Week 01 Shenzhen, China

                                     Week 01 – Toronto to Guangzhou

After a long 15 hour flight out of Toronto, we finally landed in Guangzhou, China!
 We took a car 154 KM to a city called Shenzhen. Our first week we spent most of our time at Shenzhen Institute of Technology (SIT). We absolutely loved the time we spent there. The students were so friendly, the staff were amazing and we made a joke that while we were there we didn’t know whether or not we felt like Celebrities or Aliens! The people in the community were stopping on the street to take pictures of us and all of the SIT students wanted selfies with us. Our highlights of the week were: learning about Chinese tea culture, watching the school sports ceremony and spending time with the students. The tea culture has many different meanings in China, some of which include: education, socializing, and one way to welcome visitors into your home or place of stay.  The overall experience of learning how the tea is traditionally made and served was truly amazing. Our last morning at SIT we had the privilege of going for what is considered “Morning Tea” with the Dean of the International Business Department, Mr. Zhang. Many citizens in China have morning tea often and it is a important part of the social environment in this culture.

During our Pre-Departure many people that we worked with explained to us that the heat in China would be a big change to adapt to. We found out that they were more than right about this. The heat in Shenzhen was fairly hot and muggy, but we have really enjoyed the sunshine! It also was rainy a few days that we were at SIT.

The food was a major culture shock for us especially with being jet lagged and our stomachs not adjusted to the time change. Although we found it challenging we kept an open mind and experienced many different flavours and tastes. If you are planning on coming to China, be aware of this and keep an open mind to try everything. Our Chinese friends gave us a tip that said “If you don’t know what it is your eating, don’t ask before you eat it.”

Our next stop is back to Guangzhou to spend a few days at a school called The Guangzhou Maritime University and deliver a presentation at a few agencies. We are also going for a day visit to Nanhai Zhixin Middle school.

Don’t forget to check out our blog in a few days to see our updates on our new adventures! Feel free to send us any requests of what you would like to see by going to our contact us page!

Below are pictures from our first week!

Introduction about our project for the Marketing Students at SIT

                                                         Traditional Chinese Tea set up                                                    SIT Welcome meeting for us 🙂

A few Chinese breakfast options

Enjoying a variety of Chinese cusine options with our new friends

Student Engagement time at SIT

Presentation preparation 😀

Presenation for the Marketing Students at SIT

Sports Ceremony at SIT