Today’s featured image is a pink rose from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Ethical Issues in My Profession: As an engineer, ethical issues are always a concern. The solutions that engineers develop touch the lives of millions of people, like the Microsoft Office package and TE Connectivity’s electronics components. People around the world incorporate…

Scene opens on a warm, sunny morning Another warm, sunny morning smiled upon us as we ventured towards the Yuyuan Garden. Our guide for the day was standing at the front of the bus regaling us with interesting information, but feeling the exhaustion of the trip’s packed days and evenings weighing on me, I furiously…

The bright, warm sun greeted us as we finished up our breakfasts, boarded the bus, and headed to our first company visit of the day – TE Connectivity. My four-person group researched TE Connectivity as a part of our pre-departure presentation. As we found in our research, TE produces components and sensors for electronics, including…

Swimming in the Deep End Today’s adventure took us to Yangshan Deep Water Port, the world’s biggest container port. On the bus ride to the port, speaker Mac Sullivan works as the Greater China Trade Lane Manager (Transpacific) for Toll Global Forwarding, a logistics company that deals with international freight forwarding and supply chain management….

Our travels today took us to Donghua University not far from the hotel. Driving through the campus, it wasn’t very large or flamboyant; it had what the school needed – dorms, dining halls, classrooms and lecture halls, recreational and sports centers – but it seemed comfortable and conducive to a university setting. We were led…

Waking up bright and early, the group made its way to the Xi’an rail station. The six-hour train ride was generally uneventful. I bought a waffle with blueberries and cheese at Caffe Bene in the station, as well as what Sophie is calling “grass milk.” We thought the grass milk was the drinkable yogurt that…

Warriors for the Ages Our last day in Xi’an brought us to one of China’s most legendary landmarks of late – the Terracotta Warriors. The weather app on my phone hasn’t updated since May 3rd, so my shorts and t-shirt contradicted what was apparently a gray, gloomy day that threatened chill and light rain. Passing…

A scenic bus ride through the city and the outskirts of Xi’an wound through tree-lined roads near fields, through a university district also near fields, and through stretches of road adorned with tents and vendors and mountains of fresh, red cherries. Along the way, we passed a lone Ferris wheel looming above the fields and…

My morning consisted of riding on a high-speed train, reaching speeds up to 300 km/h (187 mph), from Beijing to Xi’an. The ride mostly involved sleeping, eating, and staring at people, the train, and the rural and urban landscape. I also played an app game with Nilaani and Athena. Six hours later, we emerged from…

Under a hot, shining sun, the bus escorted us to an icon that has represented the days of old when emperors wielded and fell by the fiery hand of the Mandate of Heaven but that has remained as a monument to the modern epoch of the transformations in China. This icon is the Forbidden City…

“Make the World Smarter” Today was our first day of company visits. First, we boarded our beloved bus and drove across Beijing to Cheetah Mobile, an app software company. Cheetah Mobile produces cell phone utility apps, games, and other content apps. Upon our arrival, we saw a fairly modern building with a sizable lawn sprinkled…

Today, we traversed more of the vast expanse that is the city of Beijing. On the way, I noticed that the buildings in this city aren’t a continuous line along the street like in many places of the United States. Some of the buildings are set in from the street, while some of their neighbors…

Refreshed from ten hours of sleep that broke through the jet lag and motion sickness, I ate my first breakfast in China. Our hotel – the Pentahotel in Beijing – served foods from rice to muffins to dragonfruit. After struggling to eat the slice of slippery, soft dragonfruit with chopsticks, I finally used a fork…

One formidable fourteen-hour plane ride stood between my Plus3 group and the beginning of our adventure in China. To pass the time, I watched two movies, drank many ounces of water, and stared, exhausted, at people and the plane’s features. Despite the glooms of confinement to one plane seat on a crowded plane, I met…

My International Experience To date, my international experience has included: Family vacations to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; Riviera Maya in Mexico; Toronto and Niagara Falls, Canada; London, England, United Kingdom; Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; and Rome, Florence, and Venice in Italy. When I was much younger, I traveled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where my…