Editor’s note: Students in the MRED Program are traveling around the world – literally! Seven graduate students had the opportunity to travel west as part of an immersive study abroad class in summer 2016. Here is the first post from Brendan Lee, one of the students on the journey.

Today was our first day of the trip, and we made the long haul flight to Seoul. The students were all on the same flight and enjoyed an extended layover in San Francisco. Most of the group took advantage of their time there and took a brief excursion to Fisherman’s Wharf. The flight from San Francisco to Seoul was lengthy at 12 hours, but the airplane was comfortable, and the time passed with relative ease. Once we arrived at the Incheon airport, we met up with Adjunct Professor Flyn Dawson, and took the bullet train to Central Seoul, and from there took the metro to meet Adjunct Professor Jim Hill at our hotel.

Once everyone got settled at the hotel, we met a few doors down at a local restaurant and enjoyed a great dinner. It was everyone’s first chance to get a little bit adventurous with the cuisine, and the group seemed to really like the food. At this point, most everyone was feeling the jetlag. A few students peeled off with Jim to take a quick walking tour of the hotel neighborhood, and the rest went back to their rooms to rest up for the next day of exploration.