On June 2nd, we had the opportunity to visit an ExxonMobil facility known as The Shanghai Technology Center (STC). We spoke to employees in The Asia Pacific Research and Development Centre, which is a smaller division which focuses on improving formulas for numerous types of lubricants. Being interested in Chemical Engineering, I looked forward to learning more about the oil and lubrication industry since this may be a possible employment option for me. ExxonMobil is a pretty large company, and has expanded their presence in twenty-seven different countries. The core of ExxonMobil is split up into three different focuses: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical sectors. Penn State alum Jay Rodgers is currently employed in Shanghai focusing on lubrication improvement, and he spent some time going over the basics of lubricants. I didn’t realize the specificity and practicality of lubricants, and I was able to learn a lot from his presentation.

We made our way into the Signum Oil Testing Center, which tests oils and lubricants for numerous criteria using a wide range of machines. The oils are tested for foaming ability, chemical composition, impurities and viscosity (just to name a few) . The testing center is extremely efficient, and will have the testing completed in a thirty-six hour time period. Most of the employees here were Chemists, and a job like this did not apply to me as much. Nonetheless, it was nice to see the time and effort that the company puts into their products to ensure they are the highest quality possible.

Although I learned a lot of information at ExxonMobil that was relevant to engineering, speaking to Jay Rodgers opened my mind to taking a job opportunity abroad. It’s weird to imagine being halfway across the world from your family, being faced with a language barrier, and trying to adapt into everyday life in a foreign environment. However, listening to Jay’s experiences thus far have made me realize that being located in a foreign country is not as intimidating as I had imagined. As I have learned throughout the course of this program, the people in China aren’t much different: they try to live a great life for themselves, just like we do. It may take some time to adapt to the food,  lifestyle, and language of that country, but at the end of the day, we all are people. If I am ever faced with a job or internship opportunity overseas, I can see myself being more open to immersing myself in a new environment for a longer period of time.

On May 30th, we were guests at a traditional Chinese Wedding for one of Xinli’s relatives. The wedding was held in a hotel banquet room in Huangshan, only about ten minutes away from where we were staying. When we walked into the hotel lobby, we were warmly greeted by the bride in groom at the front door. The wedding ceremony was scheduled to start at 5:38 pm (the number 8 is a lucky number in China). Since the ceremony was running a bit behind schedule, my table began digging into the dinner which featured turtle and jellyfish. The atmosphere of the wedding seemed a bit more casual than American weddings since we were sitting at a dinner table for the ceremony, but the decor was bold, and almost everything was a ruby red color.

I was a bit nervous about the dress code for this event because I had heard that wearing certain colors were frowned upon. The colors black and white, which are symbolic of funerals and sadness, are to be avoided at Chinese weddings. The bride wears red, representing luck, happiness and good fortune. Guests who wear red may be accused of “trying to steal the bride’s spotlight”. Nonetheless, I played it safe with an emerald green dress, and was surprised to see that many of the other guests were wearing much more casual attire than a suit and tie. The groom was wearing an intricate black and red suit, and he had what looked like a red bow across his body. The bride was wearing a detailed red outfit and her face was concealed by a thick, red veil. Once the bride and groom were on the main stage, the groom removed the bride’s veil to reveal a gold headdress.

Once the ceremony had started, it was hard to keep track of what exactly was going on since it consisted of so many foreign practices. I was surprised to see that the parents of both the bride and groom were brought onto the stage during the ceremony to show respect, and actually played a role in the ceremony. The bride and groom did not kiss, but they did share a shot of rice liquor together. I remember asking Xiang, a Chinese student in the program, “Are they married yet?” at one random point during the ceremony and he said “yes”. I was caught off guard since there was no cheering or change of facial expression that would indicate such an important moment. Although the wedding was hard to follow at times, I’m really glad that I had the opportunity to attend such a diverse ceremony.

The Old Street

After visiting vastly populated cities such as Beijing and Dalian, it was hard for me to imagine what rural areas of China would be like.

We flew out of Chongquing on May 26th and after a long and scenic bus ride, we had arrived in the city of Haungshan. Haungshan is a small city surrounded by many rural villages, and offered a much different atmosphere from the previous cities we had visited. We spent a lot of time touring The Old Street, which was home to many family owned shops and eateries. Here is where I found one of my favorite dishes in China so far: Wonton Soup. I often complimented my wonton soup lunch with some delicious pan-fried dumplings. The food in the region was very good, and also offered interesting dishes such as snake and snakeskin. After our lunches, we had time to explore  the unique shops on the Old Street. I purchased a good amount green and chrysanthemum teas for 120 yuan ($20). Although a bit pricey, the loose teas were extremely fresh and tasty due to the minimal pollution in the surrounding rural regions.

On May 28th, we traveled about an hour out of Haungshan to Xinli’s home village. The village was in a  rural area composed of farmlands, rice fields, and small number of stores and houses. It was nice to relax in a quiet area with beautiful, green scenery despite the exhausting levels of humidity before the rain. Many of the villagers had solar panels and some houses, including Xinli’s old home, were split up into two separate buildings. In the streets, there were several villagers farming and transporting goods on small motorized vehicles. It was interesting to see the diversity in a region of China that was less economically developed.

We spent the evening in Xinli’s old home, where his mother had prepared a home-cooked meal for us. The meal was extremely tasty and I enjoyed almost all of the dishes that were presented. My favorite dishes consisted of fresh water shrimp, green beans, eggplant, and seaweed. I felt extremely welcomed by his family and they seemed very excited to have us for dinner. Having a home-cooked meal in the middle of rural China was a very unique and insightful experience. It was hard for me to imagine what rural China was like, but being immersed directly into the region really allowed me to appreciate the diversity of China.

Looking back on the first few days of the program, being immersed into the hustle-and-bustle of Beijing was a very overwhelming experience. Growing up in a small town did not prepare me for the amount of people and vehicles that scurried through the streets on a daily basis. It seemed to me that the city of Beijing never really ended, and it was difficult for me to keep a sense of direction. After several days of sightseeing, we boarded a soft sleeper train on route to a new city: Dalian. We traveled to a local overlook, and it was clear that the city of Dalian offered a much different atmosphere from that of Beijing. Seeing the ocean and mountains enclosing the city was a beautiful sight that really accentuated the geographical diversity of China. Dalian seemed like a much more relaxed city compared to Beijing, but still had plenty of friendly faces and food.

One of my favorite parts of the program thus far has been speaking to Chinese students. On May 16th, we headed to a school in Dalian to meet with some of the local students. I had the pleasure of talking to Shirley, who gave me a book of Confucian philosophy and post-card as a gift. I was surprised to learn that Shirley stayed all year in a dormitory and did not go home when classes were dismissed on weekends. Although Shirley’s English was very good, she was worried that she didn’t understand what I was saying, and often turned to her friend for a translation. Shirley also took the time to show me how to hold chopsticks properly, and was very encouraging as I was struggling to pick up some of my lunch. During my time at the school, I learned a lot about the diversity of the students’ daily lives, and was happy to see that the students were eager to learn about American culture as well. Nonetheless, my time in Dalian was a very rewarding and unique experience that shaped my initial thoughts about Chinese geography and culture.

On May 13th, 2015, I climbed the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China is a man-made wonder that everyone dreams of visiting once in a lifetime. Call me crazy, but I’ve always imagined that The Great Wall would be like a trail (with a few inclines here and there) that stretched on for miles and miles. However, no one warned me that climbing The Great Wall is equivalent to exercising on an inclined stepper for hours. Needless to say, I was physically unprepared for the challenging climb that The Great Wall had presented to me.

The Great Wall was composed of several hundred steps which felt like they were inclined at a forty-five degree angle. From the bottom, the climb didn’t seem too bad…. after all, how hard could some tedious step climbing be? After reaching the first tower, I was more fatigued than I thought I would be. The varying sizes of the steps made it very difficult to keep a good pace while climbing. Luckily, there were often several turns and straight-aways in the mix that offered a bit of relief during the exhausting climb. The beautiful view below made the climb much more enjoyable in the long run, despite my legs shaking and feeling like Jell-o more often than not.

The region encompassing the wall was much more mountainous than I had originally imagined. Although it was created for military purposes, the wall seemed to blend into the mountain and didn’t “stand out” as prominently as I expected. Nonetheless, The Great Wall was an extremely impressive project that I’m glad I had the opportunity to pay a visit. Although at times I wanted to shorten my hike due to the extent of my fatigue, I’m glad I pushed through and got to experience The “Greatness” of the Great Wall. I even received a medal to honor my accomplishment!