Out and about

Where can one get things an 18 month old would need?...I went to a nearby Carrefour to do some reconnaissance for when my family comes to Beijing in November. (yes there are multiple Carrefour locations in Beijing, 8 to be exact!) Not far from campus is an ENORMOUS shopping center, where Carrefour is the anchor store.

At first I had trouble finding it b/c I was expecting a huge building, like one I saw in Brazil. (Think a store as noticeable as an IKEA...and yes, there are 4 IKEA locations in China.) But it turns out it was all an underground mall. After looking around for 30 mins and picking up a few things I was thinking that the store was pretty small...until I found out there was a 2nd floor. Upstairs was all food, personal hygiene, and especially what I was looking for (and don't laugh)...Pampers! So yeah, I found those...and at 1/2 price they are back in the U.S.

So after browsing and shopping there, some of the things I saw in-store were definitely questionable, like land-o-lakes cheddar cheese, premium (western) liquor, and of course children's toys made in China. As a slight tangent, some of you may recall that I interviewed at Hasbro earlier in the Spring...well, on the shelves I found Play-Doh and the packaging was in English, same as back home. (Now, I'm going to assume Play Doh doesn't have a fraction of the cult status as it does in the US...) Personally, I wonder what the value of paying for the shelf space is if the packaging isn't localized? If in the late 1980's chewing gum was hardly found in China b/c Chinese were afraid it would present a serious choking hazard, what do they think a big glob of doh would do? But I digress...

Housing update!!
I'm no longer in the shared room housing situation...BIG relief. On Sunday, I moved into a single room w/ private bath. As you can tell from the photos, it's a little smaller, but the luxury of having a private room is immeasurable!

Considering that it costs $10/day, a single room (if you can get one) is a good deal. There are attendants on each floor, who tidy up the room every day - not a bad deal at all! Plus, I got a room on a higher floor so its further away from street noise.

Personal Banking
In hindsight, I probably should have forgone a few travelers' checks altogether and gone for ATM withdrawals. BUT, I needed to pay for all my housing in lump-sum up front and couldn't bear the thought of ATM fees ending up in Bank of America's coffers. Anyway, branch banking in China can literally take up to a 1/2 day!! Grab a number, and wait your turn...simple enough. I've gone twice (and I'm ALL done now!), and wait times were 2 hours and 2.5 hours...and I consider myself lucky. Both times I've taken a number, gotten something to eat, gone for a walk, and still had 45 mins to wait around and read. UNBELIEVABLE!!

MBA Fair in Beijing
On Tuesday night, I went to help represent Babson at The MBA Fair in Beijing - along with someone from the admissions office and a local alum. Some 57 business schools from around the world (including Stern, Thunderbird, HEC, ESADE, Georgetown, Fuqua, etc) were part of this Asian city roadshow.

Hard to believe that 2 years ago was when I was working on b-school applications, worrying about GMAT, and attending MBA fairs myself...many people at the fair were aware of Babson's reputation in entrepreneurship, although I guess there's just a stock list of questions people ask of all business schools "what differentiates your program from others?", "How many Chinese students are in my class", etc.

It was hosted at a 5-star hotel in the city center, and I was happy to help out - except for the fact that it took me 1 hr 40 mins to get from campus to the hotel via taxi for 18 km!! Ugh. That's one lesson (and adventure) I learned the hard way...when NOT (and where not) to travel during rush hour. I wasn't feeling so well all day, and as soon as the taxi pulled up to the hotel, I had to dash for the restroom...my stomach gave out on me.

Recovering...
I'm starting to feel infinitely better compared to the last day and a half. After Tuesday night, I woke up with chills, sweats, headache (you name it). I typical "guy" fashion I figured sleeping, eating well, and drinking lots of fluids would be enough...but this morning, same thing. So now I'm drugged up on some Japanese, Korean, and US medicine and feeling a thousand times better. Good thing too, since orientation starts tomorrow!