Gabrielle P. Frazier - May 20, 2010

Completion. I was given the opportunity of visiting an amazing place here in China which is known as one of the richest provinces in China.

Known for the breath taking typography, my group members and I soon fell in love with this excursion. We were able to see hills, unbelievable gardens and even replicas of the very “Great Wall.” Indeed this experience is one of the most memorable of all. As my classmates and I walked through the gardens, we saw beautiful vegetables and fruits as well as an array of flowers. The natural fragrance seemed to have cast a cultural spell on us all, leaving us speechless because of what we were in the midst of and now apart of, beauty at the most natural and simplest form.

After leaving the gardens we rode an electric car up a mountain. This mountain and overall view once the top was reached was a feeling that we all longed for, although we had not realized this feeling was longed for before. The term “completion” spoke loudly once I reached the very top, and a certain fulfillment of satisfaction was granted that can only be received through this term. Of course after staring at all the beauty before me in awe, a glance of the land below seemed necessary. To actually see where we all had come from, which was many miles below, only made the satisfaction of completion that much sweeter. The emotions and feelings felt prior to getting in the electric car such as fear and uncertainty was revealed and differentiated between the undeniable truth, the top must be reached!

Rodney Wince - May 17, 2010

周末和朋友说. I hope all of you are doing well. I am having a great time in Nanjing, China. This past weekend was great.

On this past Saturday, I visited some of my friends who attend the Nanjing University of Economics and Finance. This is a great school. We started the day with me helping them to develop their English listening ability. After this we went for a walk around the area. This school’s library is inside a ball. I called it the ball of knowledge. It is really amazing. I also walked across their pond. In order to do this, I had to walk across circular stones that stood on top of long columns. It was a unique experience. After I finished touring their campus, I was taken to another school’s campus. We went to the campus of Nanjing Normal University. This campus was very similar to those in America. We walked across this campus until we reached the basketball court. Once we reached our destination, we saw that there was a basketball tournament taking place. I wanted to join in and play, but I did not have anyone to play on my team. The grand prize was a cell phone. There was also a space jump, and a rock climbing wall on the court. When we left the basketball court we went to go eat. We ate at the local school cafeteria. It was truly a great meal, and a wonderful display of friendship. I really love my friends. We had a very awesome day.

Today I went to my first Chinese barbeque. Tishira Echols and I were taken to a barbeque by my language partner Yu Le, and his girl friend Hen Hen. We left Ho Hai University at 10:00A.M. We went to the supermarket to buy the food. Once we had purchased the food, we walked to the park. I did not know what to expect. I was thinking of the typical American barbeque. Once we arrived I saw many people sitting around laughing and having a good time. The style of barbeque that we attended was similar to a hot pot. The attendant lit our charcoals for us. Then he gave us the spices, chopsticks, plates, and everything else that we needed. It was quite nice. Once we finished our meal, we took a walk through the park. The park was very beautiful. It had many gardens, and I took many pictures. Once we left the park, we returned to Ho Hai University where I then took a nap. When I awakened from my nap I had dinner at Jackie’s Café. The food at this establishment is very delicious. I am not back in my dormitory writing this blog about my fabulous weekend. I hope the readers of this blog enjoy what I have to say. Have a good night’s rest. I am about to sleep. 晚安！

Jamyla Rogers - May 12, 2010

This week was a good week. I went to my Chinese classes, enjoyed them, as I always do, and learned new Chinese words and characters.

After my favorite class on Friday, TJ, Anuy, and I started celebrating Anuy's graduation early. The whole weekend was a celebration. Friday afternoon TJ took Me and Auny to this restaurant that severs good noodles. I was so full, those were the best noodles I have had since I have been in Nanjing. Later on that night we had a small per-graduation party for Auny in our friend Dean's room. There we had fruit salad (that we made), pizza, a photo shoot, and fun. I made Auny a graduation hat out of a take-out box. The next day, which was Saturday, I got up, clean my room, walked three miles, and prepared my-self for the evening. This evening was the big party for Auny's graduation. We all got dressed to impress, took another big photo shoot, and went out every where under the moon. Every where we went, we had to take photos. I showed Auny had to pose like Marylin Monroe. After our dancing/partying time was over, TJ had his mouth set for some DUCK HEAD!. He was talking about it when we were leaving the party spots. When we got to the location where he buys his duck head, the place was closed. He started holding on to the building crying "meiyou maidanlao" meaning: don't want to have Mac Donald. It was a good weekend and I am looking forward to the up coming week.

Tishira Echols - May 17, 2010

Today was an adventure. I woke up around eight thirty and went to the bank to meet Ayian, so she could help me get my debit card back from the bank.

It had been retained a few days before after getting stuck in the ATM. After getting my card back, I thanked her and went back to my dorm room and made a few phone calls on Skype. Then I hopped in the shower and threw on some clothes, grabbed my backpack with my school books and headed out, ready to begin my day.


I decided that I would start the day with a chicken sandwich, and another piece of chicken to eat when I reached the top of Gujimingsi, which was my destination for the day. I didn't know much about it, but I had read it was a place where I could have an excellent view of the whole city after climbing the tower. I figured this would be a relaxing, as well as a safe activity for me, as my laoshi (teacher) had told me it was not far from the University. Little did I know, it would be a long time before I got there.

I started off getting on bus 20, which goes to quite a few historic spots. I could not hear the bus stops being announced, so I ended up getting off at a stop I thought was the bus station for bus 20. Unfortunately, it was not. I asked to girls standing at the stop how I should get to the bus stop I needed and they told me the easiest way was to take bus 11 and get off at the second stop. Even though they only spoke Chinese, somehow, they helped me to understand how to read the bus stop signs correctly. I had been reading them somewhat correctly at first, but they showed me that the characters went up to down, not right to left, and some had alternate names in parentheses.

After arriving at the correct bus stop, I remembered that Zhang laoshi said that I would need to ask people in the area which way to walk. I asked several people, who gave me conflicting directions (at least from what I understood) and ended up walking back and forth on the same street and through an unfamiliar neighborhood, only to have 2 security guards tell me I was headed the wrong way altogether and would need to walk all the way back to the bus stop.

Finally, after wandering for over an hour, I saw a middle-schooler. I knew this would be the easiest person to communicate with. Unfortunately, I was unable to express the exact place I was looking for in Chinese. After a minute, she said, "Wait, you speak English."

Then she told me to take a right, take a left, and then a right again when I saw a small mountain. I gave her a big smile and told her thank you. I wished I had told her she was extremely good at speaking English, but she disappeared before it fully registered in my mind that a small Chinese middle-schooler who had just given me directions.

Right before I got to the tower, I wandered into a park. Tired of walking, I decided to sit down there because it was so pretty and study Chinese characters for a while. Finally, my eyes got tired, and I figured I should get up and make my last right turn. Once again, I ran into security guards. "It has to be here", I thought. This is the right street.

I smiled at the security guards, who probably figured I was crazy and kept walking. Finally, I saw a sign and an arrow pointing to where I needed to walk. I walked up a long hill, but at the entrance I saw everyone handing the man a ticket. I sighed. "Now how do I buy a ticket in Chinese... and where are they getting these things anyway?"

I kept walking and saw the ticket counter and a sign that read Xianwu Lake. I looked at the ticket counter and back at the sign for the lake. I had been wanting to go to the lake forever. The sign said the tower closed at 5:30. I had plenty of time. I wandered around in the lake area. I saw a funeral ceremony or something similar, several photo shoots, numerous brides and grooms, families, and even couples just hanging out. The area was so beautiful and peaceful. I was actually tired of walking by this time and wasn't able to travel the whole parameter, but I knew I would be back again. I still wanted to climb to the top of the tower before they closed it for the day, so I made my way back out of the lake area and down the long hill to the entrance to the tower. There were so many stories I almost couldn't believe it. I was so tired, I didn't think I would ever make it to the top.

Along the way, I realized that the tower was some type of temple. There were statues and big sculptures of people on the walls. I also noticed that on each level, the people stopped to give their thanks and pray. I was a little afraid to take pictures, but I took a few because I saw that some of the people had cameras.

When I finally made it to the top, it was so beautiful! I was a little afraid that I might fall, but I could see everything, the whole city. I wished I could stay for a few more hours, but I still had to climb back down before they closed. I made it down about 5 flights before my muscles started tightening up. I had to stretch and then walk very slowly, but finally I made it down. Luckily, I knew exactly where the bus stop was. It only took me about ten minutes to get there, as opposed to the almost two hours it had taken that morning.

After waiting for over 20 minutes, I got on bus 20. I believe they were late. It was the most crowded bus I had ever been on in my life. I got off near the school and got dinner. My piece of chicken from earlier, a piece of fried bread from the street, and a fudge sundae from Maidonglai (McDonald's). Then I happily walked back to my sushe (dorm) and climbed in the bed to give my legs a good, long rest. It had been a good day, a very good day, indeed.


~Tishira Echols


Ai Ting Sha

Tishira Echols - May 5, 2010

Today, I had a blast!

I woke up and went to Chinese class, which was fun, as always. After class I took a short nap. When I awakened, I walked outside to visit my friend Ka Ka at the night market. While visiting with him, he introduced me to his big sister. I had a bit of trouble conversing with her because I did not understand everything she was saying in Chinese and she did not speak much English. She was very nice, though, and since it was hot outside, she told me I should pick out a dress. I politely explained that I did not have any money, but that I would come back another day. In the meantime, Ka Ka gave me a book to look through to see if there were any designs I liked and told me he would give me a dress for 50 RMB because we were friends. Usually, he only bargains as low as 65 RMB for the local people.

While I was looking through the view book, I heard someone call my name. It was Rodney's language partner. We exchanged greetings and he introduced me to his girlfriend. She was very shy, but we had fun finding a dress for her and she helped me find a dress that would look nice on me, so I would know exactly what I wanted to buy next time.

Later that evening, around nine o'clock, Rodney, his language partner, and I walked to a Mexican restaurant, called "Behind the Wall" to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, with some of Rodney's Hispanic friends. It was a lot of fun. Rodney's language partner tasted Mexican food for the first time, and loved it! We also played "UNO" together. Patrick joined us, as well as a Chinese couple who was sitting in the corner. In the end, we played a game that was a mix between Spanish, American, and Chinese "UNO." It was great because we were all able to communicate with each other and everyone learned new words in a different language. I look forward to many more times like this in China.


Tishira Echols

Jamyla Rogers - May 7, 2010

Today was a great day. I did a good job on my Chinese exam, the weather was so beautiful, the sun was shinning, and the birds chirping.

I went walking around the school track and watched TJ and Auny play soccer with some of our new friends from Africa. It was so funny watching them try to kick the ball and falling over each other. After we all played, I, Auny, TJ, and our friends Helder, Dean, Calvin, and more; all went out for a night on the town. Every place we went to we danced, we danced the night away. We all had and have the best times with each other. It is funny, when I first got here it was hard for me to smile. Now I can't stop smiling. The language I am beginning to understand and I am enjoying learning the Chinese language. I am making so many friends, friends that I know will be around for a long time. I am beginning to understand that when certain situations happen, at that time I may not understand and am sad; but as time goes on, I realize that those situations happened to set me up for something better and my next move in life. God has a plan for me and I see that he lets situations happen to me to make me stronger and move me where he wants me to be. All I know and can say now is that my direction has changed and is looking very promising.

Jamyla Rogers - May 6, 2010

This weekend Auny and I helped TJ with his charity event project at his internship with Pfrang Association.

Pfrang Association is a charity organization that raises funds to help send Chinese children to school who cannot afford to go. It was a successful event. TJ did a great job. The whole event was a success and I had a lot of fun. TJ's boss Dominik had his band perform at the event. He was the drum player. TJ, Auny, and I got on the dance floor and showed the them how JSU dance. We showed them Hip-Hop, they showed us salsa. We had a lot of fun. I am very proud of TJ. Even though TJ is my didi (younger brother) and Auny is my meimei (younger sister), I am learning a lot from them. I am very glad that we have this opportunity to learn each other and become friends. They are God sent

Jamyla Rogers - May 5, 2010

I had the best time this weekend.

TJ and I went on a weekend trip to AnhuiTianzhu Mountain, with Hohai University, the university we are studying abroad at. My legs got the best work out ever. We had to climb this huge mountain. There was stairs for days. When I thought we were at the top of the mountain, I looked to the right and there were hundreds of more stairs. It took us five and half hours to reach the top of the mountain and go back down. I was so tired, but when I reached the top, the world looked so different. I had never seen anything like that before. I felt like I was flying. I looked up and the sky was so close, as if I could reach up and touch it. God sure can make the most beautiful things. The next day we went to the water fall on the mountain and canoing. I had a lot of fun and I made new friends. This weekend was peaceful and great. Just what I needed.

Patrick Shell - May 4, 2010

Today Thursday April 15, 2010 is what I would call the most productive day of the internship thus far.

I, Jamyla Rogers, Rodney Wince, Antonay Hughes and Gabrielle Frazier worked at the EI office. Each team was given the assignment of mind-mapping three scenario cases for their business. One case being if the business had $100,000 invested who are the targeted customers, what type of products would be sold, the sales platform, our staffing needs and, what would be our marketing approach. The other two scenarios were if no money was invested and if $10,000 dollars was invested. All questions had to be addressed for each case. Adam-Paul Smolak then drilled each team with questions about their decisions for each activity and each case as they presented their findings.


After a week when some students were in a state of confusion about the details and actual validity of the internship the exercise proved to be important. I believe we all got a chance to see the business know how, experience, leadership that Mr. Smolak has to offer. Also each day I am growing more and more positive that experience is the best teacher. I am learning so much about being a team player and how one person cannot account for the success of a group. Not too long before we departed the U.S. Dr. Granger told me that when you think you know a little bit about some it is usually then that you find out you know nothing at all. I will continue to keep an open mind and let this experience mold me into a better person, student and, businessman. Until next time Zai Jian!!!!

Photographs of JSU students in China

JSU Interns and E. I. Institute staff

Internship Class

Rodney Wince with Hohai University students

Tyeisha Walton - May 3, 2010

I am excited to tell that my time here in China has been an adventure. I enjoy learning and exploring every inch China has to offer.

 As you know, I am enrolled in three different Chinese classes. All three classes have been a challenge that I have grown to appreciate. Each teacher is as helpful and ready to provide me with the best methods and the best learning tools I need to strengthen my Chinese. With their professional assistance, I can not only learn the language, but also I can claim it as my own. As an intern at the Sheraton Hotel, my most recent assignment was to create a PowerPoint presentation that markets one of Nanjing’s most exciting events, the Dragon Boat Race. The presentation went very well, and I look forward to great feedback in response. Most recently, my colleagues, Rodney Wince, Patrick Shell, and I were fortunate enough to get a chance to volunteer with a local radio station to visit a middle school in the Northern Jiansu Province of China to teach English to seventh graders.

After a mere three hours of traveling, we finally reached our destination. They greeted us as celebrities from the time we stepped off the bus with a red carpet arrival, cameras and media everywhere, and hundreds of children cheering and singing and playing their welcome drums. The red carpet led us to the school gymnasium where we were welcomed by many more students and the school administration. After being welcomed and introducing ourselves as not only foreigners, but also Americans, we received a standing ovation. I truly felt an outpour of love and honors fill the room. The students gave several performances, including instrumentals, singing, and a play. We even got a chance to participate in different games and dances with the students. After each event we joined in on, we were swarmed with dozens and dozens of students at once asking for our autographs. As one can imagine, this was quite a feeling! After this portion of the trip was concluded, we left for a local restaurant for lunch where we were greeted with fireworks. This was quite the honor. After lunch, we traveled back to the school as we prepared our classess.

Gabrielle P. Frazier - May 1, 2010

There are so many lessons to be taught. So much to grasp and understand, sometimes only by isolation and through new beginnings.

Today was another amazing day for me. I have been learning new lessons everyday here, reminding me that everyday is a new day and a new opportunity to learn if attentive. As my roommate and I walked down the hill just as we do everyday, preparing to go about our usual day, we stumbled on a lesson of respect being taught. What a beautiful lesson, new just as all the others.

A local grandmother walked with her grandchild which is very common here. Her granddaughter had to have been maybe two or three, however there is no such thing as too young or too old to learn or adapt. “Ni Hao” is a very common greeting, a common translation of “Hello.” However culturally “Ayi Hao” is a form of respect reserved for the older or elderly and most respected of individuals. Instead of these particular locals saying “Ni Hao,” the grandmother looked at us and pointed instructing her granddaughter to say “Ayi Hao.” Despite our ethnicity, cultural differences and perhaps inability to comprehend what was being said or taught, an important lesson was taught in our midst. Respect despite anything else is reserved and owed to all humankind.

Tyeisha Walton - April 30, 2010

It gives me great pleasure to inform you of my experience thus far in China.

Since I touched down at the Shanghai International Airport, I have felt a full appreciation of the decision I made to intern and study abroad in such an area. As you know, I am accommodated at Hohai University where I attend Chinese Classes each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I absolutely love my classes. Each teacher I have is very focused on making sure that I, along with my colleagues, are properly learning and retaining each lesson given. I have also been given a language partner that I can contact if I am in need of any additional help. As an intern, I work at the Sheraton Hotel in the Public Relations department. There I am responsible for marketing a very large event for the Sheraton Hotel and the entire Nanjing community, the Dragon Boat Race.

Initially, I did have questions as to what my duties generally were, but as of now, I have a much clearer understanding. One recent task that I was asked to perform was to make a PowerPoint presentation that would market the Dragon Boat Race to potential sponsors. I was given positive feedback, and definitely look forward to participating in the upcoming event. As you would imagine, it is very difficult to juggle Chinese classes, my internship, along with assignments at Jackson State University. However, in my leisure time I do try to complete many, if not all, assignments in due time. When classes are finished in Jackson, I do plan to travel throughout China until the following semester arrives. As of now, I feel that most interns are doing well in this program. In the beginning, I noticed a few of us had the initial cultural shock. At this moment, I think everyone has grown accustomed to the different aspects of China, not only in the business world, but also in China’s everyday life. Again, I do appreciate and love every second here in China, and I look forward to enjoying the remainder of my time here in Nanjing with the rest of my colleagues.

Antonay Hughes - April 30, 2010

Ni Hao Everyone!!!! Whoever said that time flies when you're having fun wasn't lying.

This week flew by & was very eventful but I'll start with my past weekend. Last Saturday, April 24, we attended a charity gala hosted by the Pfrang Association, which is where Terrance is interning. It was the 10th annual charity gala and its purpose was to raise money for children in nearby provinces who are not financially stable enough to go to school. Their motto is "Education, a gift for life." The gala was beyond successful & we had a ball dancing, mingling & playing games while giving & raising money to support the cause. Not to mention the fact that Terrance did a GREAT job & I enjoyed volunteering my time to the organization. Afterward, TJ, Jamyla & I had our own little night out on the town & laughed from the time we got to our location until we stepped back into our dorms. The next day we pretty much took it easy and talked about the previous night.

We had our first Chinese exam this week, which had us all on pins & needles the entire week. Now either the test was extremely easy or I studied very hard, either way I did very well & walked out of that room proud of myself & ready to eat! Soooo afterward, eat is exactly what I did. I went with a friend to an Indian restaurant for the first time & it was pretty good. Oh yea, I rode on a motor cycle for the first time also & Lord knows I was so scared. Especially considering the fact that Chinese people aren't the best drivers. However, I still enjoyed myself. Today, which is Friday, we had half of our language class in the classroom & the other half at our teacher's house right down the street. That was a good learning experience because she quizzed us the whole way there and asked or told us the names of things in Chinese as we walked. I just came from the track not too long ago. For some odd reason I felt like running & walking. I also went bike riding & TRIED to play soccer. As fun as it was trying to play soccer, it didn't work out very well. However, I plan to go & play again next week. Well, I'm going down the street to the night market now to walk this KFC off that I just had delivered & later out to the club. Talk to you guys later.