I am sure that at some point in your life you have thought about being a movie star, for the reason of being famous. Having that feeling of walking down the street and knowing people are looking at you, or walking into a store and having 3 employees go help you. Well, if you still have that dream, then you should consider going to China. Now, I am no famous movie star, but when I went to China, I sure felt like it. The fact that I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and really pale white skin, made me stick out like a sore thumb.

I am an IOE major and I studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University the summer of 2006. I took the MSE 250 class. I am a member of SWE, Phi Sigma Rho, Epeians, the Ukrainian Club, and the Program in Global Engineering.

Throughout my life I have traveled to about 47 of the 50 states and to countries all over Europe. I was always interested in studying/working abroad and when I found out about the China Summer program I knew it was a good fit. I got to see a part of the world I would never experience anywhere else, I got to take a relevant engineering course taught by a U of M professor that counted towards my degree, and I got an internship.

My China experience was broken up into 3 parts. For the first part of my trip, I spent 3 weeks traveling around China with two classmates. The three of us went to China with only a backpack and no reservations. Our first destination was Hong Kong. After Hong Kong, we went to Yangshou (a small vacation town surrounded by mountains, rivers, and farms), then to Beijing, over to Qingdao (a city on the beach famous for its beer), and then to Shanghai. The majority of the time we stayed in youth hostels. The traveling was definitely one of the best parts of the trip. I got to see things like the Great Wall of China, taste a variety of food, and see a lot more of China than just the big skyscrapers in Shanghai.

During the second part of my trip, I lived in the international students dorms on the Ming Hang campus of SJTU. My roommate was a really nice girl from Purdue University. The class, although hard material, was actually relatively easy because it was the only class you were taking, as oppose to the 16 or so credits you take in Ann Arbor. It was also an interesting experience learning aside the Chinese kids. The food on campus was nothing great, but you got used to it. Right outside the campus gates, there are many cheap restaurants that you could go to if you got sick of dorm food. The best part was that each meal was only about 50 cents! During the weekends while at SJTU, we usually took the subway downtown, which took about 45 minutes. Overall, studying at SJTU was a fun experience, I am glad I participated.

During the third part of my trip, I held an internship position at BorgWarner (an automotive supplier). BorgWarner's plants were located in Ningbo, China (about 3.5 hours from Shanghai), so I moved to Ningbo, and my company paid for me to live in a hotel for a month. The hotel was really nice and about a 5 minute walk from the work. Although the actual work I did at the plant was not all that "stimulating," I did gain valuable insight on how Chinese companies operate and I developed other skills like working with AutoCAD. I worked from 8-4:30 pm, and on my off time, I either went to the gym (about 5 min from my hotel), explored downtown Ningbo and it's landmarks, watched "The OC" on my laptop in my room, or spent time trying to order dinner (this was hard because fewer people in Ningbo spoke English).

After my month internship in Ningbo, I went back to Shanghai for one week before I went home to the USA. My friend's dad luckily lives in Shanghai, so I was able to stay with him in his apartment. That last week was lots of fun, because I spent my time sightseeing and shopping!

In all, studying/working abroad in China was a tremendous experience I will never forget. I am 100% glad I did it. While being in China, I missed my family the most, and just being able to "hang out on the lake" and do usual summer things in the USA. Now being back in America, I miss living each day as it came, being "stress-free", and most of all, the CHEAP prices. Everything in the USA seems so expensive after being in China for 3 months!

I would recommend the SJTU program to anyone who is adventurous and looking to have a good time while doing a slight amount of work. Not speaking the language is definitely NOT a problem, as getting by with English was not that difficult. Make sure you like rice though, because if you don't, you might have some problems!