Our great southern migration

  The hospitality of the SNU group was fabulous. They met us all at the airport and carried our luggage.They played Kpop songs in the van rides.  They fed us insanely good food. The gold on this sushi is for good luck: Everywhere we went, they had welcome signs We had two young DVM interpreters that shared their skills and information all day every day! They even had a strong connection with Minnesota dating back to the 1950s! (No, I wasn't at MN then, thanks kids; however, I did share PhD advisors with some of their faculty).  But above all, they kept us company and showed us Seoul. Because international flights leave in the evening (to keep customers quiet and asleep), we had most of the last day open. Instead of sending us on our way, they offered to show us the old town (our choice of what to see). As you wander through the spaces, there are diamonds on the ground to show where to stand to get the best shots.  We wandered into small shops and learned more history...

  The Korean Hanwoo cows look like beef versions of Jerseys and taste SO GOOD. We got to eat Hanwoo beef several times. The cows cannot be exported so you are not likely to get to eat it unless you come to Korea. You should.  As part of our visit, we got to see the SNU Agricultural space. This herd was in that region. The farm is up in the mountains so the cows get a great view. They do get to see snow, as well! We went to lunch at a restaurant that was the site of some of the famous Korean dramas. These are containers to make soy sauce: This is one of the owners making us bibimpap (a korean rice bowl), supersized: I loved the truck stops on the way there (drive was about 3.5 hours). Major retail center! The bathroom monitor was a work of technological art We spent most of the day at the farm campus and hit major rush hour on the way back. The other team went to other areas and got to experience this fantastic marvel of shoe protection: They also got back in time to get close ...

I promised more on Korea so we will mostly leave the birds behind for this post as I have lots of pictures to share. The picture above is the first official night of our visit. I went as part of the COE (Council on Education) site team visit as part of the accreditation of Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Each college that is accredited by the AVMA and by the Dept of Education gets a similar review at least every 7 years. SNU is the only accredited college in Asia, not to mention in Korea. It is one of ten colleges in Korea and the accreditation status lets its students practice in the US/Canada after passing NAVLE and state boards vs taking other longer and more expensive paths to practice. It isn't used much in that regard but does give the college a special level of esteem.   Our team are the center group bookended by women. So two SNU folks on left side, then 7 of us, then three SNU folks on right. The SNU folks are the dean and associate deans. ...