Friday, May 18th
Today was an earlier wake up, as we had a full day planned
at Beijing Sport University. During our morning session with the Associate
Dean, Lin Xianpen, we had a group discussion concerning the sustainability of
Olympic venues post-games, specifically in regards to the 2008 Beijing
Olympics. Afterwards we moved to the restaurant above the university cafeteria
for an endless family style lunch. I found myself comfortably satisfied after
the first round of dishes, only to find out that another three to four courses
were on their way! At the center of the table was rotating circular glass,
whereby the plates were positioned so the entire table could easily taste and
savor the various authentic dishes. We then moved to an afternoon session,
where we directly interacted with the students at the university. We all spoke
with five or six Chinese students in each of our groups and thoroughly enjoyed
this opportunity. Our main topics focused on whether Olympic facilities are an
economic burden on the host city, the impact of Olympic construction on local
residents, and ambush marketing at the Olympics. If time allowed, many of the
groups discussed the social misconnections between Chinese and American
students and simply lifestyle and cultural disparities. It was particularly
interesting to hear their views of Americans and our culture in general. At the
close of our long day, we took the subway one stop from our hotel to Tiananmen
Square, the Monument to the People’s Heroes, Gate of Heavenly Peace, and
Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.
No comments:
Post a Comment