Today was our first full day in Shanghai, Nancy’s home city, and man I want to move here !! We spent our morning at ECUST the East China University of Science and Technology. When we arrived we got a tour of their gorgeous campus in the middle of the city.
It occurred to me that people in China don’t really tour universities to see if they like them as we do here in America. Nancy told students just attend the best university that they get into with their test scores, so they don’t have a group of people like the pathfinders to give tours. But anyway, after seeing the grounds, we had any interesting lecture from one of their professors about startups and the techniques it take to do business in China. As we’ve been learning, the market is so vastly different in China that a lot of people fail because they try to apply the same business model from the U.S. that helped them succeed. It was a great lecture. This campus was actually the graduate campus, so some of the English graduate students came to meet us and we all went to lunch together in one of their cafeterias. Again, the food was way better than anything you would get at Pitt. We need to step up our game hard or I’m transferring here. As I was talking to one of the students about our trip so far, I mentioned that I loved the white rabbit brand candy Liliana had given me earlier. She was literally like ‘do you wanna go buy some’ and we just up and left the cafeteria and she took me to the campus convenience store about a block away to buy some. It was nice getting to walk around a bit without a huge group of people that draws a lot of attention. She also took me to a little campus café in the area, again, much better than the campus coffee carts at Pitt, and got some drinks. I loved having a little slice of life at the campus. We all met up again and headed into a presentation from a graduate student they have from Alabama. He told us a bit about his story of how he moved his family from rural Alabama to Shanghai so they could all study Chinese language. Afterwards we played some games with the students and then jumped back on our bus to head to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. As an Environmental Engineer with an interest in Urban Planning, I thought it was the most interesting place in the world.
There were exhibits about the advanced transportation in Shanghai and the focus on quality of life that goes into every decision they make. Some of the planners said they strive to create a very romantic city, and with the gorgeous tree lined streets, its clear they accomplished the vibe. Shanghai is a city all its own, but the best way I can describe it is if Paris and New York City were twisted together with a n extra sprinkle of its own unique flavor. I won’t bore you with any of the other details about sustainable development and what not, but its safe to say I was the last one out of that museum. It was one of my favorite things we did the whole trip. After a quick dinner at a delicious Cantonese restaurant, we headed off to see Chinese Acrobatics performance. I don’t want to spoil any of it, but I think everyone should go see one if they get the chance, because it was amazing. A few of my friends and I decided not to get back on the bus and wander back to the hotel ourselves. We ran into Chairman Mao’s old house and saw the upscale nightlife of the city, and thus ended our night.
