Today felt like a complete dream especially now looking back on the long day I’ve had. The clock tells me my day started at 11am and ended at 9pm but that was 12 time zones ago. I’m 12 time zones back now and missing China already. I remember waking up this morning with quite a…
Tag: Summer 2018
Day 8: Biangbiangmien, Biking, and More
Our busiest day of the trip so far began with another great breakfast. This time, however, there was a slight problem. Every label card that states what each food is was at the wrong place. For the most part, I could figure out what each dish was, since I’d tried the day before, but I…
Day 7: Kids and Wild Goose
Our first full day in Xi’an began with yet another great breakfast. To my pleasant surprise, in addition to the steamed pork buns that I love, there were pork dumplings! I told myself on the train from Beijing that I would get some form of dumpling every day while in Xi’an, so it looks like…
Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect (May 16)
Today we started the day leisurely, strategically planning to maximize sleep-in time but also getting rocking and rolling before breakfast was no longer available. After having a hearty breakfast, Grant, Josh, Kayla and I decided to play cards until we needed to leave for the University. Having become kindred spirits where cards are concerned, we…
Day 6: Dump Day
By the time morning hit (even though it still felt like the middle of the night), our numbers were down from 24 to 17. While we were all sleep-deprived and a little anxious, at least the hotel packed breakfasts for us. A ham and cheese sandwich, a croissant, a hard-boiled egg, an apple, and an…
Day 12: Saying Our Goodbyes
Today we went to Baindlkirch for a Bavarian breakfast and Oberammergau, a small alpine town. We took the bus to a restaurant in Baindlkirch where we were given the opportunity to have a traditional Bavarian breakfast. This consisted of pretzels, weisswurst, and for all the other tables but ours, beer at 9:00am. The weisswurst were…
Time is Flyin’!! (May 15)
We began today with our final site visit to Hörauf & Kohler (H&K), a developer and manufacturer of technical injection moldings and supplier to leading automotive manufacturers like BMW. Today was the first day I really stopped and thought about how fast our trip was going. We have just a few days left! Time is…
Day 5: Following the Emperor
The last breakfast at Penta Hotel was a little saddening, only because I wasn’t sure if the other hotels would have grapefruit juice, Asian pears, and steamed buns, but I’m hoping they do. Today was absolutely packed. The beginning was Tiananmen Square, historically an important cultural site. To inform us of said history, we were…
Day 4: How About Sunshine Land?
After yet another amazing breakfast (this time with banana bread), we loaded onto the bus to the first of our two company visits. Surprisingly, my group had a very productive bus ride, and we got a decent start on our business proposal. We discussed logistics of the product, our target market, necessary materials, how the…
Day 3: Gym Class
I was disappointed at breakfast when I found that there were no pears today. I did however enjoy quite a bit of the dragonfruit, because I don’t know that I would really be able to find any that good at home. We took a bus a ways outside Beijing to the Central University of Finance…
Plus3 Scholarship Reflection
The award I received for Plus3 China was able to help my participation in the program by allowing me to travel abroad and helping save my parents from paying the entire cost of the trip. It allowed me to make memories that will last a lifetime and also allowed me to learn first-hand about China,…
Day 2: A Pretty Great Wall
The hotel breakfast was different to say the least. There was an interesting combination of American fare (eggs, bacon, potatoes, sausage) and Chinese food (noodles, fried rice, steamed buns). Best of all were the fruits; there was dragonfruit (it just tastes fresh, kind of like kiwi texture but with not as strong of a flavor),…
Day 1: A Bit of Travel
After not nearly enough sleep, our day(s) of international travel began at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning. One dark bus ride later, we made it to the airport, and soon enough we found ourselves at the gate for the flight to Washington DC. While waiting for the flight to start boarding, I learned something important:…
Xièxiè China
Traveling to China has been one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve not only learned a lot about Chinese culture, but I’ve learned a lot about America just by living in China for 2 weeks. Being in China has really made me realize America’s place as a world leader is really being threatened….
The Final Refelction
What a trip it was. Truly the experience of a lifetime. I came into this program kind of worried. The only people that I knew were the ones from my Pittsburgh presentation group, and even them I didn’t know all that well. I’m not the most talkative person either, so I didn’t know how things…
Plus3 Scholarship Reflection
I am incredibly grateful for receiving the Thomas Angelo Honors Scholarship for the Plus3 program and it has been an immense help with affording the opportunity to visit Costa Rica. Without the funds awarded to me, I would not have had the chance to experience this beautiful country in the same way. With less financial…
Day 13: I Buy a Suitcase from a Cell Phone Company
I couldn’t believe it was finally here, our last day in China. The last day of the trip would be spent sightseeing, relaxing, and pitching the business ideas we had been developing in small groups. Breakfast, of course, came first. I only had 1 more day of dumplings ahead of me, so I had to…
Politics, German Keyboards, Robots and Kindred Spirits (May 14)
We started off the morning at the University of Augsburg with an interesting lecture on German politics. At first, I will admit that I was skeptical, as I don’t care much for American politics. To my surprise though, our lecturer was able to explain each segment of the German political system in such a way…
Never Forget (May 13)
Powerful. Humbling. Unimaginable. These words illustrate the feeling I had while walking the grounds at the Dachau memorial site, knowing so many others before me had brutally suffered, lived and died — right where I was standing. As we walked the grounds, our tour guide set the stage drawing us back in time, so we…
Day 12: Delphi Technologies and American Chamber of Commerce
Today was another day full of company visits. First was Delphi Technologies, a company that develops combustion engine and electric drive train technologies. This was an exciting company for me to visit because the person talking to us was the first engineer we had met on the trip. Hearing someone talk about engineering concepts and…