{"id":14523,"date":"2016-11-01T13:38:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T13:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/postgraduate\/?p=4402"},"modified":"2016-11-01T13:38:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T13:38:30","slug":"free-trip-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2016\/11\/01\/free-trip-to-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Free trip to China!"},"content":{"rendered":"

My experience as an international student in BU couldn’t have been better. I got chosen to be one of 13\u00a0students from different faculties and study levels (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) to represent BU in its inaugural Global Festival of Learning 2016<\/a>. In\u00a0China. For two weeks!\u00a0All costs covered! Whoah!<\/p>\n

\u00a0The programme itself is called Destination China Summer School 2016, with SIAS International University as the partner.\u00a0The majority of the itinerary was\u00a0spent in SIAS University;\u00a0where we had the chance to learn Chinese culture, history,\u00a0language, as well as business and economy in China. They provided us with exciting practical activities so we could still have fun while learning about contemporary China in a short time.<\/p>\n

\"d0bd88_543ca3c87280492b80caeb5810f79f2d-mv2_d_3264_2448_s_4_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We spent the first few days in Beijing exploring the historical & cultural sites such as Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City and The Great Wall of China. As for the industry visit, we\u00a0visited Xiaomi Headquarter to gain an insight on how this company could\u00a0become the largest smartphone vendor in China within less than six years. We also visited Foxconn, the world’s largest technology manufacturer, and St. James’s Place Wealth Management, which was keen to take placement and graduate students to work in their company.<\/p>\n

On the fourth day, we took a bullet train from Beijing to Zhengzhou, where SIAS International University is located. I was amazed with the size of the university and the friendliness of the people there. SIAS has arranged a buddy for each of us which was very helpful in maximising our experience in China, as they act as a\u00a0SIAS ambassador, translator, local guide, and also a best friend!<\/p>\n

My favourite activities during the summer school were the language class, paper cutting, Kung Fu lesson, and the campus tour (by electric bike!). I particularly loved the language class because I’m very keen on learning Mandarin. The teacher was very patient teaching us the basic and important phrases, which helped me a lot when I went shopping in the market \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Yes, the university is way too big to be explored by foot. That is why our buddies organised this fun way to introduce all the facilities on-campus they have. This picture below was taken INSIDE the university during our bike ride. Amazing.<\/p>\n

\"inside-the-uni-web\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was also\u00a0impressed with our accommodation in the university. We were allocated to stay in 3-bedrooms flat which has spacious lounge and fully air-conditioned. Not to mention there is a walking closet inside my bathroom. We lived like a royal for a week!<\/em><\/p>\n

Another unforgettable memory during our Summer School was the friendly basketball match between BU and SIAS students. Seeing the fact\u00a0that BU team got beaten by SIAS (they are all professional players);\u00a0the Chairman of SIAS, Dr. Shawn Chen, joined the match on behalf of BU to help us gaining some scores. He also invited our Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Vinney, to play along. As he was not prepared for the game, SIAS staff bought a brand new basketball shoes for him. It was indeed a very rare occasion!<\/p>\n\"basketball-webjpg\"<\/a>\n

We spent our last couple of days in Shanghai, which is a stunning metropolitan city in China. We visited The Oriental Pearl TV Tower and enjoyed the view of The Bund from the observatory deck.<\/p>\n\"the-bund-web\"<\/a>\n

My overall impression about this summer school is simply\u00a0fantastic<\/strong>. I have not only gained new knowledge about contemporary China and perspective of life, but also stronger intercultural skills which I believe would be beneficial to me as a future global talent.<\/p>\n\"with-our-buddies-web\"<\/a>\n

@GlobalBU<\/a><\/u>\u00a0has published the full\u00a0Storify<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0of the trip, documenting our day-to-day experiences in China. Please do take a look!<\/p>\n

How did I get this opportunity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Global Talent Programme<\/a><\/u>\u00a0participants had the privilege to receive an email notification about the opportunity when the application is open, which I immediately apply. I wrote around 300 words of supporting statement in regard to my interest in learning about China,\u00a0how this activity will contribute to my professional development and how it\u00a0will enhance my global awareness and intercultural competence.<\/p>\n

By Yeyen Sinarta
\nMSc Tourism Management and Marketing\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My experience as an international student in BU couldn’t have been better. I got chosen to be one of 13\u00a0students from different faculties and study levels (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) to represent BU in its inaugural Global Festival of Learning 2016. In\u00a0China. For two weeks!\u00a0All costs covered! Whoah! \u00a0The programme itself is called Destination China Summer… Read more » about Free trip to China!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,828,1663],"tags":[1798,723,1913,51],"class_list":["post-14523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-international-student-stories","category-postgraduate","tag-china","tag-global-horizons","tag-globalbu","tag-international"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}