Surviving the deadly Chamonix Climb: KUAC Ice Hunters Expedition (2024 Feb 18 ~ 24)

This is the English version of the original Korean version of the article in KUAC Naver Cafe. Intro I hadn't been back to Chamonix for climbing since the summer of 2022, a year and a half ago. It was quite a memorable trip in that I came to climb actual major faces and organized my …

2 Weeks in Germany Review

About Since March 1st, I've been living in Germany for 2 weeks now, and I wanted to post a little update on what it has been like. Deutsch Intensivkurs Photo of a Whiteboard redacted: Requested by the teacher! I am here for the intensive German course, and so I have been undergoing 30 hours (45 …

Korea Reviewed #1 – Giving Way for Ambulances & Individualism

Observation When you watch how ambulance gets yield of way in South Korea, you can notice that cars often don't make way for the ambulance (even when it's right behind them). Why is that? Here's an example of how ambulances are yielded of their way in South Korea: https://youtube.com/shorts/z3OB1v0yseM?feature=share You can notice that several things …

Overview of the South Korean Military Conscription (Regulations & Life in Military)

South Korean Military Conscription https://m.sedaily.com/NewsView/29S3NID61Y As an able-bodied man between the ages 18 - 28 born in South Korea, one is obligated to serve military service for a minimum of 18 months, up to 21 months (roughly). As I have scrambled across the world for the last 4 years, most of my friends have either …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Philadelphia (Oct 24)

Philly! I was confused between Philadelphia and Pennsylvania for a while, and so visiting this place sounded quite funny since one is the state and the counter part a city, anyways 😛 When I heard the word Philadelphia, I had only few things in my mind: Philadelphia Cheese Philadelphia Cheese Steak I think I have …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Washington DC (Oct 23)

Waking up late in New Orleans As I slept extremely late for the last night of the PX4 Developer Summit, I unfortunately missed an alarm and woke up extremely late (like 6:40AM, while plane was set to depart at 8 AM). So I took the most expensive uber ride ($40+ for 15 minutes) ever through …

2023 USA Trip Notes – New Orleans – PX4 Developer Summit! (Oct 20 – 22)

New Orleans, City of Jazz! The whole reason I planned out the 23 days trip to the US was the PX4 Developer Summit 2023, which was happening again (like 2022) at the Southern State of the US (last time was Austin, Texas). So I headed there right after Atlanta to meet familiar faces & even …

[Unfinished] Time is Subjective

Couch Potato We hear this term a lot, "couch potato". According to Wikipedia, it means: Couch-Potato (anhören?/i) (aus dem US-amerikanischen Slang) ist das Klischee einer Person, die einen Großteil ihrer Freizeit auf einem Sofa oder einem Sessel mit Fernsehen, Junkfood-Essen und Biertrinken verbringt. Der Begriff hat eine negative Konnotation. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couch-Potato Sorry for the German, as I am living in Zurich and this is the default Google Search result …

[Unfinished] Thoughts being back in Korea – September 2023

Everytime I come back to Korea I have an intense period of reverse culture shocks and adaptation period. And as always, just as I aimed to do so in Lessons back in Switzerland – Week 3 (July 7 – 13) series, I wanted to preserve that feeling in a post. It's part of moving between countries …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Atlanta (Oct 18 – 19)

Georgia Tech The only reason I visited Atlanta was to meet my friend from middle school, Paul. He has transferred to Georgia Tech University, so I was definitely interested in catching up, as we haven't met for 1.5 years! Right after arriving, he gave me a warning that it's a bit dangerous (firearm incidents + …

Retrospective on Korean Culture, after 2 years being an expat

Key Insights at Once After living on and off outside Korea for 2 years, I have formulated my perspective on the uniqueness of Korean Culture several times, and currently, I think it comes down to: Being less comfortable with strangers Being more chaotic, with fewer regulations among the people. More forgiving to exceptions. Social pressure …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Chicago (Oct 16 – 18)

Oh, Chicago! Chicago is an interesting city. I've only heard of it as a title "Chicago", the musical. So why did I visit here? For 3 reasons: To visit Andrew, founder of a drone consulting firm, who is super friendly and fun to hang out with Meet Gene, a middle school friend now studying in …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Omaha, Nebraska (Oct 13 – 16)

Reunion Korea, 2013 10 years is a long time, and that's how long I haven't met the host family since 2013 when they visited Korea. As I was waiting at the airport (and oh it is a small airport), I was wondering what it would be like to meet them again! And soon I spotted …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Falcon Heavy, Orlando, Florida (Oct 12 – 13)

SFO > Florida Flight I tried the Frontier Airlines for the first time (that my friend Hayato recommended not to take), as it had a pretty cheap flight at $160 for Florida. And the first stop was Las Vegas. Since I didn't get any seat assigned, I got the emergency seat (since it's the most …

2023 USA Trip Notes – San Francisco, Fremont, San Jose (Oct 7 – 11)

Las Vegas > San Jose Flight After having hard time deciding what to take for breakfast, as most things seemed over-priced & I was counting on having lunch with my friend & another senior member of my middle-school in San Jose, I boarded with an empty stomach. Honestly it wasn't so bad (Spirit Airlines), and …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Las Vegas (Oct 6 – 7)

The Vegas! These buildings are just absolutely outrageous. Since forever, "Las Vegas" was always my destination, just from the shear amount of media / stories about it (gambling, strip clubs, drugs, etc) that I heard since childhood. So I originally planned to go through Las Vegas (to visit Mojave desert & Death Valley), but actually …

2023 USA Trip Notes – Los Angeles (Oct 3 – 5)

It's LA! Santa Monica Beach Everyone knows LA, as it's a massive city with rich history of Film industry, Hollywood, and the luxurious lifestyle (and inequalities). For me, I chose LA for destination for 3 reasons: Falcon Heavy Psyche mission was delayed by a week (was supposed to be Oct 5, but now Oct 12) …