I am originally from Morocco and having spent a year in China, I started catching the homesickness bug, or should I call it the homefoodsickness. I am doing my MBA in Nanchang, Jiangxi, a small city (in Chinese standards) which is not very international, so whenever I travel to a...
Born in Vietnam and subsequently emigrating to America, I feel like I have had the best of both worlds. Growing up, I would spend hours locked to my television screen watching Chinese historical dramas and soap operas, sometimes as much as 5 hours or more per day. My sisters would...
Anyone who has dared venture outside their apartment door is immediately greeted by the diverse sights and smells that a cultural hub like Beijing has to offer. One particularly poignant sight is the 8am rush on the Beijing subway. On the streets above, pedestrians constantly bump into each other, cars...
The beauty, cuisine, and the sheer size of the homogenous population in Beijing have left many tourists blown away by its dissimilarity to the Western world. Prior to my arrival in Beijing, I had heard so many examples of these differences and perhaps it was the ultra-alertness and expectations I...
There is a burgeoning Internet population here in China. Despite Facebook and Twitter not being available within the country, their replacements are widely used by locals who seem to be more and more addicted to these forms of Chinese social media. Types of Chinese Social Media Here in China, the...
Tsingtao is the brand name of one of the most popular beers that China can offer. Tsingtao beer is currently produced in Qingdao and is exported to more than 50 countries, including Germany. As you may know, Germany holds the reputation of being one of the premier beer countries in...
There is no denying that communication is a two-way street. Most of the time, it involves two people physically talking back and forth. However, communication can also be utilized through non-verbal language, a skill-set I have become increasingly familiar with and one that I would consider as my personal non-verbal...
Although traveling to China is not a new occurrence for me, each subsequent visit has welcomed me with interesting and different forms of Beijing culture shock. The first time I visited Beijing, I came on a whim. It all began three summers ago. An e-flyer for a study abroad program...
