Part of living in a diverse world and getting to know people from many cultures, you have to travel to their country to understanding their way of life. In my personal opinion coming to China gave me a whole new perspective of Chinese people and their traditions.This trip has been an great experience!

Below are some of the great places I visited in Nanjing and Shanghai:

Some of the places I got to visit was the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Nanjing Road, the museum, beautiful lakes, and ferry rides across the Hungpu River.

The Nanjing nightlife is beautiful!!

In our free time, we would try to go out and explore the city of Nanjing.  Most of us if not all would go out in a group. We went to places like Catherine Park, the downtown area, various local restaurants and the international mall.

Not only was exploring a good way for us to see and try things we do not experience at home, but it was a great way for us to bond as a group.

This experience has been nothing short of amazing. I have learned so much, made some lifelong friendships, and memories I will never forget. I am sad to leave China and this experience behind, but I will always carry it with me. This program was incredible and helped me grow and develop as an individual. To everyone that made this program possible, I can’t even put into words how grateful I am to have had this amazing opportunity. This was my second time traveling to China and not my last time either! I felt a strong connection to this place when I first came here four years ago. I fell in love with the culture, the history, the sites, the food, and most importantly the people. Life is a learning experience and I took on this opportunity because I knew I would come back with a new mindset and a better understanding of this world.

After the program a few of us traveled to Shanghai for a few days! We got to see some amazing sites of this beautiful modern city. We took a 2 1/2 hour speed train ride! In the pictures below are photos of the 2nd tallest building in the world, the Shanghai Tower. I got to go to the observation deck. It was absolutely breathtaking.

  Shanghai skyline!

 Selfie!

I compared the experience of being in China for a second time like reading a book once and then reading it over again. When you read a book a second time, you get a better understanding of it and gain some insight of some things you might have missed or maybe didn’t understand before. The culture shock wasn’t as shocking for me as it was for students that were coming here for the first time. I learned more about the Chinese culture and the business aspect of it. I’m happy I got to learn so much about India as well. The Indian students taught me about their culture and told me so much about their lives.  Although we all come from different parts of the world, different cultures, different lives, we all created such a strong connection with one another. That was the most beautiful thing about this whole experience. Connecting and making friendships with people from all over the world.

 Last day of program! Cake on everyone’s face!

Picture with my awesome professors, Professor Mehta and Professor Crooker!

 My team! Team 1!

I would recommend this program to anyone who wants to see the world and what it has to offer.  I am confident that all students can benefit from this program. We learned about a business plan, innovation, and entrepreneurship in class, and we learned so much more from each other. I even learned a little bit about engineering from some of the Indian students! This opportunity allowed me to take a huge step out of my comfort zone and become completely immersed in a culture so rich. I don’t think I got homesick once! Thank you to all that made this program possible! See you later, China.

Traveling to a new country you have the opportunity to explore the unknown and discover what this new place means to you. For me this trip really opened my eyes even wider to world around us. When I think of China I immediately associate the word with; adventure, new friends and traditional mixed with modern lifestyles. This trip was very humbling and extraordinary at the same time!

We got a mere glimpse into the lives of the Chinese students and how they went about their daily lives. It is really interesting to see a city always on the move and still very close to their families. It was refreshing to see various families no matter how big or small walking around taking in the warm Nanjing air after dinner time. This demonstrated to me how family oriented their culture really is! I enjoyed taking apart in the evening activities just like everyone does, even if it was just a walk outside of the campus.  I want to thank everyone who helped all the new students and myself while going above and beyond in terms of hospitality. I have never met a group of students so welcoming, warm hearted and willing to stop what they were doing to help us if we needed it. I cannot talk highly enough about this adventure because that is exactly what it was. As we said on our last day of the program, this is not a goodbye but a see you later! China is on my list to revisit as I have much more to explore, learn about and catch up with my new friends! If anyone needs further encouragement to take part in this program; I say try it, you won’t regret it!

Five days flew by very quickly! We had our orientation for the program Sunday evening where we got to meet the Chinese and Indian students. Little did I know that I would make amazing friendships during this time. I was a little bummed I didn’t have any UML students on my team, but I was very happy when I met my team mates! I had Indian students Shreya and Sannath and Chinese students Leo and Hannah. We got to introduce ourselves and became good friends by the end of the program!

The days in class were long but flew by very quickly! It is crazy how much we all learned in just a few short weeks. I really enjoyed the group exercises we did. It is amazing what you can come up with when everyone puts their heads together to try to find a solution. It was great to see what all the other groups came up with! My favorite activity was constructing a durable ambulance out of small Lego blocks. Even though we had a short amount of time to do it, my team did a pretty good job!

One of my favorite things about this trip was going out at night in Nanjing. One night all the Indian students and UML students went out accompanied by the Chinese student volunteers. We just went to a mall, shopping, the market but it was so fun. It was a great way to see the city and get to know my classmates better. The volunteers did such a great job taking us around Nanjing and making sure we were safe. A few times we took Didi, which is the Chinese version of Uber and it made it so much easier to get around!

Nanjing at night!

We visited a temple in Nanjing and there was so many people! There were so many steps to get to the top, but the view was so worth it. One of the Chinese volunteers, Max became one of my good friends very quickly. One thing we had in common is we were always seen wearing a camera around our necks. I brought my camera to take as many pictures as I could in China, he had the school’s camera to take pictures of everything we did in class and outside class. I loved going on the tours because we got to see so many beautiful sites and learned a lot about China.

  View from top! So many stairs! Halfway up!

    Max the photographer!

First few days in China

May 30, 2018

I have been looking forward to this experience for months now! Finally, it’s time to get on this plane and fly to China! This flight will be long but will be so worth it! I am so excited to travel to China for the second time in my life. When I first traveled to China a few years ago, I came back with a completely new and different perspective of the world and how it works. I can honestly say I found a part of myself in China and cannot wait to return and learn more about this fascinating country.

I know some people might be hesitant about the long flight, but it really is such a small part of the trip. It’s not so bad either! And you get to fly over the top of the world which was pretty cool. I got some awesome pictures before we landed in Hong Kong early morning and when we took off in Hong Kong.

Culture Shock!

Although I have been to China before and knew exactly what I was in for, it was fun to see my fellow classmate’s reactions to the culture shock. The first time I came to China I was completely taken back by how different it is here than at home. I also forgot how many people there are in China and sometimes it can be overwhelming. The craziest thing is watching all of the people drive cars, mopeds, riding bikes during rush hour traffic. It looks chaotic but as I watched everyone driving I noticed something. There is this crazy, chaotic, but smooth rhythm in the way they drive. There is a lot of beeping, but not aggressive beeping like here at home. The drivers beep a lot to alert people that they are coming or if they are letting someone go. You can see right away how the massive population plays a huge part in the way the people here drive.

Another part of the culture shock has to be the food. When I think of Chinese food at home I think of crab ragoon, egg rolls, general tsaos chicken etc. Chinese food in China is completely different than what you would expect. Also, the Chinese food in China is different every where you go in the country; each city is known for their own specialty dish as well. One thing about the food that I appreciate is they don’t waste any part of the animal. Fish is brought to you some bones still in the meat and a lot of the soups have some parts of the animal that you usually wouldn’t eat in America. I tried a few things I normally wouldn’t eat and I still loved the experience! I enjoyed a majority of the food we had at the restaurants. The food is one of my favorite things about China and all the different flavors in the dishes. Last time I went to China I didn’t try any of the street food even though it smelt so good. I was a little nervous to try the street food but this time I did and it was delicious!

Exploring!

The first few days in China our UML group traveled to a few different places before the GE2 program started on June 4. This was a great way for students to experience China and the culture before we had to do some school work! We traveled to Changzhou and went YanCheng ChunQin Land. This was a beautiful scenic park that touched upon Chinese culture and history. We learned a lot about Confucianism Yin and Yang. There was a tree full of gold leaves and red ribbons and we got to write a wish on a ribbon and hang it on the tree!

We also traveled to Yangzhou where we saw some beautiful Chinese scenery!

Beautiful view from our hotel in Nanjing! I woke up to this every morning while I drank my coffee. 🙂

     As a student for about 10 years at school in Haiti and the USA, I have experienced how to do a research. I have done many. For me, I have always tried to find something that already exist, it could be an existing product or services and on what I can find many articles talking on. My only objectives is to produce a reflection paper. Two of them are included in my resume as an effort to come up with my own understanding based on previous existing realities. I don’t know if it is common to everyone, the road from theory to reality is hard.  How to make things happen?

I have always learn how to study and being a  test taker to have a good grade. But for now, with this Entrepreneurship and Innovation workshop made in China 2018, I have finally learned how to turn plan into execution. The execution passes by writing a business plan:

I was amazed either to hear from the CEO of Thanksgiving Tea in UPACK Incumbents about the chicken. We may not have our own Chicken, but we can borrow the chicken and produce eggs. This is exactly how to picth to VC. We have heard from a CEO of a start up, which is a temporary business repeatable and scalable.

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Writing a business plan is hard and fun!!!

China ceases to impress me. Below I included some of my favorite places I visited in China.

Below, was a temple we had visited in Nanjing. Climbing these steps was so tiring for a Sunday morning however, the view at the top was breath taking.

While in Shanghai, I visited the Shanghai Wild Animal Park. Never in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that I would be feeding a kangaroo, zebra and hippo all in one day. They were able to train the animals such as the elephants here to spin hula hoops on their trunks.

Here is the Zhouzhuang Water Town near Shanghai.

Below, you can find a picture I took from the Bund. This is a walkway that overlooks the Shanghai Skyline, which is absolutely breath taking. There are so many lights everywhere and they constantly change. The far left tower is the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV tower. This one would change colors every couple seconds. In the far right, hiding in the clouds was the Shanghai Tower which is also the second tallest building in the world.

The university of Nanjing China is the most tangible fact of project execution that I have ever seen. Talking about Entrepreneurship and innovation, I have seen in the realization of this project an act of coordination and accomplishment. This new building located in Jiangsu China will replace or complete the old building that serves actually as host for lecturer or class Activities.

The story of evolution of mobile phone has attracted me the most. The number of mobile subscribers in China had doubled each year from 1994 to 2001. By the end of 2002 China had 206.3 million mobile telecommunications subscribers (MPT, MII,
1994–2002), and had become one of the hottest spots for the international and
domestic telecom operators, equipment and phone manufacturers in 2018. The challenge will be enormous for the generation of student coming out from college to get into this developing markets.

As I come back home after my study abroad in China, everyone has asked, “What is your favorite thing about China?” After much contemplation, I realize that China is so unique because of its people.

There is this “hustle” mentality that sweeps the nation. During my time in China and speaking to the other students in the class, we quickly realized how the students hustle to get ahead. They are very competitive when it comes to school. One student told us how she took 16 classes in one semester. I could barely take 4 back at UMass Lowell. These students were so focused in succeeding. Another student told me how she takes exams outside of school for different languages and certifications. They don’t stop at all. They are always finding what is next. I truly admired by this mentality and it has inspired me to keep moving forward.

Additionally, the people were extremely hospitable whether it be the students we met in class or complete strangers. The other students we met in our classes would go out of their way to make sure we were all enjoying our experience. I was so lucky to have some amazing teammates that would take us out to see Nanjing. One of the most memorable moment was the day we went to go see the new campus at NJUPT. We had learned about how China has a shared bike business and I had mentioned to my teammates that I never truly learned how to ride a bike. I could pedal but had trouble driving straight on my own. My teammate, Mickey, was determined to teach me. She held the bike handles and sprinted with me to other side of the campus to make sure I didn’t fall off the bike.

Even the strangers we had met were very kind to us. The first two days of being China we went on tours to Yancheng and Yangzhou. We were all continuously stopped by strangers who wanted pictures with us. They treated us like celebrities. They would give us compliments and hugs and sometimes even gifts.

Here is a picture we took at the YanCheng ChunQiu  Land.