Shenzhen Means Business!

Our next stop was Shenzhen! Here we visited Walmart China and got to experience more local markets.

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Shanghai!

Nothing beats a skyline, especially Shanghai’s! Our group enjoyed exploring what the busy city had to offer.

Suzhou Museum and Humble Administrator’s Garden

After our first company visit, we set off to explore Suzhou from a cultural standpoint. Our first stop of the day was the Suzhou Museum. Here we saw ancient, beautiful jewelry from multiple dynasties and learned a little more about all the history that China has to offer. The architecture of the building was my favorite and I found that to be my favorite thing about the museum.  The last image of the above three is my favorite picture from maybe the entire trip. I found this window in a coffee shop while trying to escape the humid heat for 15 minutes and had to take a picture of it.

After the museum, we took a quick lunch break and ate an authentic Chinese lunch family style of course. This was one of the best meals I ate on the trip. I didn’t get a picture of the food we ordered, but I did get a picture of the menu. Thankfully, there were pictures for us to point to so the server could understand what we wanted and we could make a decision on what to order for lunch without the help of Google translate.

After lunch we wondered over to The Humble Administrator’s Garden. I’ve heard the gardens in China are spectacular, but no one can prepare you for the breathtaking, beautiful scenery I got to personally experience. The pictures don’t do it justice. What a day! This was our first taste of Chinese culture and the beauty that China has to offer when you get out of the insanely crowded and polluted big cities. Safe to say I got a good nights sleep that evening after a day at the International Trade Zone, museum, gardens, and eating a traditional and delicious Chinese lunch.

First Business Visit!

After spending a week studying about China’s culture and economic status, we got to go see the International Trade Zone right in the heart of Suzhou. The presentation we were given at Sipitz was flawless and gave a lot of insightful information on what does happen in this area of China. It was really cool to see names of companies that we all recognized and get the low down on how goods are received and transported through and out of China. Their business building is one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever seen!

Sam’s Club!

Still in Suzhou, we went to dinner with our new Chinese friends at the mall by their university. There, we let them order everything for us and was pleasantly surprised by the choices they made. One of the coolest things about this mall was that there was a Sam’s Club attached to it! All of us from the U of A thought that was super cool and it was really interesting to see the differences between American Sam’s Clubs and what they had for the Chinese consumers. 

Suzhou

The first city we visited on our trip to China was Suzhou! This is where we took our classes and got to meet the students that will be joining us at the U of A in the Fall. The campus was big and wasn’t even the main campus! We did later go to main campus to purchase souvenirs to remember our studies here. Pictured above is what we thought were dorms but were actually classrooms. Looks quite a bit different than Walton and JB Hunt!

Introduction

Hey y’all! My name is Molly and I’ll be starting my senior year here at The University of Arkansas next Fall. I am a business student working towards my degree in marketing with a minor in economics through the Walton College of Business. On May 15th, I will be boarding a flight to China to complete my minor overseas through the Walton International Business Seminar study abroad program. I chose this program because I’m really interested in expanding my horizons and exploring a culture and country that I am not at all familiar with. I have been fortunate enough to travel with my parents in the past, but have never had an experience like this be offered to me. I was extremely lucky to receive a scholarship through the Sam M. Walton College of Business Global Engagement Office based off faculty recommendations and my academic achievements to date. I really look forward to representing Walton abroad and gaining hands on experience to enhance my personal business career goals.