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25 February 2016

A journey to the other side of the world! #HogsAbroad #TBT

I try to make it my goal in life to do and experience as much as possible. Kind of like a reverse bucket list- I like to add to the list rather than to check things off of it. So naturally when I found out that Apparel Studies was offering a trip to China, I immediately jumped at the chance! Luckily they allowed me to go as a graduate student.

Before the trip I had never met any of the girls going; we were a small group of only 8, plus about 20-something business students. By the end of the trip, we had all really bonded and I consider every one of them my friend. It’s rare to find a group of random people that you click with so well, and I believe the reason we did is because it takes a certain type of person to say, “Yes, I want to go to China!”

Everything about the trip was amazing. It is truly the best trip I have ever been on and one of the best experiences of my life. I had never expected to love China and the culture so much, but it was unavoidable – I fell in love with it! The two weeks were a whirlwind, packed from the early morning to late at night. I definitely didn’t get much sleep, but I am so glad I didn’t! I decided that if anyone asked to do something – go out to a club/bar, dinner, go explore or whatever, I had to say yes! I slept for about three days when I got back but it was so worth it!

Over the course of the two weeks we went to five different cities, multiple business appointments, tons of cultural sites, and out to all kinds of places during our free time. The trip was the perfect balance between educational, cultural, and free time.

Day 1:
The trip started out on a strong note when we visited Christy’s Show room in Hong Kong. We met with three women who work for Christy’s, which is a company that designs and produces costumes for many major retailers (think Walmart and Party City).  They were all so smart, friendly, and interesting- everyone really enjoyed it. In addition to learning all about their company, we also got some time to speak with them individually in a casual setting. It was really cool to hear about all of their experiences – they had all relocated to Hong Kong from Europe and one was from New York.  They also told us that they would love for any of us to apply to intern or work there, which was awesome!

After Christy’s we got to see Hong Kong from the comfort of our coach. We went to Stanley Market to explore and have lunch. There was a great view of Repulse Bay- it was beautiful. After that we went on a little boat tour to see the city from a different view. It was fascinating to see the different buildings and boats. Then we went to Victoria Peak, which was an amazing view to see the city! At our welcome dinner we had traditional Chinese food at a very nice restaurant. One of the business girls on the trip is from Vietnam so she got the job of telling our table what everything was and what we should or shouldn’t try.





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