Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ashley- Trip to Tianjen!



May 21, 2012

We traveled to Nankai University in the city of Tianjen by train to meet with Chinese Tourism graduate students where we enjoyed a lecture by Dean Mihalik and then a joint class where we discussed topics such as sport and tourism, social media, cultural differences, and differences in university life for the students. The welcome and hospitality of Nankai University was greatly appreciated. I quickly connected with Tracy and Carol as we overcame our language barrier to understand and learn from each other. We were discussing popular culture and the students were stumped at how to describe one of their favorite movies in English, but after several minutes I discovered that it was the movie Avatar and we were excited to break that barrier and understand each other clearly.

Everywhere in Beijing and especially in Tianjen, there are fleets and fleets of bicyclists traveling to their destinations. One of the students commented that he uses the BMW method: Bike, Metro (the subway), or Walk which are the least costly modes of transportation in the cities of China. Many bicyclists are dressed in work clothes, often women are bicycling in their dresses, high heels, and stockings. Clothing style seems to be a significant focus for the younger population of China; it seems that your clothing style determines your status, much like America. Also, I have recognized that drivers of a vehicle honk their horns very frequently but learned that it is often only to warn others that a vehicle is headed their direction.

Tracy- my new international friend! And then a picture of Nankai's beautiful campus below as well.


Check out a link describing Nankai in English below:

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