When we woke up today the forecast called for rain, and rain it did. In California, we are not used to rainstorms. The rain was heavy and you were soaked if you went outside for a minute. There was also thunder and lightning with the rain. I have never heard such loud thunder before. You could hardly see the lightning but the thunder made up for it. It was quite the experience.

For breakfast we ate pork dumplings, a fruit salad, white bread, a banana, and green tea. I am not sure what exactly was in the fruit salad but I did like it. The pork dumplings have been my favorite breakfast dish thus far. On that note, I have realized that China does not have typical breakfast dishes as we do in the U.S. It seems as though you can have any type of food for any three meals of the day.

After breakfast we took a bus to the Volkswagen Assembly Factory. This was amazing. I have never been inside a factory before and have never seen assembly lines. The entire time within the factory my Systems Operations Management class topics were running through my head. I was also amazed with the robotic style machines that they use within the factory. We witnessed the cars being assembled piece by piece and watched some aspects of the testing.

After the factory we went to the second Sanda University where the freshman study. The students played traditional Chinese instruments for us and then performed a traditional Chinese tea show. We were also given the opportunity to learn how to begin to play an instrument of our choice. I was surprised to learn that tuition for the Hospitality major is the most expensive at the school. The classes for this major consist of tea etiquette, horseback riding, golfing, etc. During this visit we also had a chance to speak with some students. The students spoke English well. My partner’s English name was Eva. It was interesting to learn that they have an English name in which they choose themselves. Eva grew up living at school, as most Chinese students do. She is studying International Economics and Trade. Students in China are only allowed to change their major once and it can only be done during their first year of college. Eva and I exchanged addresses and plan to become pen pals.

After the visit to the other campus, we returned to the main campus. We leave tomorrow so the evening was spent packing. We plan on visiting downtown Shanghai tonight for the final evening.