Today we got to sleep in a little more than usual. We met in the lobby at 9:15 to go to the East China University of Science and Technology. I thought this visit would be more geared towards the engineering students, but instead we had a lecture on little facts about China’s business and political climate. It was interesting to hear how their voting system works, and what citizens look for in a presidential candidate. The woman told us that to be given a position of power in China, you have to work your way up to it step by step. You cannot be young and persuasive, you have to earn the position. After the lecture, our group was split up into pairs to be led by one of the Chinese students who were spending the day with us. The Chinese student who I was placed with took us to the cafeteria for lunch. She got us our food and then left us alone. I was expecting her to sit and talk with us, but I guess since she wasn’t hungry, she felt no need to stay. I had dumplings which were actually really good.

After lunch we found our student and met up with the other pairings outside. Even standing in the shade you were sweating from the heat. So, Liliana led us to a small convenience store that was on the next street over and we all got ice cream. I was not exactly sure of the flavor I had, but it had chocolate in it which was all I cared about. Once everyone had some ice cream, we went inside and played some games with a few of the Chinese students.

The games were interesting, to say the least. The first game we played was where someone stood at the front of the room and controlled the music that was playing. While the music was on, everyone who was sitting passed around this little feathered statue until the music stopped. Once the music stopped, and if you were holding the statue, you had to go up to the front of the room and perform something. You could tell a joke, sing a song, dance, etc. Thankfully, I never had the statue in my possession when the music ended. Some highlight performances were a rendition of the U.S. national anthem and a revamp of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’. After that game, we played an unusual version of ‘Never Have I Ever’. Instead of saying something you have never done, you stood up and said something you had done. If the people sitting down had never done what you said, they lost a point. We were split up into groups of three and each group was initially given ten points. Once you lost all ten points, your group had to get up and perform something. I don’t understand why all these games included a performance. Fortunately, by the time my team lost all its points, it was time to leave, so we escaped having to give any kind of performance.