally to Seoul. Cool to think about when you are flying up there.

So after 14 hours of rough sleep, we all woke up in Korea. We had skeptical ideas of the food due to one dish served on the plane requiring an instruction manual and a toothpaste tube of red pepper paste to eat. But the first thing when we stepped off the plane was how much cheaper food was! Sushi and a drink for lunch was just over 3 bucks (3,500 won). This was observed after dealing with the ticket counter which was in itself a culture shock. Although I have traveled to Mexico and dealt with a language barrier, taking several years of Spanish helped immensely with communication. This was the first time I walked up to someone and had no hope of communicating in the local tongue. All the stuff I learned from my phrase book left my brain and speaking in English had little visible effect. Once we all had our tickets for the next plane, we prepared to reach our ultimate destination of Ulsan.

We deplaned by a big ramp onto the tarmac and the first thing that stood out was the scenery which was clearly the inspiration for traditional oriental landscape artwork. Misty green mountains, rice paddies, and gardens we abound in the elevated landscape whereas all the valleys were packed to the brim with apartment buildings, city sprawl, and industry. Driving through the city, gardens pop into view amongst the buildings and when someone in a straw hat is tending the land, it looks like 500 sq. ft. of a countryside farm dropped in the middle of a city. There really is a certain harmony between technological advances and the environment in Ulsan. Part of that stems from the fact that the city did not exist 50 years ago. It was a small fishing town until after the Korean War, when 'Asan' Chung Ju-yung formed Hyundai. And it was not until 1973 when Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) was formed and the town of Ulsan began to be fostered by the rapidly expanding shipyard (HHI). Now, everywhere in the city you can see evidence of the shipyard. From Hyundai hotel to the 25,000 people who are work at HHI, it is impossible to go anywhere and not see people wearing their work jacket or pants. They are worn with pride here because it really is an honor to work for the best shipyard in the world. Unlike American shipyards, the workers do not put stickers on their hard hats or personalize their outfits. HHI workers are proud to wear their work uniform even outside of work to show off that they work for Hyundai. It is truely a different world over here.

Be sure to take off your shoes before entering this blog.

First Post

Waiting for my flight back to Fort Lauderdale in the rural and quiet Mobile, Alabama airport, I had the unsettling feeling dawn on me that South Korea is truly a world away from where I was. I began to think of exactly how far I was going to be traversing over the Earth this coming Sunday but the notion of going to the opposite side of Planet Earth was a tough one for me to grasp. Even my research on the net produced measurements whose meaning were lost in their size. From my home base of Ann Arbor, Michigan, I would be flying just shy of 6,800 miles. By comparison, the distance from Ann Arbor to the center of the earth is 6,400 miles. Effectively, the pure distance our group was going to be traveling was a few hundred miles more than the width of the earth. The distance of our trip now had meaning and was toying with the scale of planets.

I next wanted to comprehend how far around the globe we were going to be, relative to Ann Arbor. Using the powerful picture analysis program called Paint, it looked like we were traveling a 1/3rd of the way around the globe. Time wise, that will put us 13 hours ahead of the Mitten. When Michiganders are enjoying a summer evening, we will be eating breakfast and getting ready for another day in the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard. How weird.

Tomorrow, the day before our group meets in Chicago, is going to be the big prep day for traveling abroad. I need to open a National City bank account, buy a digital camera, pay bills for the next month, buy a piece of luggage, set up Skype on my computer, buy an adapter for the Korean power outlets, and get a massage. Or I might just put it off until Saturday morning, and go to the beach instead.

Also, note to self: REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR PASSPORT!