While on a three-week study abroad trip to China, business students learned in and out of the classroom.

Marko Grünhagen, Lumpkin distinguished professor of entrepreneurship, said it was importantstudents went out of their comfort zone to learn more about themselves.

“You don’t take American students on a trip like this for three weeks to a culture that is so different than ours without you seeing how they cope and how they become more responsible,” Grünhagen said.

While students spent time in class studying the Chinese language, Chinese history and several other subjects, they also spent time outside the classroom sightseeing and learning more about how business is conducted in China.

Grünhagen said a “key moment” in the trip was when the group traveled to the Great Wall of China.

While they were there, one of the students bought a souvenir from a street vendor and shortly after walking away, the woman began to scream at the student.

Grünhagen said he was ready to help, but the other students took charge and tried to neutralize the situation.

“The other students in the group, they came over to her, they shielded her, they protected her, they told the woman to, you know, cool down, slow down and let’s figure out what happened here,” Grünhagen said.

Grünhagen said he thought is was cool how the students “took responsibility of each other, not just for themselves.”

Jeanne Peceniak, a senior marketing major, said the trip helped her grow as a person.

“I’m more independent,” Peceniak said. “I feel like I’ve grown up a little bit.”

While on the trip, seeing how people lived in China made Peceniak appreciate living in the United States, especially because of the freedom of speech.

Brian Chmura, a senior marketing major, also appreciated this freedom after attending classes where the professors had to peddle around answering risqué questions about the government.

“China is just a whole completely 180 from America,” Chmura said.

Chmura said the food in China was different than the Chinese food in America.

When the group went out to dinner the first night, he was surprised when he ordered a dish and foundthe animal’s heads on the plate, proving the meal was fresh.

Students learned how important meals and creating a relationship with other companies are in China when doing business.

“The Chinese, they spend a lot of time eating,” Grünhagen said. “In China, it is, you stay around the table; the meal is an event.”

Grünhagen said Americans often get frustrated when they perform business with the Chinese.

In China, it is more important to build a relationship with clients before conducting business.

In America, people conduct business and then they might form relationships.

Another difference in China was driving a car.

“I closed my eyes every time I got into the cab,” Peceniak said.

Grünhagen said the way people drive there is much different and made traveling in Chicago seem like nothing.

“We were in a bus and the bus would make a U-turn in an eight lane highway,” Grünhagen said.

Despite the sometimes dangerous rides in buses or cabs, Peceniak and Chmura both said they would return to China if they had the chance.

“It was overall the best thing I’ve ever done,” Chmura said. “You’ve just got to experience it.”

InGrünhagen’s classes, he said they often talk about China, but for students to see it for themselves is “critical.”

“(Studying abroad) truly takes you into a world that you have never imagined before. You know we can talk about this stuffin a classroom and it just isn’t the same,” Grünhagen said.

The trip, which was the first time the School of Business offered students to study abroad in China, was possible because one ofGrünhagen’s contacts in Beijing.

“Like many of the study abroad trips,” Grünhagen said, “they oftentimes happen because there is some connection that somebody had with somebody overseas.”

Grünhagen said there is sense in going to China as a business trip.

“They are the up-in-coming thing,” Grünhagen said. “They are an emerging country, they have industrialized like crazy over the last 15 years.”

While abroad, students were able to see the industry side of China by visiting companies like Coca-Cola, Hyundai and Merck.

However,Peceniak and Chmura’s favorite parts of the trip were seeing the Great Wall of China.

“That was the most breathtaking sight I’ve ever seen,” Peceniak said. “To be surrounded by so much history, it was incredible.”

Peceniak said she liked how the Great Wall, that was once meant to protect China from others, now brings people together.

The trip allowed the students to learn more about who they are as well as more about a different culture and made them appreciate their lives in the United States.

Sam Bohne can be reached at 581-7942 or shbohne@eiu.edu.

Ten students and Marko Grünhagen, a Lumpkin distinguished professor of entrepreneurship, studied abroad in China over the summer. They returned July 17. (Submitted photo)

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