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I learned a lot about pop-culture by going to language exchanges near KAIST. Santiago found some meetups and there we found a lot of Koreans who can speak or are interested in learning English. These meetups were amazing since I was able to ask questions about the Korean culture in English, as most of the attendees were Korean so I was able to ask a lot of questions about the language as well. After these meetups we would join some of the participants and go out for dinner, clubs, karaoke, etc. helping us experience the culture more. Also since there seem to be a lot of STEM students who don't go to KAIST I was able to get their experience and thoughts on Korean engineering students, professors and the field. Not only going out and experiencing the culture but also just living in Korea has taught me a lot about its self. The dorms that Santiago and I are staying at is off campus and secluded from the rest of the city. So it was urgent that we learn how to use the public transit system. The bus and train system both use a T-money card, which you can get at most convenience stores. You charge the card with money and can use it to quickly pay for your fare. Though they do take cash and the card it self cost around 5000 won, the extra convenience of not fumbling with cash (especially when you're on a time crunch) is well worth it. To get around google maps is unreliable and I have had to use Naver Maps instead. Everyone in Korea uses naver instead of google, and since they are based in Korea their maps are the best. Also I have found that many people prefer to use the app kakao talk over actual text or calling. Also since a lot of foreigners don't have phone numbers (Santiago doesn't) it is better to ask for their kakao ID instead. So if you decide to visit Korea I would recommend you download these two apps, Naver Maps and Kakao Talk.

We were able to finish the first revision of the DRC-HUBO manual. I am to talk with Youngbum on Monday about where to go next with it. In the mean time I have been learning about the Gazebo simulator. Since there are other students at the KAIST HUBO lab who have used this program before it is a great place to ask questions and find out how they use it with HUBO. I have found all of the tutorials on their site very interesting and helpful in introducing me to the various functionalities of gazebo. Especially their section on robotics has been very interesting as it directly involves what I need to learn about gazebo for my usage.

This was a photo of one of the times we went out together with some local Koreans and foreigners after a language exchange. It was really fun and I had learned a lot about Korea this night.

I learned that I am not as introverted as I had previously believed. I had always believed that talking to new people had terrified me. But having done it so many times over the past week I believe that I feel more comfortable doing it now.

I met Oscar, Younhi, Jin, Clara, Anna, Ethan, Tom, Jenny, Sophie, Chusin, and some others from the language exchange. Anna is the only non-Korean, they all gave me their 'American name'. This is a photo of Oscar (center) and Younhi (right), with myself on the (left).