Ending Notes

Ethical Issues In My Profession:

Today we live in a global society with many businesses expanding rapidly to different countries with large global headquarters.  One of the largest issues many business face is how to keep not only a safe profession environment, but an environment that is ethical as well.  The difference in both economies changes many ethical and moral issues in a variety of industries.  I found that many of the United States economic ideas are also shared in Beijing.  Although they are still a communist country there are a lot of examples of capitalism.  There are many examples of this throughout China and while staying in Beijing we were able to see this first hand on our company visits.  The largest difference I saw was the wage difference in Beijing versus the United States.  As a student with only a high school graduation, I make much more money over the summer than many Chinese make in an entire year.  The low wage rates would never be allowed in the United States.  They would be considered unethical and not allowed in the U.S.  Although I have heard about the Chinese pollution multiple times, it seemed to me that the United States had more control over working conditions and environmental safety.  A large issue for the Beijing Olympics was the air quality.  For the Olympic games the air was good but post Olympics it has declined again.  Working conditions are also much worse in China.  A perfect example would be the issues at Foxcon, how workers would commit suicide due to the conditions and pay they received.  A company could probably make more money by manufacturing goods in China versus the United States.  In fact many large companies already do this.  For example Nike and Apple both design their products in the United States, but produce their products in China to save money.  For years it has been an ethical and moral question facing many large companies.  In my opinion it completely depends on wages, working conditions, and whether or not it helps or hurts the general public.  If giving jobs to the poor Chinese helps give people opportunity that’s one thing, but to pay somebody such a small hourly rate that they commit suicide, it totally different.  All these small details can change a business model and how companies do business around the world. 

 

Education Breadth as Professional Development:

A broad education is needed no matter what country you live in, or what industry you plan to work.  Having and understanding of the world and specifically in your home country is pivotal to having a successful professional career.  First finding a job requires a decent amount of education.  Most professional jobs no matter what country require an education and a degree of some sort.  Now that businesses are switching and globalizing education is even more powerful.  In order to keep up with the rest of the world, professionals need to be educated, good problem solvers, and good with technology.  At the rate that technology is moving in this generation there is no way in telling how business will be done in twenty or thirty years.  No matter how business or engineering changes with technology, an education will be vital to being successful.  Beijing houses so many different global companies.  A broad understanding is more powerful here than almost anywhere else on earth.  China is also one fo the largest countries land and population wise.  Global business requires people to be educated because there is so much that can vary among different countries.  For example cultures must be understood in great detail in order to successfully do business in other countries.  In fact I am debating whether I should major in finance or International business.  I believe that businesses are really making a strong transition globally and being successful in this field would require a great deal of education and understanding.  I believe that learning a second language so crucial in dealing internationally.  Being able to speak another countries language is so powerful.  Going abroad to Beijing really opened my eyes to this and motivated me to learn another language.  Although international business is needed it is not for everyone.  I am unsure about what I will do personally but I think it is awesome that Pitt’s business school offers a Global Management Major.  I really think that could help many students. 

 

Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as professional Development:

Every career demands a different education, learning different skills, and contains differing day-to-day work.  Lifelong learning is so important to being successful and so many people do not realize it.  Many people are under the assumption that after college you can just get a job and use the skills you learned in college to get you by.  I completely disagree with this idea.  I believe that life is all about experiences and gaining insight to a myriad of different things.  I am a firm believing that the University of Pittsburgh will do a phenomenal job preparing me for the real world and for helping me find a real job.  No matter what I learn in school, I will always need to continually learn everyday.  Some careers are very cut and dry, meaning that what you learn in college is what you do everyday.  An example would be a nurse or a doctor.  In these fields the education gives all the necessary tools.  I do not believe this is the case for a business major.  I plan on learning more in my first real job than anywhere else.  In my field of interest an understanding is more crucial than anything.  My father was an economics major and now he is a successful businessman involved in pharmaceutical sales.  There is no knowing where your career can take you but especially as a business major you need to be able to adapt and change based on the position you are in.  Also with technology changing almost everyday, many jobs are changing and new skills are needed.  Education does not stop after college rather it just begins as dozens of learning experiences all lie ahead. 

 

The Social Environment of Professional Life:

Social Life and professional beguines are linked very close together no matter where somebody works or what profession they are in.  Social class is determined by someone’s salary.  Socially people live a different lifestyle and have more lavish things.  This is the more obvious connection but also more successful people seemed to be more up to date on news, political issues, and news around the world.  I can recall in Middle School and part of High School that I was social uneducated.  I believe the older I have gotten and more experience I have been given, the more I know socially about what is going on around me.  I found that in Beijing people had a similar understanding that Americans do in the social scene.  The newspapers were very similar and shared similar types of information.  This allows people to be informed and have a good understanding for what is going on around the socially.   There are dozens of issues that occur in economics, politically, and socially that could affect the career that I plan to be in.  A few that I can think of off of the top of my head would be taxes, war, and a change in government party.  All of these affect us in everyday life but more specifically can really impact our everyday life. 

 

Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams:

I think that teamwork is one of the most important skills to posses as a profession no matter what field you are in.  I think that working on a team is something that can turn into a disaster if not properly executed.  One way to successfully work on a team is to understand everyone’s different backgrounds.  Coming from diverse backgrounds could create potential problems but as long as they are addressed teamwork can be very efficient and effective.  I believe that communication is one of the most important ways for a team to be successful.  On this trip I have interacted with both engineering and business students.  I found mostly similarities but smaller differences.  When working in a team, for example our final Plus3 project, assigning roles was very important so before the task was even started, everyone knew their responsibility and what they would be help accountable for.  Accountability in a team can really put pressure on certain individuals making them perform at a higher level.  I believe that the largest challenge in working in a cross-functional team is having a basic understanding of everything.  Just because I may be assigned a specific role in a team, I believe it is important to have an understanding of everyone’s role, so all the pieces can easily be put together at the end.  As long as a team communicates, is motivated, and well educated, most of the time it is a recipe for success.   

Saturday May 19th

I am currently sitting in the airport in Beijing waiting to board our Air Canada flight at 6:05.  I am not too excited about the thirteen-hour flight but I am at the point in the trip where it will be really nice to get home and relax.  I think the timing of this trip was awesome because when I get home I will have exactly one week until I start my first day of Lifeguarding for the summer.  Today when I woke up in Beijing I got a little sad and disappointed that it would be my last day here.  I woke up early, hoping to get myself back on track with sleep by being tired and sleeping on the plane.  I woke up around 6am but it is fully sunny in Beijing at 6am so it felt more like 8 when I woke up in the morning.  I decided to walk to a Starbucks that was about 15 minutes away. 

On my walk to Starbucks I must have made a wrong turn because I found myself in a different location than I should have been in.  I decided to instead turn around and go for coffee at a location much closer to the hotel.  Afterwards I then showered and decided to go for some breakfast.  Everybody slept in today so there were not too many people at breakfast being the last day and we did not have anything planned in the morning.  After breakfast I headed back to my room to pack and get ready to head home!  Packing went much smoother than I had expected although I was concerned about the weight of my suitcase.  I believe I was one pound overweight but the airline did not seem to care much at all.  On the drive to the airport I had some mixed feelings about how I felt.  I had moments of relief at some points and then at other times I felt sad.  Beijing has been our home for the last 2 weeks and there is no knowing when we will be back..  I may never be back again given the distance away from home and how long it takes to get there. 

We are about to board the plane in Beijing and head back to the U.S.  I want to take one last look at the city and remember all the great times and memories that I have had here.  Dr. Goa and Vanessa were such a blessing on this trip and really made everything run smooth.  From the meals, company visits, tourist attractions, and simply having fun, they both had such good advice and really helped with the experience.  Before coming on this trip I did not know one single person, but as I sit here in the terminal at the end of it, I am happy to say that the people on this trip have been some of the most fun and interesting people I have met in my entire life!  I am so thrilled that I decided to go to China on plus3 with the University of Pittsburgh.  I t has been one of the greatest experiences in my whole life containing memories that I will never forget.

Friday May 18th

Today is our last full day in Beijing.  I really cannot believe that it is here already.  The first few days were kind of slow due to the jetlag but the last portion of the trip has literally flown by.  I am writing m blog earlier than usually because we have a good deal of down time this afternoon with no company tours or tourist attractions to see.  This morning I gave my final presentation for Plus3 and I believe it went very well.  Our job was to construct a new product after all of our experience in Beijing the past few weeks and explain how it could be used.

Many different groups came up with great ideas but I really believe my groups project was great.  The four of us (Me, Hilary, Andrew, Matt) came up with a program to help resolve traffic problems in Beijing.  ON e thing that we realized over the course of our two weeks here is that getting to work or simply anywhere can be a huge hassle.  There are so many different ways to travel in the city of Beijing but which way is truly the best for you?  We came up with a mapping program that allows customers to have a personalized GPS.  The system takes into account current traffic, the different modes of transportation, and much more personal travel information.  The difference between our product (Navatech) and a normal GPS is that the program really gets to know you.  By saving routes and knowing detailed information about your traveling log, the system can easily help someone make a decision on how is the best way to get to work.  Our program will allow people to decide if they want time efficiency or cost efficiency when traveling in a large metropolitan area. 

The presentation went smooth and Dr. Goa really seemed to like the idea.  It is somewhat a spinoff of Google Maps, but we were really proud with the product idea we came up with and our presentation.  It is the afternoon now and I am about to grab lunch in the recreation center here at the hotel.  I am unsure about my plans for the rest of the day but I suspect getting to bed earlier with such a long day of travel tomorrow.  I really want to take in this last few hours we have in Beijing before we say goodbye tomorrow morning.  This has been such an amazing trip. I am still shocked I am sitting here in China.  Somehow it all seems so much like a dream. 

Thursday May 17th

I have found a lot of the company tours to be very interesting but  we toured Lenovo this morning and I was very impressed.  Coming to Beijing, fortunately we were able to visit the global headquarters of Lenovo.  When we got to the large office complex, the first building that we went into had some of Lenovo’s products lying out on a table for tourists to play with.  I played around with the touchscreen games until our tour guide was ready to give us the tour.  I was quite impressed with the products.

One of the tour guides had met our group; we went through an interactive tour in one of their buildings.  We did not get to see as much of the actual working conditions that I had hoped for, but I really liked the tour.  We learned a lot about the history of Lenovo and then we saw some of their newer products that they hope puts them in the top three of sales in their industry.  At times during the tour I felt like it was more of a sales pitch than a tour of the facility.  I will admit as frustrating as it was to feel targeted as a consumer, I will admit that they did a very good job showing off the newest and coolest technology.  I love my Mac but after that presentation, if I were forced to buy a different computer I would definitely choose Lenovo.

After the tour of Lenovo the group went for a big meal at a very fancy restaurant.  I am unsure of the name of the restaurant but it was the very best meal that I had in all of Beijing.  The restaurant was famous for their Peking Duck.  Being a picky eater, I really opened myself up to some different food the past couple of weeks and after the fact, I am so glad I decided to dive right into the Peking Duck.  It was delicious.  When eating duck, usually you will wrap it up in a roll similar to fajitas and then eat it.  I enjoyed the duck both plain and wrapped up in the quesadilla.

This afternoon after the delicious lunch we had a lesson on politics in politics in China.  The speaker today was an older women who was a teach at Tsinghua University.  She was very sharp with her facts and really gave me some useful information.  The Chinese government is so much different than the United States government.  I found it very useful to compare the similarities and differences between the two different systems.  After the presentation from our guest speaker, it was our turn to work on our final project for Plus3.  My group and I (the same group from our pre-departure meetings) met during the afternoon to knock out the PowerPoint and get ready for our presentation.

Wednesday May 16th

Today was a very tiring but fun day here in Beijing.  I have not been feeling my best the past few days but I think it is just a combination of the air and the tiredness that comes along with a trip abroad like this.  Today we had two company visits in the morning.  We started off with the usually breakfast in the morning and then hit the road early at 7:50.  Our first company visit was to a vodka distillery in Beijing.  It was not exactly what I had in mind for a company tour but I found it to be very interesting.  During the tour they even allowed us to try free samples.

One thing I disliked about the tour was the very very strong smell of alcohol.  They stored hundreds of gallons in huge vats, which really gave off a strong smell.  His factory was very old and had lower class people working in it.  It reminded me of a large factory that you see in history books during the 1960s or 70s.  The workers all looked very miserable and tired after working countless hours doing the same work every single day.  I felt bad for some of these workers but at the same time it is nice that they even have a job.

The second visit we did today was at a sealant company. I am unsure of the exactly name of the company but they manufacture parts of construction that help insulate buildings and in the long run really reduce a carbon footprint.  My favorite part of the visit was when they took us into the manufacturing facility and we were able to see this huge plant being used to constructs the materials.  To me it looked like a large warehouse filled with workers all doing their designated jobs.  The factory seemed to have a good deal of order to it and everything seemed to be moving along quickly.  The workers at this facility seemed to be using more much more powerful machines and instead of putting labels on can of liquor they were actively constructing materials.

We were all treated to lunch by government officials.  I think that Dr. Gao had a large part in that.  The food was very tasty and well all appreciated it very much.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a really quick change of clothes and headed off to our next location.  We were going to the Fragrant Hill and we were all warned for quite a bit of walking that lied ahead of us.  We climbed a hill (not mountain) for about 1 hour and finally reached the top.  The view from the top of the Fragrant Hill was completely breathtaking.  We had a nearly perfect day and could see all of Beijing form where we were standing on top of the mountain.  I was able to take may pictures and was really happing with the trip and was so glad to be there.  Now we are back in the room getting reading for dinner.  We are going to try a new restaurant tonight called lush.  It seems like it will be mostly western foof but we will see when we get there!  I am not very hungry so whatever I do end up getting I will most likely split with my roommate.

Tuesday May 15th

When I woke up this morning and it hit me that we were visiting the Bird’s Nest I still had a really hard time believing it.  I find not only the structure but also the symbolism and memories of the Olympic games to be so fascinating.  After breakfast in the hotel like usually we got on the bus and made the short trip to the Bird’s Nest.  On the way there our bus driver went down a street not realizing that he could not fit under a bridge further down the road.  After noticing that the bus couldn’t fit the clearance our driver decided to go backwards down the street.  While going backward down the thin alley, we hit a tree branch, which did some small damage to the bus.  I felt really bad for the driver because he was trying so hard to maneuver down the small street just trying to get us closer to the facility. exterior of the Bird’s Nest was nothing short of amazing.  I could not believe how large the structure was and was I sure to take many pictures for memories sake.  After staring at the outside of the facility for what felt like forever, we were finally able to go inside and check it out!  The view of the complex and the track was so amazing that I just sat in a seat for a few minutes thinking about all the great moments that had happened there in the 2008 Olympics.

After taking many pictures from the seats inside of the Bird’s Nest, I was able to go on to the track.  Some others students and I were fortunate enough to go on the track and ride a Segway around it.  There was a pretty steep extra charge to go on the Segway tour, but to me it was more than worth it.  If felt so amazing to go and finally take a step on to that well-known track.  After visited the Bird’s Nest we decided to pass on the waterbube tour because we were just there on Sunday.

With a company visit later in the afternoon our lunch was very very rushed today.  We all hurried off of the bus into KFC and ate it on the way back before we needed to dress business casual for our company visit to capital Bio.  I was very interested by their tour and was able to understand where some of our future technology is going.  The tour guide spoke very good English and was able to easily communicate to us a large amount of insight to what capital Bio is all about.  This evening we are going to a Congfu Show at a theatre by the silk market.  We are going at rush hour on the subway so it will be a long tough ride to get there with such a large amount of people in the city.  Growing up in Philadelphia I have some subway experience but nothing prepares you for the craziness of the Beijing Subway.  Hopefully we will get to the show on time and it will be very enjoyable.

Monday May 14th

Today was such a fun day but last night at the watercube was so some of the most fun that I have had here in Beijing.  We spent all of our time at the indoor waterpark.  It was such a blast.  We got such a good deal for our group to go to the watercube.  Vivian helped us to get tickets online at such a good rate!  There were 15 of us that decided to go to the watercube.  We took taxis to the watercube in different groups.  The taxi ride in Beijing was definitely and experience.  I rode in the taxi with Brian, Andrew, and Matt.  The four of us all squeezed in a taxi along with the driver.  The taxicab was smaller than a New York cab and was stick shift.  The fare was small because we split it four ways but the driver was a crazy man.  We got stuck behind a truck and the cab driver was blaring his horn so much!  My favorite part about the water cube was the family raft ride.  It was a four-person raft ride with many drops and a huge funnel at the end.  Every time we went down the ride we attempting to flip it and get crazy air going down the slide.  The waterpark was small but was so worth the cheap price that we all paid for it.  I wanted to go there for so long it was such a good experience to say I have swam there. 

After the tiring night at the waterube, we got a small chance to sleep and because we had a lesson on Chinese economics in the morning.  Lessons start a little later than our sightseeing tours so we were able to catch up on some sleep.  As a business major and an economic minor, todays lecture was by far my favorite.  We had a very entertaining lecturer who kept my attention and I really learned a lot.  I got a really good background about the economics of China which really sparked my interest in economics as a whole.   

This mornings lecture ran a little long so we did not have much time for lunch because we needed to get ready for our first company visit.  With the short time that we had, and being in the mood for American food, John, Matt, and I all decided to go grab some quick food at Mr. Pizza for lunch.  I am shocked at how a lot of the food in China is very similar to the food in America.  I noticed that American food in China is much more prevalent than Chinese food is in America.  The three of us decided to split a quick cheese pizza and go get ready to visit Tsinghua Solar.  I really enjoyed the pizza.  It had the slightest difference in taste but overall was the same. 

I was very excited to visit Tsinghua Solar this afternoon because four our pre-departure assignment we needed to research and present on Tsinghua solar.  They are a company who manufactures hot water heaters and sells them to consumers for a lower price.  The company uses solar energy to heat water at a lower cost for consumers.  They are a smaller start up company so they do not have a big manufacturing facility at all.  In fact, the portion of the company that we toured was a only one floor of a business complex.  I believe that the technology of the company is there but it is inefficient for larger family homes with a very limited supply of hot water.  At the visit we got an in depth PowerPoint presentation of the Tsinghua solar and then went into a room to see all of their products.  I found this to be my favorite part of the tour.  We saw many of the units on the top of buildings in the week leading up to the tour so it was fascinated to get really close and actually see these products as a large unit. 

Tonight we are going to a bar called Labamba.  We have been going to this bar a lot because they seem to really like Americans.  We tend to travel as a group because it is safer for all of us to be together and more fun that way.  At this point in the trip we are all getting very accustomed to our environment and everything that is around us just outside the hotel.  Tomorrow we are touring the Birdsnest in the morning.  I have been waiting to see it for such a long time.  Being a track runner in high school the track will be so special to see after viewing it on TV so many times.

Sunday May 13th

Today is our first free day in Beijing so last night we decided to stay out late and have some fun.  In fact I went to KFC with some students around 1 am and we all really enjoyed it.  We all like experience the Chinese food but that was a nice break from it to find something more familiar to us.  Today we went to the pearl market, which is a huge market with tons of items from watches to electronics.  On the way there we took the subway, which was an adventure for sure!  For much of the trip I really wanted to take the subway once or twice to really get an experience of it.  Well what I got today on the subway was definitely an experience.  Although subways are very quick Beijing is such a huge city that it still takes a long time to get places. 

Between switching trains and everything I probably spent nearly two hours on the subway today getting to and from the pearly market.  I believe it was definitely worth is but eh subway was packed!  There had to be over 1 thousand people on the subway at one time.  I cannot imagine what the subway must be like on the way to work on the weekdays.  It was so hot and muggy in the subway with all the people I could not imagine having to do that every morning.  When we got to the silk market I did not buy anything for myself but tried to find items that y family would like.

When at the silk market you need to try to bargain with people to try and get the best price that you can.  I got a lot of items that I really like for my family and found that I could get them for really good prices.  Some of us got really tired after a few hours at the market so we decided to take a subway back and get some rest.  I have now just arrived back to my room and I think I am going to try to get some sleep before we go out to the water cube.  The water cube has an indoor waterpark and that is what we are doing this evening so I am so pumped.  I’ll be excited to tell you about it tomorrow!

Saturday May 12th

Today we visited the Great Wall of China and I am still in shock at how amazing it was.  I was looking forward to today for such a long time and I can’t believe it came and went.  The beginning of the day was ordinary.  We all woke up and got breakfast then met for the bus.  It took about one and a half hours to get to the Great Wall but I found the ride to be pretty scenic. Something that I did not understand about the great wall until now is that it is nearly hidden in the mountains of greenery. 

Once we arrived to the great wall the first thing we did was go and visit some of the caves that lay at the bottom of the mountain.  After that we began our trek up!  The walk up to the wall I found to be pretty easy.  I was expecting it to be very cold today on the great wall, but when we arrived there I realize it was actually warm so I was roasting hot in my jeans.  Besides the fact I was not properly dressed the day turned out to be amazing.  Initially when we got there we only anticipated being there for 2 hours but once we got walking we could not turn back.  With such a great day and a once in a lifetime experience when decided to move onward.  My experience to the great wall was amazing and I would also consider it a hiking trip.

Some sections of the great wall are blocked off to tourists because it is unsafe to walk on.  When we got to the great Wall we saw part of it at a point that look nearly a mile away.  It went really high almost to the peak of one of the mountain cliffs.  We knew if we decided to hike to this point we would all be very tired but many of us in the group realized we may never be back!  We ended up walking out to a point on the Great Wall, which was hundreds of steps straight up.  Once arriving there we all had a feeling of being on top of the world.  We were so high up at that point I almost felt like I was up in the clouds.  The walk back to where you go down the mountain felt like it was never ended! In jeans I felt like we could not get there fast enough.  Although it was slightly painful it was one of those moments where you have a reality check and say to yourself IM ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!

One of the funniest parts of today was going down the great wall.  There is a ride that you can pay for to take you down the great wall.  It is called a toboggan ride where you sit on your own scooter and ride down the track.  I found it to be far from relaxing, it was a thrill ride to say the least.  It was fascinating to be able to ride over huge valleys on this little toboggan scooter looking down and seeing a huge drop.  With so many of us going down the ride at the same time we all caught p to each other at the end and truly had a blast.  

After leaving the site of the great wall we went to a western style buffet.  Many of the Chinese restaurants close during the afternoon so it was perfect timing for us to end up there.  We just got back from the buffet now and blogging now.  I found to be okay but much different than the western food I am used to.  We are all very tired but being one of the only weekend nights in Beijing we really want to experience the night life.  Tomorrow is our free day so I think we might be going to swim in the water cube! 

Friday May 11th

Last night was a very fun night for all of us.  We went to a pizza place called Pyro Pizza.  It is a pizza restaurant and bar that is supposed to mimic an American Frat Party.  The atmosphere was much different than I expected but I really enjoyed the food and found the pizza to be really good.  Today we are visited the Summer Palace.  After viewing the Forbidden City I was very excited to see the Summer Palace.

We woke up to a pouring rain and I was very disappointed to see the weather!  I have no idea if I will ever be back here or not so I really want to have the best weather possible for the two weeks we have here.  We left for the summer Palace around 9 o’clock and it took us around 45 minutes to get there.  When we got there the weather got a little bit nicer but it was pouring for the majority of the time.  We walked up a lot of steps to get to the top and from there it was such a beautiful sight.  The lake that surrounded the whole area was beautiful and it was really cool to learn the history of everything as we walked.

We learned in our history lesson from the day before that the beautiful corridor that was painted many years ago was all covered up in white paint.  My first reaction was that it wasn’t a huge deal but after seeing intense the drawing was I realized how big of a deal it was.  The paint that covered the corridor was so detailed and seemed like it took a couple of months to complete.  We walked around the huge lake and it really made me appreciate how large the property was and all that was contained in it.  There was a small island in the middle of the lake that accessible by a bridge.  We walked over the bridge and on our way back took a boat across to where entered the gigantic place.

After we toured the main part of the area we went down to visit some shops.  They were very far from normal.  The shops all ran parallel to a beautiful creek.  It appearance to be manmade but it was a very scenic area.  It was one of those moments where you want to take it all in at once because there’s no knowing when you will be back there again.  I did not buy anything because I found many of the prices to be too expensive so I figured I would wait and deal with it then.

After we left the Summer palace all of us were extremely tired.  We had an option to go to a pot shop for dinner or we could go on our own and grab some food.  My roommate (John) and I decided we were really wiped our and just wanted to grab some pizza and get some rest.  Tomorrow we are going to the great wall so we wanted to make sure we were well rested for it.  I have been looking forward to visiting the great wall for such a long time I want to make sure I am up and ready to go.  We do not yet have a plan for tonight because we are all so tired but I will be sure to update and blog about tonight’s activities!