This experience has been an opportunity of a life-time and helped me to understand the Chinese culture much more than I could have in a classroom. The long history and deeply rooted traditions are very important to understand, especially when doing business. The knowledge I was able to gain about the Chinese culture was just a scratch on the surface of what I hope to learn someday. The language barrier really limited the amount of interaction and information that I could take away. This trip has motived me to pursue a study of the Chinese language and culture. Someday I would like to return to China and be able to communicate with locals in their native language. Even without knowledge of the Chinese language this was still one of the best trips I have taken abroad. The largest take-away that I will always remember is just how different cultures around the world are, how much they have to offer humanity in new knowledge and how important it is for people to travel to increase their understanding of the how the rest of the world operates outside of their hometown.
The hospitality of our guides was more than I could have asked for, day in and day out we were treated well and enjoyed the highest quality experience imaginable. Thanks to Lina, Lisa, Monica and Joe for making our trip so enjoyable and trouble free. Your hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed. I was also very happy to have met all of the wonderful students of Nankai University who took the time to show us around Tianjin, take us to the finest dining in town and get to know us, even playing badminton and table tennis! Most of all I would like to thank Dr. Li for putting together such an enjoyable business and culture study in China. Your planning and connections in China have made this trip an extremely valuable learning experience and I appreciate all of the work you have done to ensure this study abroad experience was a great one for all of us.
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