Noah Zimmerman
Daily Journal Entry
May 10th
What an eventful day. Austin, Shannon, and I almost missed our plane from Japan to Hong Kong
by less than twenty minutes. Since we had been in Japan already, we were better adjusted to the
time but you could see the tiredness in the other study tour members’ eyes. The three of us set
out to do a little exploring in the city and slowly realized the amount of people that truly live in
Hong Kong. It was pouring rain and yet every sidewalk was overrun with people battling to get
through to their destination. I also found it amazing how Hong Kong drivers drive on the
opposite side of the road as the rest of China and we definitely started to notice the British
influence throughout the city. I am excited to see how the rest of the trip turns out but I am
definitely starting to grasp the immense differences in culture between the Western world and
here.
May 11th
This morning we decided as a group to head to Harbor City, which is a famous mall in Hong
Kong. The entire study tour went as a group, which is fun but also slows the whole process
down. We stopped on the way to the mall at this very luxurious hotel and it was neat to see all
the nice cars parked out front. When we got to the mall, we got the first real glimpse at Kowloon
bay. The other side looked incredible and I instantly knew what I wanted to do that day. After the
mall we broke up into groups and half of us went on the ferry towards Kowloon. Once we made
it to Kowloon, we ate lunch at a restaurant famous for their Goose and then went to a big Red
Bull event called Flugtag. I enjoyed the Red Bull event since my brother works for the company
and I feel a personal connection.
May 12th
While JCP was our first company tour, Ocean Park was the company I obviously enjoyed the
most today. We learned just how bad a position the company was in and through clever
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marketing they turned their image around and became extremely successful. While I would love
to write more about this company, I have to admit that I was aching to be able to play in the
theme park and that is just what we did. The theme park is actually built on this side of a
mountain, which makes for amazing views while riding the rides. Going to the theme park
furthered y belief that the Chinese do not believe in orderly lines and instead it is an incredible
free for all to get a spot on the roller coasters. Today was also very sad because I found out a
good friend from school passed away in a car accident.
May 13th
Today we went to the Duty Free Store and Dicks Sporting Goods Sourcing Office. The Duty
Free Store was interesting because of how well they are doing selling luxury goods and because
the Lady that spoke to us was a former UF student. I tried my hardest to keep myself composed
today but I kept thinking about my friend who had died and it made it very difficult to
concentrate. Dicks Sporting goods was interesting and I found it funny how they source for
hunting apparel in Hong Kong where there obviously is not a lot of hunting going on. After the
companies we loaded up on a bus and headed to Shenzhen. Going through customs was
interesting but our whole group made it through without too much grief. Shenzhen seemed a lot
dirtier than Hong Kong and my initial impression was not a good one. I hope I see a better side
of it tomorrow when we walk around.
May 14th
I want to first talk about how amazing the hotel we are at is. Although its hard to justify a twenty
year old college student staying in a five star hotel while on a study abroad, after seeing the
buffet I think I can let it slide. Our first stop of the day was to a counterfeit market. Never in my
life have I felt more pressured in hassled into buying cheap goods than today. The owners would
literally follow you on multiple floors demanding that you at least see what they are selling.
Austin and I ended up with fake Rolexes, which we both instantly regretted. After the shopping
fiasco we headed to Umbra. Umbra was a very interesting company and their products made me
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want to invent things on my own. I definitely appreciated the business card holders they gave us
and thought it was very ironic that our gift to them was the exact same.
May 15th
Today was the busiest day of the trip so far. We started by going to the Brown Shoe Company.
The man who gave us the presentation was hilarious and blunt at the same time. He made some
very inappropriate jokes but I felt we shared a similar humor, which made him very likeable. We
ate lunch at an amazing Thai restaurant and then we headed to a fake mall. I bought a pair of
work out headphones, which actually have made exercising in the hotel a lot more enjoyable. We
then walked across the street to a warehouse stocked to the brim with fake designer goods. I
bought a wallet and a purse for a special lady friend back home. After the shopping spree we
drove to this very expensive and vast buffet where I tried but failed to get my money’s worth.
After all gorging of food we went to the Chimelong hotel and went to a circus. There are very
few times I have felt more tired than tonight.
May 16th
We visited the US consulate today and it was our only tour. It was cool to have to go through so
many layers of security and suddenly you are in a little piece of America. The man who spoke
wore an NFL lanyard around his neck, which immediately attracted a lot of attention from the
men on the trip. There are a lot of internships being offered from the US consulate but after
spending a week in China, I am not so sure I could live here for an unpaid internship. In the
afternoon we went to Shamian Island in Guangzhou. It was my first real feel of street markets
and seemed a lot less modern than the rest of the area. We watched a street vendor kill a cat,
which was very traumatizing to a lot of the group. We also saw a kiddie pool full of scorpions,
which sent tingles down my spine.
May 17th
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We started our day with the Dr Sun Yat Sen memorial. It was pretty interesting but our tour
guide Phillip really struggled with telling us dates of when stuff happened which made it difficult
to put the pieces in a historical timeline. We then visited a temple with some of the most intricate
ivory carvings I have ever seen in my life. After the cultural tours we went to Chimelong for a
company tour. I was very disappointed in the meeting and felt that I did not learn much from
him. I felt very upset that it was a let down because it was the company that I personally
researched and they did not seem to care that we were there and were not very engaging. By the
time we got back to the hotel the rains had started again and we were on our own for food. My
feet were wet and my spirits down but the McDonalds I purchased made it all very worthwhile.
May 18th
Today was one of the highly coveted free days we got on the trip. Austin, Ben, and I decided to
go on a hunt for these shoes that they have been dying to find since arriving in China. We took a
bunch of taxis all through the city but to no avail. We then decided it would be very cool to go up
to the TV tower which I one of the largest freestanding buildings in the world (whatever that
means). It costs almost twenty dollars to go up to the observation platform, which I thought, was
a rip off but then again most touristy things are so we went anyways. The view was less than
desirable due to the smog but I still enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of today. When we got back
to the hotel, Austin and Ben were set on going out, but my bed was calling my name.
May 19th
The company we visited today was Starwood hotels, which is a big hotel chain owner. I found it
fascinating that they changed their business model and no longer own any hotels and instead
lease their services and management teams. The presenters were very accommodating and even
gave us gift baskets, which is always a nice touch in my opinion. They then treated us to lunch
on one of the top floors of the hotels. It is amazing how much free stuff they gave us and I was
definitely appreciative of everything they did. We had a flight later in the day to Shanghai, which
was quite a hectic ordeal. Linda and Phillip entered panic mode and made us feel like we were
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about to miss our flight, which we didn’t at all. Our new tour guide is a young woman who
seems very knowledgeable so I’m excited to hear what she has to say.
May 20th
The morning was a free day, which was spent going all around town and finding out everything
was closed due to a bunch of leaders from Asia being in town for a conference. It was crazy just
how much of a city they could shut down in order to protect important people. I was very upset
we wasted half a day in such an amazing city and I hope I am able to return to Shanghai some
day. In the afternoon we visited City Shop, which is an over priced import super market. They
gave us a free buffet at the restaurant upstairs, which was appreciated by everyone. It was very
hard for me to hear the presentation as the CEO was facing the other way the entire time. I have
a very hard time believing that they are profitable judging from the amount of people shopping in
the store and the vast size of the space. They also let us try their homemade beer, which was
superb.
May 21st
We actually visited a steel plant today! The company is called Baosteel and they produce the
most steel in China. We toured their plant and I was surprised with the amount of heat I could
feel from such a great distance away. The trip to the factory made me sad thinking about all the
employees working in such harsh conditions and earning relatively nothing. We had lunch at
Pizza Hut today, which was by far the best meal I think I have eaten in a while. Pizza Hut is so
much different in Asia than in America and they even take reservations. My stomach was full
and my arteries clogged by the end of the meal but I really did find everything to be delicious
and I wish they would bring that style to America. The last company tour of the day was Online
Design Ltd. A lot of people seemed to enjoy Theo and his bluntness but I found it very rude and
I think it would be impossible for me to work at a company like his.
May 22nd
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We met with the most interesting man today. He was an American working for Jack Wolfskin.
He did not mention his company once but instead gave us a complete overview of what he
thought to be the most important aspects of China. I really appreciated everything he had to say
but the fact that he wants to get out of China as quickly as possible seemed very disheartening. I
found it quite amusing how much he said the Chinese people distrusted Baosteel and loved to
import stuff from other countries. It goes to show that there are really two sides to every story
and take everything you hear with a grain of salt. I’m starting to find that all these company
visits are starting to take a toll on my body and my ability to concentrate. WE visited UCCAL in
the afternoon and I did not like the company at all. I really felt like they should not be in
business.
May 23rd
We checked out of the hotel today really early and got some amusement out of Kevin leaving his
passport in the safe. We went to visit Outback Steakhouse, which was something I had been
looking forward to since the start of the trip. I found it so odd that they did not want to even try
to do Curbside Takeaway, which is a huge percent of their business in the states. The food was
very much like back home except they put a disgusting sauce on the steak, which I wish I did not
order. We then road the high-speed rail to Beijing, which I had also been looking forward to
doing. I expected the ride to be a lot rougher than it was but I was still a five hour train ride
which I could have done without. It is hard to believe my parents came to China in the eighties
and none of this infrastructure was there. It goes to show just how much can be accomplished by
humans in a short amount of time.
May 24th
Today was a day for cultural tours. We visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the
Great Wall. My favorite of the three had to be the Great Wall of China. It is still hard for me to
fathom just how much time and energy was put into this wall and how it has passed the test of
time. If I could have changed one thing about this day it would have been the weather and the
visibility. I was disappointed we could not see the wall more clearly due to the misty rain. Ben
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and I hiked a great distance along the wall and came back with an overwhelming sense of
exhaustion. We got tricked into taking photos with these guys at the bottom who then demanded
a lot of money from all of us. Some battles you just cannot win in this country. We then went to
some buffet for Bill’s birthday, which was pretty mediocre although I left feeling full.
May 25th
Today was our last real free day and I am sad to admit that we might have wasted it. Austin and I
tried going to two fake malls on Alice’s recommendation but we felt as if they were the worst
ones out of all the other ones we have visited on the trip. It was actually quite difficult to
navigate through Beijing as very few people speak any English at all and we definitely felt a
sense of hopelessness if anything were to go wrong. We also ran into some homeless people who
were very mutilated and really disturbed us. I had a feeling that they hoped that the shock value
would allow them to collect more money from people feeling sorry for them but it was very hard
to look at. Austin and I stopped at Hooters for lunch and found it very identical to America
except more expensive. This is the only day I really felt as if I did not get the most out of it. I
also kept thinking about my big Europe trip coming up in just a few days. I was nervous and
excited.
May 26th
This morning we went to the Hyundai factory. I was expecting us to be on our own like the other
meetings have been, but instead we were with another school group and I definitely felt we were
just on a public tour. It was awesome to watch cars get put together as it is a passion of mine but
I wish we had a question and answer session instead of just a brief tour. Later in the day we went
to a company called Right at Home, which specialized, in elderly care. The room was unbearably
hot and I felt as though most people did not want to be there. I calculated the salary of the nurses
and realized I made more as a lifeguard, which is upsetting. As soon as we go back Ben and I got
drinks in the lobby after getting kicked out of a bar for wearing sandals.
May 27th
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51Ants was the first company we visited today. Their goal is to bridge the gap between the
producer and the consumer. I liked the owner’s enthusiasm and his vision. He seemed very
determined and I hope he does well. He only spoke Chinese so I believe a fair amount of what he
said was lost in translation. They gave us lunch at their on site cafeteria which scared me. There
were flies everywhere, which grossed me out and made me sick to my stomach. Later in the day
we visited the Olympic stadium, which was massive. I wish I were more awake for the stadium
because I did not take many pictures, which I assume I’ll come to regret down the line. We
visited and underwater mall next to the stadium that had almost no customers in it. The mall is a
cool concept but it does not seemed to me advertised well or visible from the street.
May 28th
Today is our last day in China and everyone has mixed emotions. We visit JD in the morning,
which has three hour shipping. I am in disbelief at the logistics behind this company. I would say
that JD is Amazon on steroids but without the profitability. JD had just became a publicly traded
company when we visited so they could not tell us much about financial stuff but we got the
sense that they did not turn a profit and did not know when they would. Our final company visit
was Perry Ellis wish the lady barely even mentioned. She was more interested in teaching us
meditation, which was very hard for me to take seriously considering the business atmosphere. I
am all for relaxation but I believe that wasn’t the time or place. We ended the day at a final
group dinner, which was lovely. I was not hungry at all but we had a ton of duck to go around.
I’m going to miss everyone.
May 29th
Ben and I realized we are on the same flight to Russia and to our amazement we are seated next
to each other. After saying our goodbyes to Dr. Oh, We board our plane and land in Russia. It is
still hard for me to believe that I’m not going home. I don’t feel homesick but I definitely miss
my friends and family. After a long layover I board my plane and land in Germany. Berlin is
vastly different than anywhere I have been before so I cannot wait to explore this city and see
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everything it has to offer. My friend from Dartmouth surprised me and came a day early so we
meet in the hotel and catch up. There are very few people you become super close with and I
value his friendship a lot. I will make it back to the states on the 25th of June so I guess this is my
last entry for a while.
Noah Zimmerman
Reflective Journal:
Summing up my past three weeks in China is quite the task. The UF China Retail Study
Tour exposed me to so many new experiences that I will always remember and cherish in my
heart. Although I have been fortunate enough to travel a fair bit before this trip, I had never been
to anywhere in Asia and based my knowledge on pictures my parents have from a trip around the
world from the late eighties. I do not say this lightly when I say how vastly different Asia
appears now then it did in the eighties.
One of my first big realizations happened the moment we stepped off the plane in Hong
Kong. Living in a globalized English language dominated world has made me accustomed to
relying on everyone around me to speak my language. I remember trying to ask a man in English
where to find the taxis and he looked at me without the faintest idea of what I was saying. I knew
from that point forward that my ability to navigate this country would be very dependent on hand
motions, my survival Chinese book, and my a lot of first hand discovery. What made the
interaction even more amazing is that we were told in class that Hong Kong would be the most
western feeling of the cities in China due to the previous British occupation
I must admit that apart from my first interaction, the people of Hong Kong did share
many commonalities with the average city dweller in the United States. The Hong Kong
businessman would walk with a purpose and viewed anybody between him and his destination as
an obstacle. Austin, Shannen, and I were met with some angry glares as we held up sidewalk
traffic while trying to figure out how to navigate the monstrosity of the city, besides the
crowdedness of the streets, we were also faced with the task of trying to avoid the endless maze
of traffic zipping through the intersections. My natural inclination of looking for drivers driving
on the right side of the road was quickly overwritten with my first near death experience of
walking in front of a moving taxi.
The mix of both traditional Chinese and modern Western shops and cuisine were
perfectly interlaced side by side throughout the city. I could not walk more than a block without
seeing a roasted duck hanging from a quaint little restaurant followed by a 711 selling hotdogs
and Coca Cola. The Chinese are very wary of the impact of the outside word and its effects on
China as a whole so we were told that Chinese residents still need to acquire a visa to get into
Hong Kong even though it is owned by China. After visiting there I found that the capitalistic
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nature and freedom of Hong Kong is what truly sets it apart from the rest of the Chinese
mainland.
On the note of capitalism, I would like to make it known how many super cars I saw on
this trip. I am very much into cars and its something I notice first about a place when I visit it. In
my house hangs a picture of thousands of people on bikes going through the city streets.
Bentleys have replaced the bikes and Rolls Royce has overtaken the Rickshaw. If only I could
know what occupations these people have so I could follow in their footsteps.
Hong Kong also gave us our first business meeting. We went to JC Penny’s sourcing
office to learn more about how they go from idea to production of clothes. While they all seemed
to speak English fluently and have an idea of the American taste and demand, I definitely felt
like they did not fully understand the market they were selling to. I asked if they had ever been to
a physical JC Penny location and none of them had. It is hard to believe that they were making
business decisions without ever truly stepping foot in an actual store.
After we went through customs twice on our tour bus, we crossed into what many people
would consider, our first real taste of China. Our destination was the city of Shenzhen and I did
not know what to expect. As we pulled into the city I instantly felt the culture shock. The cliché
statement of being little fish in a big pond is perfect for describing what we were. There were
street vendors on every corner and there was a mix of rundown apartment buildings that looked
like they could blow over with the slightest gusts of wind and big shiny skyscrapers that could
not have been more than a few years old.
We stayed at the Shangri La and I have to admit I felt guilty staying in this nice of a
hotel. While we were bathed in luxury I knew there were people all around Shenzhen struggling
to feed themselves. I tried to keep my mind off of it and check in with my parents but quickly
realized that Facebook was no longer a viable means of communication without first turning on
my VPN.
Visiting the Umbra Factory an hour out of Shenzhen is an experience that I will always
remember. The contrast to the air conditioned and well maintained Umbra offices that we had
visited earlier in the day were so immensely different. While there were no child laborers or
overworked employees that we could see, we definitely got a sense that blue-collar factory
workers did not fair well in China. When someone makes the decision to work in a factory in
China, they really do devote a large portion of their lives to the job. Employees live in Umbra
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owned dorms and take a bus owned by the company to and from the factory on a daily basis. I
was delighted to hear that Target makes sure the factories are safe and that workers aren’t being
mistreated.
Guangzhou was a city I had absolutely no idea about coming into the trip. I had heard
about every other place on our trip through books and television but somehow Guangzhou had
gone under my radar. The Shamian Island was interesting due to it being owned partly by both
the British and the French. We quickly learned through looking around that it was a popular spot
to take wedding pictures because of the French architecture. Near the island we also encountered
our first real Chinese street market. I could not even attempt a guess at what ninety nine percent
of the products offered for sale were. We watched a cat get killed and put into a bag, which was
very traumatizing, but we eventually came to terms with the fact that we are guests in a country
with very different social norms and diets.
I have avoided diets up until now but I want to start off by saying I lost about five pounds
in China. Once the novelty of eating foreign food wears off, you realize how little ingredients
they use are in western food. There were more than a couple dinners where I had no idea what I
was eating the entire time. While I do not doubt we were eating high quality food, I found myself
slowly gravitating towards the western dishes in order to avoid accidently biting into a big chunk
of durian. I wont spend too much time on food but I will say that I would eat Chinese pizza hut
everyday if they brought the style of food to the United States.
The second to final stop on our tour was to Shanghai. My first impression of the city was
a larger version of New York City and it seemed to hold true throughout our stay. While we were
not able to stay in Shanghai for as long as we liked, we were very lucky to have had a chance to
meet Josh Perlman who is the Executive Director of sales at Jack Wolfskin. I have never felt
more engaged in a presentation than the one he put on for us. Josh explained the current political,
economic, and social climate in China and made it very easy to understand without dumbing it
down.
Shanghai is also the first place on the trip where I got a sense of just how powerful the
Chinese government is. Putin came to China in order to discuss a natural gas deal and his
presence put the city on hold. Austin, Ben, and I were walking through the central business
district and found most of the roads blocked and all of the businesses closed. Confused about the
emptiness of the finance district, we went up to a police officer and asked him how long it would
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be blocked off for. The officer without missing a beat said that they would block it for as long as
they were told to and that there was no real estimate of how long it would be closed.
It saddened me that a lot of Shanghai was unavailable for us to see due to political figures but it
does give me motivation to go back to the city in the future.
Beijing was the final destination on our trip. To get to Beijing from Shanghai, we took a
high speed train that zipped us north at close to two hundred miles per hour. Even with the fast
speed of the train, the journey took five hours, which gave me plenty of time to look out the
window and take in the Chinese landscape.
Within ten minutes of the train moving we were in the countryside. Josh Pearlman had
told us that China still has fifty percent farmland and it showed on our trip. Hundreds of miles of
fields with workers in them lined either side of the train tracks and it made me realize that we
had been so business oriented that we had not gotten a real chance to explore the completely
different side of China. When we finally arrived in Beijing, we were greeted with a city bigger
than anything I could have imagined. We were also unfortunately greeted with the notorious
haze that surrounds the city and prevents people from seeing the vastness of Beijing.
Our last cultural tour in China was to the Great Wall and it is probably the most
memorable thing I did on the trip. Reading about it and seeing pictures of it does not do the
archeological feat justice. I also think that the Great Wall shows just how much people can
accomplish when they are motivated. It is a symbol of both power and ingenuity. Modern China
in many ways is like the Great Wall. They both have become international symbols of strength
and achievement.
Although three weeks is a very short time to spend in such a big country, I feel the trip
was more than worth it. There is no other opportunity at the University of Florida that allows you
both the privilege of meeting huge multi national companies on a personal level while also
taking in the sights and sounds of a completely foreign country. I know I will be telling people
for years to come about the time I went to China with my business school and came back feeling
great about the invaluable knowledge and connections I had gained. I am excited to become an
ambassador for this tour and convince other kids to make a smart decision and come on the best
study tour that the University of Florida has to offer.