Gordon Ford College of Business News

            The opportunity to take this study abroad class visiting different countries, circling the globe, and meeting all the new and wonderful people has been one of the most unique experiences of my life. I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of this awesome adventure.

            The trip was a success from start to finish. I started experiencing and seeing new things as soon as we flew out of Nashville. I was able to see downtown New York and the Freedom Tower. It was my first time ever flying out of the country or even over the ocean.  It was amazing! We chased the sun for the whole 13-hour flight. Flying over top of Greenland was the best view. It was snow covered and you were able to see glaciers. We arrived in Beijing losing 13 hours; it was a strange feeling.

            After arriving, we hopped on a tour bus and headed to North China Electric Power University. This place would be our home for most of the first week. We had all the commodities of America minus water that we could drink out of the faucet. We were allowed to shower in the water, but we brushed our teeth in nothing but bottled water. There was a nice view of the college’s running track out of our third story window. Since the students wouldn’t even drink the water, every morning they placed two or three gallon jugs on the curb to be filled by the water truck which contained boiled clean water. The first night in Beijing, I became acquainted with chop sticks. I was not very good at first, but after a quick lesson from one of our local hosts, I was able to eat enough to not starve! The second day we toured campus, met some of the students, and attempted conversations. Being in another country and not being able to speak their language can be a bit of a challenge.

            We were able to sit in on a few lectures while we were at the university. It was a new experience sitting in a Chinese class room. The air conditioning did not work in the classroom that we were assigned to for three days, there was also someone using a jack hammer below our classroom window. These were new conditions for learning. Being in that situation really helped me practice on focus.

            The first plant that we visited was Alltech in Tian Jin, which is almost three hours from Beijing. We traveled through rural areas to get to the facility. We got to see how people farmed in the area. I did not see tractors or any other heavy farm equipment, people were generally using hand tools to work the fields, similar to the way we would have a home garden, it was like taking a step back in time. I was impressed with Alltech’s production facility. It was very clean and looked to be well-maintained. We also learned from Alltech that having friends and good connections in China is very important to get your foot in the door and make business happen. You can make anything happen in China; you just have to really work hard with finding connections, and dealing with the government changing policies quite often.

            I enjoyed this experience greatly! I learned so much about the culture, the way that U.S. companies do business in foreign lands, and I learned a whole lot about myself in the two weeks that we were abroad. I feel like this experience has helped me to grow as a person and will help me be more open to different opportunities that come my way whether it be in Owensboro or halfway around the world. I am so blessed to have been able to do this and would recommend this class to anyone.

Note: Luke Brigance was a student in the May 2014 term course in Chinese Business Management taught by George Rasmussen and Terrill Martin. Luke is a Management major studying at the WKU Owensboro Extended Campus.