Today, we had a safety training specialist from the study abroad office come into class to tell us about safety while travelling abroad. He went over some of the training material that we had previously been exposed to in the online travel abroad application and talked about specific scenarios that had happened in the past, … Continue reading Pre-trip Blog 5 →

Today, we began watching the presentations from each of the volunteer groups. With the China trip being four weeks away, we really are in the endgame now. Our group, which researched food in China, presented on the different foods and snacks to expect in China, giving general recommendations, teaching simple food-related phrases, and listed several … Continue reading Pre-trip Blog 4 →

In class, we met Ulyssia Dennis. Dennis is a staff member in the Engineering Career Services Center who will be one of the chaperones for our business simulation trip to China. I am looking forward to learning from her during the trip and seeing how her experiences with career counseling can provide additional perspective on … Continue reading Pre-trip Blog 3 →

Today, we talked about personal brands and were asked to reflect on what our personal brand was in addition to how that fit into our trip to China. Last summer, I worked for a large oil and energy company in their supply chain department. It was a very traditional corporate environment and had a company … Continue reading Pre-trip Blog 2 →

This first week is exciting since it marks the beginning of our preparation for our trip to China. I have been to China before, but of the 4 major cities we are visiting, I have only been to Shanghai. There’s a sense of familiarity for a country I have been to several times before mixed … Continue reading Pre-trip Blog 1 →

I wasn’t able to attend class 4 because I came down with a nasty case of tonsillitis. Thankfully, my group members rocked it- I hope I can make it up to them later on! Since I missed this class, I don’t have much to comment on in regards to new material or new things that … Continue reading Pre-Trip Reflection – Class 4 →

We got our volunteer group assignments today, and I was assigned to the “Cities” team. We are going to be doing research and making a presentation on the four cities we will be staying in during the trip. This includes looking at their histories, customs, best ways to get around, and popular attractions. We did … Continue reading Pre-Trip Reflection – Class 3 →

It still hasn’t really hit me how close we are to this trip, and I feel like the to-do list just keeps on growing! At this point, the only thing I’ve done to be proactive for preparing to travel is order an outlet converter for charging my devices. But hey, any small step I make … Continue reading Pre-Trip Reflection – Class 2 →

After the first trip immersion class, I realized just how mentally unprepared I was for travelling to China. There were so many things brought up today that hadn’t crossed my mind. Currency exchange, getting a VPN (I’m not even sure I know what a VPN is), dressing according to cultural customs, getting a visa, etc… … Continue reading Pre-Trip Reflection – Class 1 →

In the first week of class, we got to know each other better by sharing our travel experiences and our personal backgrounds. This was a really good way to learn more about our classmates, as it turns out we have a diverse group of students! Some even have experience with traveling China or Asia in … Continue reading Reflection 1 →