Hi everyone!
I made it through my first module of business school in China! Yahoooo! You haven’t heard from me for a week because I went into hibernation-mode while studying for finals, but I am back now and feeling more refreshed than ever. My exams went extremely well, and I ended module one on a strong note. I now posses the knowledge necessary to make an aggregate sales plan, balance an assembly line and calculate its cycle time, efficiency and theoretical number of stations, explain how sales and operations planning departments chase demand using hiring and layoff, inventory and backordering, overtime and under time, subcontracting, can confidently calculate the 1st, 2nd, 3rd derivative using the “power rule” and “chain rule”, find a function’s local minimum and maximum, solve constraint optimization problems…the list goes on. I have truly felt my brain stretching these past few months. Subject matter and terminology that once seemed like gibberish in August now makes total sense to me. I am slowly starting to speak the “business world lingo” and it is exciting.
My new module started last Thursday. So far, so good. For the next 10 weeks, I will be taking Applied Econometrics (Ahh!!! Help!!!) and Organizational Behavior. Right now, the syllabi are looking a lot like gibberish again. When I come home in January, I will tell you what I learned. Right now, I am a blank slate. I know with continued hard work and dedication I will soon speak the language needed to understand Econometrics. Currently, this word means nothing to me but SCARY & TERRIFYING. There is nothing getting in my way. I got this.
In order to celebrate the end of finals and my first term, I had a weekend of rejuvenation and exploration. I started off the weekend in bed with 12 episodes of my new favorite TV show (Orange is the New Black)…it is so addicting! I can’t remember the last time I stayed in bed until 3pm watching a TV series, but it felt awesome and was much needed. When I finally decided to see daylight and get out of my PJs and take a shower, I was covered in brown shower water that smelled like poop. You can imagine my reaction. Enough said. I immediately called the maintenance repair man (we are pals now…he is on speed dial in my cell phone…he has replaced my parents as # 1, sorry mom and dad!) who eventually got my shower water running clear again. I asked him what the problem was and he told me “the people above me had a toilet leak”…The funny thing is, I am on the top floor. There is NOBODY above me. Hmm…I will need to further investigate this brown shower water situation. Feeling gross and contaminated with my “upstairs neighbors’” poop water saturating my skin, I felt I deserved some grooming. I walked to Pingshan Village (near my campus) for a 50 RMB ($8 USD) mani/pedi…can you beat that price in America? I am not sure if I felt cleaner before or after my mani/pedi (the pedicure water was also looking a bit off-color), but at least my nails look pretty and pink now.
Well, that was the “rejuvenation” part of my weekend. Let’s just say, I have taken my standards down a notch living on a student budget. My exploration part of my weekend was today (Sunday). I went with two of my girlfriends (Kornelia and Lisa both from Germany – you met them in my earlier post from when I went to Dimsum) to Dafen Oil Painting Village (about a 40 minute ride on the Metro).
A few weeks ago, I posted about a “fake mini China” when I visited the fake Great Wall, fake Tiananmen Square, fake Yellow Mountains, etc. at Splendid China Folk Village. Well, today I visited another village of absolutely incredible fakes. Some Chinese joke that “Shenzhen” should really be called “Shenzhia” because “jia” means “fake” in Chinese and Shenzhen is full of FAKE EVERYTHING! Dafen Oil Painting Village is a village in which Chinese artists replicate any painting you desire. Whether it be famous works of art or a postcard you bring yourself, they will copy it for you and it will be equally amazing (if not more amazing) as the original. Strolling through the narrow streets, the walls are filled with a wide variety of oil paintings and hundreds upon hundreds of frames. There are also several galleries displaying the works of art. (See the many pictures below!) If you would like to purchase a painting at Dafen, you can choose one that is already made. However, most people like to get custom paintings made. Many of my friends have come with a photograph and have the artists replicate it for them in oil paint. They tell you to come back in one week, give you a receipt and VOILA! Your painting is all ready to take home. The artists will literally paint anything you desire and it will be quite impressive. Let me know if you have any requests. I am quite the bargainer. Self-portraits, anyone? Send me your photo.
That concludes my post-examination weekend of rejuvenation and exploration. I am now off to do some reading on probability for Econometrics, fun fun. I miss you all and would love to hear from you! Wechat me or give me an email update at [email protected].
Sending lots of love you way XOXO
There have been many photos uploaded since my last update, so be sure to keep scrolling until you are all caught up!
I made it through my first module of business school in China! Yahoooo! You haven’t heard from me for a week because I went into hibernation-mode while studying for finals, but I am back now and feeling more refreshed than ever. My exams went extremely well, and I ended module one on a strong note. I now posses the knowledge necessary to make an aggregate sales plan, balance an assembly line and calculate its cycle time, efficiency and theoretical number of stations, explain how sales and operations planning departments chase demand using hiring and layoff, inventory and backordering, overtime and under time, subcontracting, can confidently calculate the 1st, 2nd, 3rd derivative using the “power rule” and “chain rule”, find a function’s local minimum and maximum, solve constraint optimization problems…the list goes on. I have truly felt my brain stretching these past few months. Subject matter and terminology that once seemed like gibberish in August now makes total sense to me. I am slowly starting to speak the “business world lingo” and it is exciting.
My new module started last Thursday. So far, so good. For the next 10 weeks, I will be taking Applied Econometrics (Ahh!!! Help!!!) and Organizational Behavior. Right now, the syllabi are looking a lot like gibberish again. When I come home in January, I will tell you what I learned. Right now, I am a blank slate. I know with continued hard work and dedication I will soon speak the language needed to understand Econometrics. Currently, this word means nothing to me but SCARY & TERRIFYING. There is nothing getting in my way. I got this.
In order to celebrate the end of finals and my first term, I had a weekend of rejuvenation and exploration. I started off the weekend in bed with 12 episodes of my new favorite TV show (Orange is the New Black)…it is so addicting! I can’t remember the last time I stayed in bed until 3pm watching a TV series, but it felt awesome and was much needed. When I finally decided to see daylight and get out of my PJs and take a shower, I was covered in brown shower water that smelled like poop. You can imagine my reaction. Enough said. I immediately called the maintenance repair man (we are pals now…he is on speed dial in my cell phone…he has replaced my parents as # 1, sorry mom and dad!) who eventually got my shower water running clear again. I asked him what the problem was and he told me “the people above me had a toilet leak”…The funny thing is, I am on the top floor. There is NOBODY above me. Hmm…I will need to further investigate this brown shower water situation. Feeling gross and contaminated with my “upstairs neighbors’” poop water saturating my skin, I felt I deserved some grooming. I walked to Pingshan Village (near my campus) for a 50 RMB ($8 USD) mani/pedi…can you beat that price in America? I am not sure if I felt cleaner before or after my mani/pedi (the pedicure water was also looking a bit off-color), but at least my nails look pretty and pink now.
Well, that was the “rejuvenation” part of my weekend. Let’s just say, I have taken my standards down a notch living on a student budget. My exploration part of my weekend was today (Sunday). I went with two of my girlfriends (Kornelia and Lisa both from Germany – you met them in my earlier post from when I went to Dimsum) to Dafen Oil Painting Village (about a 40 minute ride on the Metro).
A few weeks ago, I posted about a “fake mini China” when I visited the fake Great Wall, fake Tiananmen Square, fake Yellow Mountains, etc. at Splendid China Folk Village. Well, today I visited another village of absolutely incredible fakes. Some Chinese joke that “Shenzhen” should really be called “Shenzhia” because “jia” means “fake” in Chinese and Shenzhen is full of FAKE EVERYTHING! Dafen Oil Painting Village is a village in which Chinese artists replicate any painting you desire. Whether it be famous works of art or a postcard you bring yourself, they will copy it for you and it will be equally amazing (if not more amazing) as the original. Strolling through the narrow streets, the walls are filled with a wide variety of oil paintings and hundreds upon hundreds of frames. There are also several galleries displaying the works of art. (See the many pictures below!) If you would like to purchase a painting at Dafen, you can choose one that is already made. However, most people like to get custom paintings made. Many of my friends have come with a photograph and have the artists replicate it for them in oil paint. They tell you to come back in one week, give you a receipt and VOILA! Your painting is all ready to take home. The artists will literally paint anything you desire and it will be quite impressive. Let me know if you have any requests. I am quite the bargainer. Self-portraits, anyone? Send me your photo.
That concludes my post-examination weekend of rejuvenation and exploration. I am now off to do some reading on probability for Econometrics, fun fun. I miss you all and would love to hear from you! Wechat me or give me an email update at [email protected].
Sending lots of love you way XOXO
There have been many photos uploaded since my last update, so be sure to keep scrolling until you are all caught up!
