It’s not often that in our professional working lives that we get an opportunity that comes along to take a trip all the way to the other side of the world. When some classmates decided it would be a great adventure to go with the full time MBA program on their international trip to China I was not ready to jump on board by any means… I have a job and getting the time off might be difficult, I just got engaged so spending 10 days away from my fiancé made the decision even more difficult.
For future PMBA students I will have to say I am absolutely thrilled that I took this opportunity to go and see part of the world I would probably never have seen on my own. If you have a chance DO IT! The trip is almost completely planned out for you with a little bit of free time to go out on your own and explore for yourselves.
My China experience was amazing with many exciting opportunities to sightsee and of course the projects with our Chinese companies that we had partnered with to help. The trip began in Beijing where we found out that we were staying at one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at Renaissance Beijing Capital hotel (amazing hotel I recommend it) we had a fun welcome dinner which was setup Chinese buffet style with the Lazy Susan (which is a rotating tray place on the tabletop) this made us be more social than we would at a formal dinner at home as you are sharing the food on the table.
During our trip we got to see many things with our wonderful tour guides in Beijing we got to see Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China (we also got to ride the toboggan slide down from the top of the wall what a fun experience that was) and the US Embassy in Beijing. Our next stop took us to Xiamen where we met with the companies that we had been working for the past two months. These companies were all so very grateful for our hard work and we ended our two days in Xiamen with a thank you dinner with a ceremony with awards of appreciation presented to the company sponsors.
Nearing the end of our trip with only two days left we took the high speed train to Shenzhen for a visit to Peking University’s Business School. What an amazing building they have it’s no wonder that they are the number 1 school in China. A quick visit leaves us at our final destination Hong Kong. Nothing was planned for our group except for a farewell dinner the night before we leave so as soon as we got there it was all free time. I got to see the city from almost 1,300 feet up in the 5th tallest building in the world the ICC Building.
I have to say I don’t think I have favorites on this trip, of course the wall and Forbidden City were amazing, the warmer weather in southern china was much appreciated and seeing the Hong Kong skyline at night from the farewell dinner topped off an amazing trip.
If any PMBA’s feel like they might consider one of these trips feel free to ask me about it. If you feel like you might be on the fence about it I have just one thing to say, DO IT! Why? Because it’s an opportunity of a lifetime and the experience you gain from any of these trips is golden.
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