Author Archives: Joseph Zero

China Reflections

Coming to China, I mainly wanted to see the many different historical sites that the country was famous for, and after those things I wasn’t really looking forward to anything. I couldn’t have been more incorrect in my assumptions that those sites would be the best things to see in China, and while they were very cool to see, I think that seeing the modern engineering projects was more worthwhile. Seeing the different projects such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Hangzhou Bay Bridge were much more interesting than seeing the historical projects.

If anyone is reading this and is thinking about taking this course, or any course that is study abroad, or is just thinking about going abroad, I say they should go. It was a life-changing experience that anyone who can take, should take. I am much more open to going international in my job and for another study abroad course, if I can possibly do it.

The final thing that I really underestimated going on this trip was the friends I was going to make on the trip. I hope to visit with all of the people I have met on the trip back in the United States.

The photo on the right is the Three Gorges Dam, and the photo on the right is the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which are mentioned above.

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The Dongtan Eco-City

One recommendation that I would give for the trip next year, is to spend more time looking through the Dongtan Eco-city. I feel that there wasn’t enough time spent at the site to warrant a paper about the place. It felt like we just stopped, ate there, and left.

The only green thing that I was able to see while actually there was the solar panels on the top of the streetlights. I was able to get a picture of one of the homes, but that was on the way back to Shanghai from the eco-city itself. The eco-city seemed empty and decrepit itself. All-in-all, I was disappointed with the visit to the eco-city, and I am worried about the paper my group has to write about the city.

Below are the few pictures that I was able to get in the city, and I was unable to find the picture of the lamp posts that I talked about earlier in the post. I apologize for the blurriness of the one photo, as we were in the bus and moving.

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Misconceptions about China

Before coming to China, the main two things that I was worried about was the food and the general feel of China, both socially and politically. I can say now that my ideas of these two things going in to the trip were both mostly wrong. I was worried that the food would be too different to be likable, and while the food is incredibly different, it is really good.

The feel of China is also very different, but not in a bad way like I thought it would be.The amount of freedom given to the citizens of China is also surprising to me. There are a lot less regulations and laws it seems than the U.S. in regard to social things. The amount of things that Chinese drivers can get away with is crazy, like pulling a u-turn in the middle of the road, or fitting 4 lanes of traffic into 3 lanes of highway.

I was worried that the government would find some reason to detain me or something like that because I was a foreigner. As the CEO of Changan Ford Auto Company put it, there was nothing to be afraid of, there were no communists to take you away to a prison, there are only good people who want to welcome you to their country. They want to live their lives like we do. I am glad that I was wrong about these two things and my stay in China is great thus far and hopefully will continue to be great.

Construction in China

Before coming to China, one of the things I heard a lot about was the explosive growth that has occurred in the country in the past few years. This fact is very apparent with a visit to one of the cities. One of the many things that surprised me about our visit to China was the vast amount of construction projects that are occurring everywhere in the country. In all of the cities we have visited, one only needs to look to the skyline to see at least a half dozen cranes ready to continue work on their respective projects. The amount of new skyscrapers I have seen is ridiculous, and a large amount of these new buildings seem vacant. Looking at them from the side, there are no lights on in the buildings and they can be easily seen through. This makes me wonder if there isn’t demand for the buildings being built and the industrial growth is overshooting the demand for the space, or these buildings are just taking a long time to finish the inside. I would be surprised if all the buildings that I have seen being built are filled with occupants quickly, just due to the sheer number of projects in each of the cities.

The two pictures shown are an example of the amount of building projects in Chongqing. The pictures were taken one after the first one being taken slightly to the left of the first one. In just these two pictures, there are at least 6 cranes and 8 frameworks for construction sites.

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Visiting Exxon-Mobil

After visiting Exxon-Mobil, I am very happy with my career choice, and it has encouraged me to continue with my current path in college. Hearing Jay talk about his experiences actually working abroad has also helped me be more open to working internationally myself. I think that if given the opportunity, I would work in a place like China myself, later in my life, if it fits what I am attempting to do.

The presentation we saw about the actual types of oil was very informative also. I didn’t realize how in depth one can get with the categorization of oil and lubricants, and while this was sort of interesting, I’d have to investigate that more to see if I’d want to work in that field specifically when I graduate.

Seeing the lab itself was also very interesting for me, as all of the processes I was learning about, or learned about in the previous year. Seeing the actual machines at the lab was really interesting to me. They had a motor that was modified so one could see the inside of it, and see the specific places where a lubricant was needed. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the lab or the vehicle assembly line, so I cant post a picture with this post. It made the things I was learning about applicable to an actual field of work that I could be doing when I graduate.