Our visit to Central University of Economics and Finance was something that I was looking forward to on this trip. I was excited to be able to meet local university students and be able to compare how their student lifestyle is similar/different to ours in America.

CUFE has an impressively large campus! I was amazed by the amount of facilities that were available to students. When we first arrived, we were greeted by Aurora, who works in the international department of the university. She led us to a lecture hall, where we were able listen to Professor Yao speak about the smartphone market. I thought that his lecture was very interesting, especially his comparisons between the United States and China and why certain things are popular — for example, a popular method of payment in China is through the use of your smartphone. This method is rarely used in the United States, and it was interesting to be able to compare the reasoning to why this might be so.

Afterwards, we ate lunch in their three story student cafeteria. It was a traditional Chinese meal, and of course, delicious! At our table, I got to meet Larry and Celia, who are sophomore students. Celia and I able to get pretty close, and she filled me in on the details of student life at CUFE. I found it interesting that a PE class is required — students are able to choose what area they would like to focus in. Celia chose to learn wushu during freshman year, however it’s disappointing because although she does not like it, she is forced to continue learning wushu again even during sophomore year.

What left the biggest impression on me at CUFE was their newly built library. This place was seemed so luxurious compared to Hillman. I think I would actually enjoy studying there!!

I was really sad that our trip to CUFE was so short. I didn’t get a chance to talk to many of the other university students that were present. But I’m really happy that I was able to make at least one new friend!