Final Report

Ethical Issues in My Profession: While I was in China, I observed many differences in the way that businesses operated in a professional and ethical manner from what I am used to seeing in the United States. Safety issues in Chinese workforces are not as strict as they are in the United States. For example, one time when we were walking back to our hotel, and we passed by a construction zone. The workers did their job on the same sidewalk we were walking on; posing a great safety risk to us. Up until recently environmental issues were not seen as a big issue as evidenced by the large amount of smog we encountered while we were there. The government is now trying to change that because of the possible health effects. The employee issues such as wages, benefits, and working conditions are not talked about as much because unions are not as common in China as they are in the United States. All of these differences makes it an attractive location to start a business in because it would be easier to make money in a place without so many restrictions and regulations. This affects the United States because by comparing it to China, it is harder to make money in a country with more regulations on business.

Educational Breadth as Professional Development: In both engineering and business there is a need for students to have a broad education, so that they may be able to understand the impact of what they do in a global and societal context. It is important to understand how a product made in another country can affect that country’s economy and environment. There are many differences between Chinese culture and American culture, and if someone was to do any type of business in China, those differences would need to be known. That is why I believe it is important for students to expand their classroom experiences in learning about different cultures. A student may read about the differences that they may experience in a country such as China, but until they experience them first hand, they will not truly grasp the cultural difference. In a global economy such as ours, courses should be available to show these differences in cultures. I personally would love to study abroad again and learn more about the different cultures that are present around the world. It is hard to fit classes into the structured biomedical engineering program, but I would love to spend a more extended time abroad to truly immerse myself in another culture to develop my professional career.

Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as Professional Development: While we were at our company visits, we frequently asked our guides what they studied in school and what their official job at the company is. We received a wide variety of answers to these questions. Some majored in the fields they were currently working in, while some could not be more different. Regardless of what they started out as, they all talked about how they had to continue learning while on the job. As new technology has been invented and as the world has become a more global marketplace, continuous learning has become the norm. Workers have had to adjust to new environmental regulations enacted in the last decade, learn about new technologies developed by their company and how they work, and an economy that is suffering in the Western world. Learning new things while on the job has become necessary for all professionals, whether they be business or engineering. This is a skill that needs to be cultivated in students for them to be able to succeed in this economy and marketplace. Without being able to change and learn new skills as a career progresses, a worker takes the risk of falling behind the pack and failing to succeed.

The Social Environment of Professional Life: People in China seem to try to keep their social and professional lives separate. They possibly want to just live their lives when not on the clock. The Chinese people that we were able to speak with did not seem to know much about American politics outside of knowing who Obama is, but really I did not know much about their political system besides knowing that it was communist and possibly being able to think of the name of their president. Our instructor informed us that politics is not seen as a topic that is supposed to be talked about except in the presence of very close friends or family, so we avoided talking about their politics. I attempted to watch some Chinese news networks, but as someone who knows very little Chinese it was hard to follow. It seemed like they were talking about news topics similar to how our news stations report, but with a less editorial slant. One thing I figured out that they were talking about was the Western economy. The Chinese economy was left relatively unscathed by the recent economic hardships, but they still seemed interested in our economy. This is probably because it is important to know about the global economy from a professional viewpoint. Knowing how another country’s economy is doing will allow someone to know how to do business there more effectively.

Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams: Our group for the business plan and introductory project was comprised of 2 business students and 2 engineering students. As people with different backgrounds and abilities, it was  important to communicate effectively to be able to function in a group environment. For example, we had to include the S.W.O.T. analysis and P.E.S.T. factors that our company would take into consideration. As an engineering student, I had no idea what any of those letters stood for or what I was supposed to analyze or do with them. I am sure that the business students would not fully understand the physics or engineering applied in making the product work because they would not have as much experience with those areas. That is why it’s important for teams to have a multi-discplinary approach. By using everyone’s specialties and skills, the final product can be the best that it can possibly be. This is only possible to achieve by working together and communicating with each other in a way that everyone can understand. Much like understanding the differences in American and Chinese cultures, people working in a group must understand that everyone has different backgrounds and experiences that can contribute to the overall process of making a product.

The Trip

WordPress was recently blocked in China, so I couldn’t update my blog while I was there. The following are my journal updates I wrote while I was still there.

May 5^th-6^th

My journey to Beijing began on Saturday 10:55 AM in Pittsburgh. We flew from there to Toronto on the sketchiest airplane I have ever been on. It was a propeller airplane that had paint chipping off its sides, only held 40 people, and whose air conditioning shot out 80 degree air. Luckily it was only an hour-long flight, and it really didn’t end up being too bad once we were in the air.

Our next flight was 13 hours straight to Beijing. In contrast to our first airplane, this one was gigantic; holding hundreds of people. We each had our own video screen where we could watch 600 hours of movies (I personally chose Captain America), and the seats were comfortable for an airplane. Even with these nice amenities, it still is a 13 hour plane ride to China. I don’t need to go into great detail about the food, but you can rest assured knowing it was very disgusting. After a grueling flight, everyone just wanted to sleep. The only problem was that it was 4:00 PM on Sunday when we arrived, and if we went to bed then it would totally mess up our sleep schedule.

Marching onward, we checked into our hotel and then went to dinner. Dinner was served family style from large bowls of food on a lazy-Susan style spinner on our table. There were great heaps of many different types of food. There was kung-pow chicken, fish, beef, and all different kinds of vegetables all cooked in different ways in diverse kinds of broth. My favorite thing, though, was probably the root of a flower, which tasted exactly how you would think a root would taste, while simultaneously being delicious. After that came dessert, which consisted of three courses of fruit, fried yogurt, and dumplings; all of which was very good.

Monday May, 7^th

Today was our first full day in Beijing. The sun seems to rise much earlier here, coming up at around 5:00 AM. This meant that even though I had been awake for about 30 straight hours the day before, I woke up at 5:30, and was not able to fall back asleep. I don’t feel very tired though, and I think this is because of the major time difference. Instead of just a slight difference that would throw off my sleeping pattern, the large change seemed to destroy my circadian rhythm, strangely making it easier to adjust.

After breakfast, we had our first class in Beijing. It focused on ancient Chinese culture and history, looking mainly at the history of the different dynasties that were in charge of China. Being an engineering student, I found it very interesting because I have very little knowledge of Chinese history, and some of the things I learned in that class I would have never learned elsewhere.

Our first lunch in China

We then went to lunch at a mall located just around the corner from our hotel. The way the restaurant worked was that you picked from various ingredients, like meats and vegetables, and they cooked everything in one bowl and served it to you. We had chicken, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, and a lot of other things that I have never seen before, and it was delicious. They then brought us our desserts which were somewhat stranger. First was duck feet, which if I had to describe the taste, I would say it tasted exactly how you would picture feet to taste. The other dessert was a fried rice ball, which was very good, tasting like a banana with a crunchy shell.

In the afternoon we visited Tsinghua University, which is largely considered to be the best college in China, and one of the best technical universities in the world. The campus had both Western and Chinese influences, and was dotted with ponds and statues throughout the university. We visited their environmental building, which is one of the greenest buildings in the world. It has solar panels that adjust to find the optimal spot to achieve the greatest energy gains, and adjustable window panels that move to reflect the light to keep the building cool without having to use air conditioning during the summer months.

The green building showing the solar panels and the adjustable windows.

We then had our first dinner without assistance from one of our instructors. Our whole group of students went to a Korean barbeque that we found. The food was good, but the language barriers were very hard to break through. It seems to be easier to just act out what we want rather than trying to speak Chinese and confuse both the people we are speaking to and ourselves. Hopefully this gets easier after we gain more experience.

May 8, 2012

Today was our visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We experienced our first taste of Beijing traffic on our way there, and it was absolute chaos. People would pull out in front of other cars without any notice and that was the least egregious of the antics made by these drivers. Cars at intersections would be going in four different directions at an intersection at the same time, while pedestrians and bikers moved through them. Although there are traffic lights and rules, they don’t seem to be strictly enforced or are at least ignored by a large section of the population. We saw the result of these actions when we saw a downed pedestrian who had been struck by a car at an intersection. All of this lies in stark contrast with the laws in the United States that are strictly enforced and followed.

Just an example of the crazy traffic in Beijing.

Our actual visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City was really neat, although somewhat hot because of a lack of smog for the first time since we have arrived. It was amazing to see all the beautiful architecture enclosed in both places, and how all of it fit in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Forbidden City was especially incredible because of the amount of palaces that seemed to go on forever.

A statue in Tienanmen Square.

This shows how big the Forbidden City is. This is when we were already over half way through it.

Our lunch consisted of a hot broth being cooked over a flame, and being given many raw ingredients, such as beef, fish, vegetables, and shark lips to cook in the broth. It was tasteful and a nice way to cool down after the long walk through the city. After that we went shopping in some local markets where you were supposed to haggle the prices down. Unfortunately it’s pretty hard to argue about the prices of something when you don’t speak the same language, so I turned out to be rather terrible at it.

May 9, 2012

Our visit to the Beijing Zoo to visit the pandas and all the other animals there was today. The pandas looked adorable and cute like everybody thinks, but they also seemed really apathetic and sad. They didn’t seem to move much and all of the ones I saw just sulked in the corner of their respective cages.  The other animals seemed a little livelier and were more fun to watch. The rhesus monkeys we saw were jumping all over each their cages and swinging from the vines in impressive fashion. We saw two of them harshly fighting with each other, only to see them share their food with each other one minute later. We then went to see the American exhibits, and it was funny to see things like deer and raccoons treated as foreign animals when they are something that I see practically every day in my backyard.

Sad panda.

A monkey riding a horse.

For lunch we ate at a Japanese fast-food place. It wasn’t really what Americans picture as fast food. It took about ten minutes and the food was given in what we would typically consider good china. The food was slices of chicken and beef in rice with vegetables, so basically the rudimentary Chinese meal.

After that we went shopping at a large multistory mall-type place with hundreds of 5 square foot shops where you were meant to haggle the prices again. Most of the things there were clothes, and I needed to buy a pair of swim trunks because I forgot mine at home. I found a pair I liked and went to the old lady who ran the store and we went onto her calculator to try to negotiate the price. She wanted 60 RNB (a little less than $10). I tried to talk her down a little just for fun, but she was stalwart at 60 and my negotiating tactics failed, so I paid full price. It was still fun attempting to get a lower price in a different language though.

May 10, 2012

We had our second Chinese History and Culture class today. In this class, we learned about the history of China from the middle of the 19^th century up through modern day. It was interesting to see how the United States played a role in the creation of modern-day China, and how the Communist party came to power in the second half of the last century.  I have never had any type of Asian history class in high school or college, so it was remarkable how little I, as a Westerner, knew about the major milestones in their culture compared to Europe and the Americas.

We went to a McDonald’s for lunch today to see the differences between the Chinese and U.S. counterparts, and to get something we are used to having in our stomachs. There really wasn’t much of a difference between what you can get at the Chinese variety of McDonald’s, but it was a surreal experience to order something I have had many times before in a different language and a far different environment.

Our tour of Hyundai was supposed to take place afterwards, but due to a scheduling problem that had to get postponed. Instead, we went to a local Karaoke place. I didn’t think it was going to be much fun, but it turned out to be really awesome. Our rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion might go down in the record books as one of the greatest performances ever given. In a business type of perspective, it was advantageous to visit a Karaoke bar to see how it works because of the business meetings that frequently happen at those locations in a Chinese setting.

For dinner we went to the wealthier section of Beijing called Sanlitun. While we there we saw the largest Adidas store in the world created by David Beckham, a gigantic Apple store, and our instructor saw Zoe Kravitz while she was asking for directions in a hotel. We ate at a Vietnamese-Mexican restaurant that played American music in the middle of Beijing. The food there wasn’t great, but I’m only in China once, I might as well try the weird stuff.

May 11, 2012

Our visit to the Summer Palace was today. It was absolutely amazing to see the architecture and craftsmanship that went into every detail of that place. The palace was surrounding a man-made lake that was dug by hand, and it had to be quite a few miles across. That dirt was then used to create a large hill where a large section of the palace was built upon. Also in the palace was the longest corridor in the world that went for over an eighth of a mile, and every inch of it was hand painted with intricate drawings of stories from Chinese culture. It was astonishing to see just how large the Summer Palace was, and we only got to see what remained from burnings during wartime.

Part of the roof of the corridor. The entire thing is just as intricate as this is.

Part of the mountain created from the dirt left over from the man-made lake.

For lunch we went to another hot pot restaurant where you’re given a boiling pot of water with raw ingredients to cook. This time we were given a sort of peanut butter sort of sauce to mix with the food, and it was definitely a different experience to taste peanut butter on beef. Besides the usual beef, fish, and vegetables to cook, we also were given duck blood tofu. Eating it by itself, there was a clear-cut taste of blood when it was eaten. It’s not something that I would eat normally, but it is not every day that I get to try something that strange.

By the time we got back from lunch it was about 6:00 PM. Usually we plan out what we are going to do at night as a group, but tonight we didn’t have a plan. Without anyone telling anyone else anything, everyone simultaneously went straight to bed, and slept for the next 10 hours. It was nice to get a long sleep because we always seem to have some place to go or something to do while we are here, and it was nice to have a night off.

May 12, 2012

Our big visit to the Great Wall happened today. Its vastness really cannot be understated. If one thing has earned the title of “Great” in the world, that wall would definitely be it. We went all the way to the point where tourists were no longer allowed and all the way back. This consisted of steps that we literally had to climb to get up and 4-5 foot drops that they called stairs. When we finally got to the top of the part of the wall we were allowed on, it felt amazing. The only thing I can compare it to is when Rocky Balboa reaches the top of the staircase in Philadelphia. Going there and going back, we walked several miles, and it was absolutely exhausting. Strangely enough, on our way back to the beginning of the wall, we met a group of juniors from Duquesne University. It was really bizarre to see a group of people, not just from the same city, but from the same area within that city on the complete other side of the world. One nice thing was that once we got back to our entrance to the wall, we got to take a slide down to where our bus was located. It was a fantastic break from all the walking, and a nice way to end our trip to the Great Wall.

After that we went to a Westernized version of a Chinese buffet for lunch. For how wrong we are about Asian cuisine, they were actually pretty close to what we think of as a buffet in the United States. They had different types of pizza (including Chinese takes on them), Chinese noodles, chicken fingers, French fries, and combinations of both Western and Chinese dishes. It wasn’t the best food, but there was a lot of it and after our hike through the Great Wall, everyone just wanted to eat.

May 13, 2012

Our only full free day of the trip happened today, and we took full advantage of it. First, we went to the silk markets to buy some things for our friends and family back home, and to find some deals for ourselves. Although it’s named after silk, the place sells anything and everything. I bought a pair of Beats headphones for about $12, where they would have been about $70-80 in the United States. They are almost definitely knockoffs, but no one will actually be able to tell the difference. I also bought some new sneakers, clothes, and some gifts for my family.

After a quick lunch stop at a KFC, we stopped at the Temple of Heaven. This was a religious place of worship similar to Mecca for the Buddhists in China. The architecture there was similar to that of the Forbidden City, but it had a more religious feel.  There were many ceremonies being done there by the Chinese people that were supposed to improve your life, career or luck. I did a few of them including holding my hands out to a 500 year old tree and talking into a wall that echoes around in a circle.

At night, we went to the water park that is inside the Water Cube where the 2008 Olympics were held. We go again to tour the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube in a few days, but I could already tell how amazing and absolutely gigantic it was just from the small section I saw. The water park was held inside, and it held many different slides and pools. The best slide was one that was about a 50 foot straight drop that used your momentum to bring you back up and dropped you back down again. They did this by making you stand on a floor that would drop out from under you, and you would fall for a second without even touching the slide. It was absolutely terrifying and exhilarating, and it’s something I’m glad I tried even if I never want to do it again. The rest of the park was equally fun, and I’m glad we picked to go there on our day off.

May 14, 2012

Our third class was today, and this one focused on the Chinese economy over the last hundred years. Economics is definitely not my strongest subject, so it was interesting to learn something I know very little about. Basically, what I learned is that China’s economy is a superpower that might be able to surpass the United States’ economy, but it has done this by neglecting worker’s rights and environmental subjects to a large degree up until recently. The sustainability of the Chinese economy has been called into question, and the Chinese hope it will become officially sustainable soon, but it has yet to do so.

After the economics class, we went on our first official company tour by going to Tsinghua Solar. They are a company that creates solar tubes to heat water to be used in a water heater. They do this by putting water into a tube that is set in the sunlight. Then as the water warms up it becomes less dense and rises to a tank of water, while colder, denser water takes its place. The cold water than warms up, and the process repeats itself until the water in the tank becomes warm. Tsinghua is then industry leader in this field, and the solar tubes are used in the rural areas of China and in parts of Europe. There have been attempts to create electricity using this method, but the temperature that the water would have to be heated up to would be impossible to realistically achieve. Another possible application of this technology is running some of the pipes through the house to help warm it in an environmentally friendly way. It was an interesting technology to look at as an aspiring engineer, and one that could have great benefits with the need for greener technologies.

May 15, 2012

Today began with our trip to the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube which were where the 2008 Beijing Olympics were held. The Bird’s Nest was absolutely mesmerizing in its beautiful architecture. Each small piece coming together to make the whole “nest” and supporting the entire structure was really cool. We went inside the Bird’s Nest, and we rented Segways to ride around the same track that Usain Bolt won the gold and set the world record. At first I just wanted to walk the track, but they wouldn’t allow that. The Segways turned out to actually be pretty fun, and I don’t know whether it was my machine or my awesome driving skills, but mine was by far the fastest. I don’t know if the Olympic Committee is considering adding Segway races to the schedule, but if they do, I might be a contender. We didn’t get to go inside the Water Cube, but we had already been in there during the water park, and the rest is mostly just pools.

Bird’s Nest

Water Cube

We then headed to our next company visit which was at CapitalBio. They are a company that manufactures MicroArray technologies that allow for easier medical tests and allow testing of a person’s genome for specific traits. As a biomedical engineering student, this was an absolutely fascinating visit. It allowed me to see what a person with my degree might do in a normal day in China.

At night we went to a Kung Fu show on the other side of Beijing. When I heard “Kung Fu Show”, I thought it was going to more of a demonstration of Kung Fu. As it turned out, this was more of a Broadway performance of a Kung Fu story, but it was still definitely cool in its own way. The actors spoke in English so it was easy to follow, even if the story was just there to show some Kung Fu action. The coolest part was when the performers did backflips without using their hands, and only using their heads to rotate backwards. I have no idea how they did it without breaking their necks. It was a very entertaining experience, and one I’m glad I got to see while I was in Beijing.

May 16, 2012

Our visit to Hyundai ended up being canceled due to a retooling of their facilities, so to make up for that, we visited two companies this morning. First we visited Baijo beer distilling facilities. Although I don’t drink, it was interesting to see how the beer was made and all the machinery and manpower that went into making the beer. During the tour they offered us two samples of their beer, which I tried to not be rude. The first was 35 percent alcohol, which tasted like grass and burned a little on the way down. The second was 65 percent alcohol, and this stuff could peel paint off of a house. It smelled like pure alcohol, and I can’t describe the taste because it just tasted like burning. Although it didn’t suit my taste, I’m glad I was able to try it, and glad for the tour of their production line. Next, we visited a protection creator for buildings. They worked on very high-level buildings including 4 out of the top 7 casinos in the world. We took a tour of their facilities also. It was interesting to see how nice their production lines were because of the skill needed to work on the higher level projects.

We were treated by the local government to a free lunch at one of Baijo’s headquarters break rooms. It was again served family style from the lazy-Susan style device. This meal seemed to very vegetable based, with many dishes being cucumbers, seaweed, or pepper based. This food also seemed to have a little more of a kick to it compared to the earlier meals. I liked most of the food especially the dumplings, chilies, and pork wraps.

How a typical meal is served.

After the meal, we went on our visit to Fragrant Hill. The term “hill” is definitely a misnomer here because what we climbed was much closer to a mountain. It was about 2-3 miles at a very steep angle; sometimes seemingly straight up. Once we got to the top, it was totally worth it because of the lack of smog today. We could see for miles, and we looked upon the entire city of Beijing that is possible to see. The view was stunning, and made the climb absolutely worth it.

The view of Beijing from Fragrant Hill.

May 17, 2012

Our day started off with a visit to the Lenovo headquarters in Beijing. We got the main selling point tour through their facilities, but also got to ask specific questions about their business practices at the end.  They went through the history of the business from the beginning of computers to modern laptops and 3-D technology. Then we got to play around with their new gadgets and see their future products. The whole operation seemed very slick and modern, and everyone seemed to come out wanting to buy a new Lenovo laptop or tablet.

Lenovo-designed Olympic torch we got to hold.

We then went to lunch which was our big Peking duck experience. The duck was absolutely delicious, and the food that came with it was some of the best we’ve had since we’ve arrived. There were the obvious Peking duck slices along with duck bone soup, eggplant topped with beef, egg tofu, spicy chicken, and spinach dumplings all served on the turntable style device I’ve mentioned earlier. We ate the duck by putting inside a piece pita-like bread or cabbage and topping it with onions, cucumbers, garlic, sugar, and/or soy sauce. It tasted similar to barbeque, but in a very Asian fashion. Our instructor said at the end that this was the most expensive meal that we get while we’re here, and it was unquestionably worth it.

We then had our fourth class in the afternoon. This one focused on the politics of China from the beginnings of China up through the modern day. The long history of imperialism and feudalism for over 2000 years helps explain why immediate democracy may be out of reach and it may need to be a more gradual process.

May 18, 2012

Our last full day in China started off with our last lecture which focused on Chinese culture, specifically the different ethnicities and family issues. We talked about how marriages were arranged all the way up to the beginning of the 20^th century, and how women’s issues have progressed since then, but are still not at the point typical in a Western country. After that we talked about the different “nationalities” inside of China. There are 56 different ones, which is strange because most Westerners consider Chinese to be just one nationality, but it turns out there are man inside of China. There are 56 different ones, which is strange because most Westerners just consider the Chinese to be one nationality, but it turns out there are many differences in their culture.

Directly after class, our groups gave our presentation of a business plan to be implemented in China. Our plan consisted of government mandated air filters that would be placed on every new building in Beijing to purify the air from pollutants. Some of the flaws of this plan were pointed out, but it was a work in progress and an imaginary thing, so we didn’t really mind too much. Some of the other plans involved clean drinking water, easier transportation, and anti-corruption devices. Overall, I think the projects went pretty well, and it was a nice way to show what we had learned from our two week stay in Beijing.

Our farewell dinner then happened that night. It was sad to think that it was our last night in Beijing, but it was also a celebration of our trip and of everything that we learned while we were there. The food was great consisting of dumplings, chicken, beef, and spicy green beans. It was depressing to take pictures of with everyone knowing that these could be the last ones of the trip, but it was a nice way to wrap up the final day of our visit to China.

Individual Report

My international experience to date is:  The only international experience I have is going to Canada to see the Niagara Falls when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I have always wanted to travel and be able to see more of the world and how it works, but I have not had the opportunity to travel outside North America until now. Hopefully, this expedition will encourage me to acquire more international experience in the future.

I want to go to China because: I chose to go to China because of the uniqueness of their culture, and how different their society is than the one I am used to living in. I grew up in a small, rural town in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and I have never been able to experience something so completely different from the norm as I will be able to in Beijing. I think it will be a great experience that will allow me to see the world in a completely different way than I have before.

I think the main professional work differences I will experience will be: I think one of the main differences in professional work situations in China, will be how people conduct themselves during these situations. I think that, in China, workers who are respectful and loyal will be those that are most highly regarded in China, while in American culture a desire to succeed as an individual are the employees held in the highest esteem.

I think the main cultural differences I will experience will be: I believe that the majority of the cultural differences will deal with how interactions with the people of that culture. Their society tends to be more hierarchical than mine, where people of different classes do not typically interact. Another big cultural difference will be the increased pressure for the group collective over individualism. While in American culture individualism is seen as a source of pride, the Chinese see the group collective as more important.

I think the main political differences I will experience will be: I believe that the biggest political difference I will experience will be the differences in how the policies of Communism in China affect everyday life. China’s social policies tend to have a greater effect on what people do in their private lives, while the United States tends favor a less intrusive approach.

I think the students I meet in my country will be: I speculate that the students I meet in China will be very similar to students in the United States. I think that outside of cultural differences, most college-age students around the world are likely to act similarly to each other. I think most students in China will be interested in the same things that students in the U.S. are, and that they will be pretty easy to get to know.

I predict that I will be surprised to find: I think that I will be surprised at how similar China is to the United States in certain aspects. I think that due to globalization, the world is becoming a more unified culture. Seeing things like Coca-Cola signs or a McDonald’s will show that even though the cultures are different they still have places where they overlap.

I think the major differences in living conditions will be: I think that due to the great amount of people that live in Beijing, that housing will have to be somewhat cramped to fit everyone in the city. Also, tap water not being available for drinking will be something that I will have to get used to after living in the U.S.

Anything else: I am really excited to have this opportunity to go to Beijing, and see how their world differs from what I have grown accustomed to in the United States. I believe that it will be a very educational experience for me, and allow me to see the world differently than how I do now as I type this blog. Hopefully the trip will be a successful one, and I will learn much about China and the world.