Beijing and the Great Wall

          On Wednesday, we showed up to our Organizational Behavior class with bags packed for a Thanksgiving weekend in Beijing. Our professor is great. With a background in management, its studies, and a bit of human resources, he is very engaging and optimistic. An avid traveler, he was very excited for us and offered a few suggestions for things to make sure and see. Of course, he recommended the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, but he also recommended certain sights that stay a bit ‘under the radar’.

          In Chengdu, catching a taxi isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do in the early afternoon. There are dozens of taxis, but little other public transportation. And, being a city of 10 million people, you can imagine walking isn’t really an option… especially when you are going to the airport. Our buddy Greg, a full-time Chengdu student from Texas, told us what to say to the taxi driver: “Fay ji ji chang” (probably not how it’s spelled in our alphabet, but that’s how I remembered it). So, after 30 minutes of hunting down an available taxi, I told him that and he somehow understood me.

         We arrived at our hostel in Beijing at around 8 p.m., which was located right next to the Forbidden City. Located in the center of Beijing, we dropped our backpacks off and walked around and found some dinner. Afterwards, on the way home, we walked past an interesting street food stand. Some people may be grossed out by some of the offerings at this stand, so just ask me if you’re really interested. I’ll just say that different countries have different tastes. When we got back to the hostel, we went to sleep in preparation for our Thanksgiving day…

           We met in the hostel lobby at 8 a.m., packed with camping gear, and met our guide for the Great Wall trip, named Cheney (Chenny). We took a bus 2 hours north to an unrestored section of the great wall. We hiked up to the wall, where we would begin our 12 km hike along the wall. As you can see from this photo, this part of the wall is not your usual tourist destination. In fact, we wouldn’t see any tourists all day.

We hiked through some gorgeous areas, which really gave us a perspective of how old the wall is (14^th century). After about 6 hours, we ran into a local lady that was friends with Cheney. She said that we wouldn’t be able to camp where we wanted to, because there had been a forest fire nearby a few days before and there were patrols walking that section at night. So, knowing how much it meant for us to camp on the wall, he told us he had a good idea for another section. After walking past a few more towers, we hiked down the hill to our bus. Our bus then drove us an hour to a tiny village (population of 20 or 30 people), where we would have our Thanksgiving dinner. I must say, the dinner didn’t quite match what we got in the states. It was simply a bowl of white rice and a few Chinese vegetable dishes. After that, it was time to hike up the hill to the wall. Because it was about 9 p.m, we would have to use flashlights to hike up a trail with sleeping bags and tents to get to the wall. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, it was about 22 degrees… Fahrenheit.

           We somehow made the hike up the thin trail to the top in about 40 minutes, and we set up our tents with little flashlights. I was impressed: every pair of us were able to set up our tents without asking for assistance, and some people had never camped before. That night, someone had brought up a small bottle of rice wine. Those who have tried it will probably agree that it does not taste too delightful. Nonetheless, it did a great job warming us up. Below you can see everyone sitting as closely together as possible to keep warm.

The next morning, Friday, I woke up at about 5 a.m., and got up because it had gotten a bit too cold to sleep. I threw on all of my layers as quickly as possible and did a series of jumps and runs to warm myself up. Anyone who saw me probably thought I looked a bit crazy (below). Everyone got up by about 6 a.m., and we all caught the sunrise. Our guide was especially happy, because he had survived the night, and this was the coldest time of the year he had ever camped on the wall.

At 6 a.m., I imagined what I would be doing if I were back Memphis (4 p.m. on Thanksgiving). I couldn’t help being bummed out by the fact that I was missing Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Ever since I began leaving the house for college and living on my own, Thanksgiving became one of my favorite holidays of the year, as I would get loads of delicious “home-cookin’”. Then I thought, “Well, if I’m not going to make it home for Thanksgiving dinner, I can’t imagine a better way to spend it.” At Breakfast, which happened about the exact same time people in the U.S. were eating their Thanksgiving dinners, I tried to enjoy my bowl of lightly-flavored noodles.

Today’s hike would last only about 6 km, and we would end up at a restored, tourist section of the Great Wall. The hike was nice. Today’s bit, pictured above, was overgrown with trees. Having been to the Great Wall twice in the past, I had never seen anything like the parts I had seen for the past two days. However, by the end, we saw our first tourist, and shortly after we had approached the restored section. The restored section was neat, because you could see exactly how big the structure was when it was built. It was insane to think about how many people it must have taken to build such an enormous structure at that time and how tough the job must have been.

We got back to Beijing around 5 p.m., where we dropped our stuff off and headed for the Silk Market. For those who have not heard of or been to the Silk Market, it is one of the most interesting shopping experiences you can encounter. It can also be extremely overwhelming, as each floor of the 5- or 6-story building has probably one hundred stalls, and each stall is competing for your business. The market sells everything: clothing, luggage, electronics, sunglasses, shoes, art, and everything in-between.

I didn’t really need anything, but it is fun to go just for the sake of bargaining. Everything for sale is negotiable, and the sellers usually ask for about 10-times the amount they are willing to receive. You may walk up to a stall trying to sell you a jacket for $200, and walk away paying only $15. Just to give you an example: I was walking down one of the rows when a woman tried to stop me and sell me a pair of gloves. I stopped, politely, after she grabbed my arm, and I listened to her offer.

          “Wonderful leather gloves,” she said. “Cheap price.”

           I said, “How much?” I didn’t need or want gloves, but I was only being polite.

           After telling me she would give me discounts because I was her friend, and she ‘loved Americans’, she said, “800 Yuan, just for you.” Exchange rate at the time was about 6 Chinese Yuan for every $1.

           I replied, “I thought I was your friend?” She then handed me a calculator and asked me to write my price. I wrote 100 Yuan.

          She laughed and said, “No way! I lose money! OK, how about 780 Yuan?” I said no thanks, and began walking away. She hunted me down, and, after several attempts at making a deal, she got all the way down to my initial 100 Yuan. I didn’t really want the gloves, but I couldn’t say no after she had done all that work.  So, I took the gloves, which proved useful in China’s cold weather for the next few weeks.

          Beijing is a very interesting place. It is the political capital of China, and has gone through some major transformations over the past ten years ago. When I went with my father eleven years earlier, we saw bicycles everywhere. Now, you will see twice as many cars, and much fewer bicycles. While this shouldn’t be too surprising, as China’s economy has been on the rise, it was still shocking to see exactly how far the country has come. This was an exciting weekend, perhaps the best to date. Camping on the Great Wall was definitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. Other sights in Beijing included the Forbidden City, the Olympic District, and a few Buddhist temples.

Last Days at Webster Leiden

     Well, my times here in the Netherlands have come to an end. It has been so much fun, and I feel a bit sad to leave, though I’m sure my new adventures in China will be just as exciting, if not more. The last couple weeks have been some great ones to end the trip on. On the weekend of October 1-4, a carnival came into Leiden, as it was their famous holiday for Drie Oktober (third of October). The holiday signifies a stance made by the citizens of Leiden against the Spanish in the Eighty Years’ War in 1574. Basically, the Spanish had controlled most of the Netherlands, and when they attacked Leiden, the citizens had fought for days, until the Spanish finally retreated on the 3^rd of October. This represented a turning point in the war for the Netherlands. Therefore, they agreed to give the citizens of Leiden a grand festival each year, in which the people of Leiden would receive free herring and white bread. I tried the herring, and while it was a bit fishy, it was not too bad, although I did put a lot of spicy seasoning on it. The festival was huge, with carnival rides and games on many different plazas. The neatest thing about it, was that it did not exist in a giant parking lot or fairgrounds, it happened on any street or canal that they could squeeze stands on to. There were even some boats that had tables, dance floors, and stages on. Here is a picture of one of the smaller canals:

     That was a very fun weekend. The following weekend, not much went on, as many people were preparing for exams. We did, however, go out in Amsterdam on Saturday night for Karla’s, one of the cohort members, birthday. This was pretty fun. Everyone got dressed up, hopped on a train, and went to dinner then some drinks and dancing. We ate at a traditional Dutch pancake house. This was not your ordinary pancake. They were more for lunch and dinner, as they contained meats and vegetables. I’m not sure if they were for me, but they weren’t too bad. I also knew that if we were celebrating a birthday, it might be smart to fill up on food, in case someone tried to buy some celebratory shots.

     Above is a picture that I took on the way to the train station when heading home. I’m not sure exactly what the building is, but you can see a bit of the Amsterdam train station in the background to the right. As you can probably tell by now, I like the water reflections.

     During exam week, our exams were papers and presentations. For Statistics, two cohort members and I formed a group with a Dutch student to do a practical statistical analysis on a real-world company. Our Dutch friend works for a manufacturing company which sells anything from oil rigs to specific components used for oil drilling. We decided to use his company, as he felt that it may help him move up in his company. It was pretty interesting to see exactly how you can apply statistics to the business world. I didn’t think Statistics was very practical, but this class showed me that there are a few things that I would not mind remembering for later in life. After our presentations, the professor insisted on taking us out and buying us a drink. This was pretty neat; I had never done such a thing with a professor before. In Marketing, we had to give presentations on a full marketing analysis and proposal for a company. My group chose Nike, and we ended up with about an 80-slide presentation. We went all-out, making legitimate print-out posters that even fooled our professor. We printed Nike footprints, and had them running all the way to the door. They even ran up the wall. On the door, we had our poster up, saying to take the “Nike Challenge”. The advertisement was saying that they now made more comfortable shoes for those who did not like the “narrowness” of current Nike’s, and that they could try them for 30 days, returning them for money back if they did not like them. Our professor walked up, read the poster, and said that he believed it was for a company somewhere else in the World Trade Center, as he had seen them advertise for Nike before. I think we did pretty well. After class, he, too, insisted on taking us for a drink. He took us to the bar on the bottom floor of the World Trade Center, and we had a drink with all of the other businessmen that worked in the WTC.

     That night, being done with exams, we went out for a drink with a full-time student named Gregor. He was a Dutch student, and was the president of the business club. He had been assigned as our assistant while in Leiden, so he was constantly working to help us in our daily lives. Therefore, we wanted to take him out to show him our gratitude. Everyone pitched in and we got him a 200 Euro gift-certificate to a nice clothing store in Leiden. He was always well-dressed, so we figured he would appreciate that the most. Below is a picture of a few of us in the program with Gregor, who was standing in the middle:

     It is true, I am very sad to leave. Part of me wishes I could stay in Leiden for the whole year, as it was such a quaint and friendly town. However, the rest of me knows how much different China will be from anything that I am used to. Therefore, I know that every day will offer excitement and adventure. Next stop: Shanghai for a week to attend the World Expo.

Another Great Place to Live

     Life in the Netherlands has been really nice. The people are very friendly, which was much different than my experience in Switalia (Italian Switzerland). Don’t get me wrong, the Italians and the Swiss are both pretty friendly, but they were very particular and less accepting towards different views. However, everything comes at a cost, as nobody is perfect. Because the Dutch are so open-minded, they tend to be very honest. They will tell you exactly how they think or feel, even if it is an insulting comment. I was speaking to a pretty girl in Leiden (who knows why?) that said, “I hate Amer” and stopped herself when she realized what she was saying. She corrected herself and said she doesn’t hate Americans, she only ‘dislikes them’. I asked her why and her response is that we Americans just tell people what they want to hear even if it’s not the truth. I responded, “Hmm, so you think that’s true about all 270-300 million people that live there?” I dug a little deeper, and learned that her father was American, and that they didn’t have a good relationship. Other than her, everyone else has been pretty accepting and friendly.

     My dormitory is very accommodating. All 14 of us live in the building with another 100 or so full-time students. My room, pictured above, has all of the necessities. Behind me is my little kitchenette, with two stove plates, a small refrigerator, a sink, and a couple cabinets. There is also a comfortable chair with a lamp for reading, and a small bathroom that resembles one in a cabin of a cruise ship (very small, and all solid plastic). If you look closely you will see that my bed was originally a bunkbed. After a few mornings of climbing down the little ladder, and not wanting to get out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or get water, I decided to take down the mattress and place it on the floor where my desk was. This was one of the best moves I think I have made here. The dormitory is situated on one of the largest canals in Leiden, with a nearby windmill and drawbridge. 

     Above is a picture of the canal I live on, with my dorm being the building on the left side. If you click on the image, you can see the drawbridge and windmill, which are pictured up close below. The windmill is pretty historic. It has been rebuilt on the same ground, but Rembrandt’s mother used the windmill that was there before to mix up his paint. Sometimes a few friends and I would go sit on the steps on a nice afternoon, taking in the views and trying to appreciate where we were... sure is tough to be happy there.

     Classes have been going very well. My Statistics class is surprisingly fun, as my Dutch teacher is quite engaging and loves to make comparisons between the Dutch and American people. When teaching us hypothesis testing he often likes to make references to the fact that the Dutch are the tallest people in the world, claiming that the average Dutch male is equal to or greater than 185 cm (6’1”). In Marketing, it’s very exciting to be taking a course in the Amsterdam World Trade Center and to be able to go out for dinner and drinks in Amsterdam afterwards.

     This is a picture with a random street musician I found while wandering around Amsterdam. I wanted a picture of him, so I placed a Euro or two in his guitar case, got my picture, then he insisted on me getting in the picture with him. He was pretty talented. If you look closely, he has a tambourine on his left foot to keep a beat. Amsterdam is a pretty wild place, but the most exciting thing is the fact that there is something to do for everyone there. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but, just like every other place I have been, I find myself falling in love with the Netherlands, as well. 

Saying Goodbye to Lugano

On Thursday I left for Lugano, Switzerland, to close my apartment for the weekend. Getting there was quite an adventure. I booked my flight through RyanAir (cheap airfare), and their airport was in Eindhoven, Netherlands. My flight was scheduled to depart at 8:50 a.m., so I had to wake up early to get there. Being cautious as to not miss my flight, I left Leiden on the 4:23 a.m. train. From Leiden, I had to get off the train at the Hague. Here, I had to find the bus station, and take a bus to Scheidam. When I arrived at Scheidam, I had to go to the train station, and take a train to Rotterdam. However, my train to Rotterdam never came. So, I had to wait for the next train out. I began to get nervous that something else would go wrong and I wouldn't make my flight. I caught the next train, though, and headed to Rotterdam.When I arrived at Rotterdam, I switched trains, and got on a train to Eindhoven. Upon arrival in Eindhoven, I hopped on the #401 bus to the airport. After all of this moving, I arrived at the airport at 8:15, and check-in closed at 8:20. I got very lucky, but I am still surprised at the fact that it took me almost 4 hours to get to the airport! The flight was only 1.5 hours. Crazy.
     I arrived in Bergamo, Italy, at about 10:30 a.m., and I hopped on a bus to Milan Central Station. Once there, I was able to board a train to Lugano. Arrival in Lugano was a nice feeling. The weather was beautiful and I had become comfortable in the city by living there for two years. It was very hot, but I didn't mind, as I hadn't seen the sun since I arrived in Europe. I walked from the train station to my apartment, where I met my old roommate, Avo Murdock. We had to spend Thursday and Friday clearing out the apartment, and have it inspected at 4 p.m. Friday. It was sad to see the apartment empty. There were so many good memories. Here is my bedroom, which doubled as a 'hangout' room:

We somehow were able to clear the apartment in two days, and without a car! Apparently, you can only throw out furniture on trash day (no more than 4 times a year), and trash day was the week before. But, we sold a few items, gave a few pieces to some of the cooks at Franklin, and donated the rest to the local thrift store. On Friday, the inspector came, checked the apartment thoroughly, and took our keys. I remember telling Avo that it was a terrible feeling that someone was telling us what to do in our own apartment.
   But, to have it done felt nice, as well. I was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend in Lugano. There were some friends there that I hadn't seen in at least a year, and that was nice. I stayed at a buddies apartment close to the train station and downtown, which was convenient, as there was a free music festival downtown. It was called Blues to Bop, and it was great Jazz and Blues music.

     There were four stages similar to the one pictured above, and they were all located in similar large plazas (piazza in Italian). The music was very good, and we even heard covers of Otis Redding, Bob Marley, and other similar bands. It was interesting to see the Swiss enjoying this music. At first, we didn't think they were enjoying it, because they were not dancing. Then, we found out that they were not dancing because of the fact that they are Swiss. They just don't dance! Very strange.
    On Saturday and Sunday, we spent the daytime at the lake and at perhaps my favorite park in the world, Pink Castle Park, pictured below.

Here we are playing frisbee, with perhaps the most beautiful backdrops that can be found. Here is a picture of the left side of the view from the edge, where the guy in the red shirt is standing:

     You really have to see this view to take it all in. It may look great as is, but the picture really doesn't even show how great the view is. This is only a small part of the large panoramic view. But, for those of you that know them, Chip and Robbie ate on top of the large mountain peak on the right. I have yet to see pictures from that view.
     I spent the rest of my free time on the lake. The water felt fantastic, but the sun felt even better. I had been a bit sick since I came out to Europe, and while in the sun, it was almost as if I could feel myself getting better. But here's a view from lakeside:

     This is a view of the other end of Lugano. I hiked the mountain in the middle a couple of times. It took about 3 hours to get to the top. Great workout.
    On Sunday, I had to make my way to Bergamo for my flight on Monday morning. The flight left at 7 a.m., and this was too early to take buses from Lugano to Bergamo. I couldn't find any reasonable hostels, so I decided I would head to Bergamo as late as possible, and just sleep in the airport. I left Lugano at 10 p.m., hopped on a bus in Milan, and arrived at Bergamo airport at 2 a.m. When I walked in I was surprised to see how many people were scattered around the airport sleeping. I found an open spot next to a wall and dozed off with my backpack as my pillow. I slept for about two hours before an airport security guard woke me up commanding something. I was expecting a few different Italian phrases, but what he said must have been some serious slang, because I didn't understand a single word of it. I just guessed he was saying I couldn't sleep there. So, I decided to walk around for bit until the gates opened. The flight left on time, and I was back in Leiden by noon. I had a great weekend, but traveling to-and-from definitely wasn't the best traveling experience I've encountered. Let's just say I probably will not fly RyanAir ever again.

Settling into Leiden

     One week has passed since I have been in Europe for grad school. I am still settling in and getting adjusted to the time difference. It's too exciting, and everyone seems to be getting along much better than we probably should... I haven't gotten into a good sleep pattern yet. I'll just say that we all like to explore the nightlife, as well.
     Our first classes have been pretty enjoyable. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, considering each class is 4 hours long. On Mondays, I have Statistics from 6-10 p.m. with a dutch professor. The class is less than two minutes from my apartment, which is very convenient. The class seems like it should be more interesting than your average statistics course. He said that we do not need to memorize most of the equations, as it is unnecessary for most in the business world. I like this kind of "open-book" policy, because people can use books and calculators in the real world. However, I can remember having difficulty understanding certain theories in advanced accounting, so we'll see how the class develops.
     My second class is Marketing on Wednesdays from 1-5 p.m. with a Canadian professor. He has lived in the Netherlands for almost 25 years, and he seems very knowledgeable about different corporations and their marketing strategies. I feel that I will really enjoy this class, as the professor is very engaging and because I seem to enjoy marketing. I have always liked psychology (why we do the things we do), and I think this may be one of the reasons I enjoy marketing. Marketing is all about how to apply to people and create needs out of wants. But, one of the coolest things about the course is its location. The Marketing class will be in the Amsterdam World Trade Center! Here is a picture:

     I have a third course, but it is all online. The course is called Cross-Cultural Management, and it stretches out until December. The course is pretty neat, as we will have online seminars and discussions without ever having to meet in person.

     These courses all seem exciting, and all the professors seem to be very enthusiastic about the subjects. But, the course will be very challenging, as each course should require between 8-15 hours of work each week. So, while I have all this excitement around me, I have to make myself sit down regularly and be prepared to spend at least 30 hours a week on work. This should be a good test for me, as I have discovered that I tend to wait until the last minute to tackle assignments. But, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, as I enjoy my classes so far and I have somewhat already realized how valuable this MBA will be.  I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

Arrival in Leiden

     On Saturday morning at 10 a.m., I left Memphis on a flight to Amsterdam. With the hopes of trying to sleep the entire flight, I did not sleep the night before. I'm not sure my friends would not have let me sleep if I wanted to anyways.

     I arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 6 a.m. on Sunday, and caught my train to Leiden, the first location for grad school. When I arrived, I quickly threw my bags down in my room and began to wander around. I was too excited to try and sleep. I walked around Leiden for an hour or two, and was fascinated at how laid-back the city (more like town) was. The weather is perfect, with highs around 65-70 F. It has been mostly overcast, but little rain. So far so good, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

     Leiden is a college town, with roughly 118,000 inhabitants. Leiden is home to the Netherlands' oldest university, Leiden U., with about 20,000 students. It is also the birthplace of the artist Rembrandt. What may be even more historical, Leiden was a location in which many Protestants fled to in order to avoid persecution. Here, many people, along with John Robinson, met regularly in a church before setting sail for America aboard the Mayflower. Pretty historical, right? I'm surprised I had never heard of Leiden.

     The city is conveniently located between The Hague (10 minutes) and Amsterdam (35 minutes). In fact, one of my courses, Marketing, will be in the Amsterdam World Trade Center. Being near the coast, Leiden is full of canals, arguably just as beautiful as Venice. There are also lovely old-style dutch windmills all over the Netherlands, and Leiden has two of its own.

     My program consists of 14 members of the Global MBA cohort. Everyone seems very friendly and well-educated. There are 7 guys and 7 girls, ranging from ages 21 to 30. We all seem to have a passion for traveling, and everyone has specific places they are trying to see. We will have class on Mondays (6-10 p.m.) and Wednesdays (1-5 p.m.). Outside of class, the teachers are expecting us to do quite a bit of reading and writing. However, as long as we do it (fingers crossed), we should be able to work while traveling.

     My goals for the near future are to attend class, form travel plans for the next few weeks, and buy a used bicycle to ride around the Netherlands. Hopefully the next post will be a little less informative and, perhaps, contain some stories of our settling in.