Shanghai University

June 20, 2019

Campus Visit

In the morning/afternoon we visited Shanghai University. It felt like a city within a city. It has around 40,000 students and a huge campus. All the professors and students who showed us around were so nice and so interested in learning as much about us and we were learning about them.

They talked about Shanghai University as a whole, but then focused in on the management and civil engineering departments. It was cool to see some of our same terminology used like WBS and IPD. We asked some questions about how Chinese companies can finish jobs so quickly and they basically said because of the work force. In America we need more workers, but in China there is an abundance. However, they did talk about how the younger people don't want to work in construction, so I could see them ending up having the same trouble the U.S. does.

They took us to lunch which was really really good. I had carbonara and bubble tea. I'm not a huge tea drinker, but I really liked it. It was sweet but not too sweet. People said they didn't like the tapioca balls, but I actually didn't mind them.

Next, they took us to their BIM lab which was really impressive. They had a massive drone and some smaller ones. There was also a VR set which allowed you to "walk" through campus. There were a bunch of female students which I thought was really awesome. One of the female assistants was doing research focused on steel. Another assistant was focusing on sustainability and pre-fabrication. One of us asked more about pollution and how they were working to minimize it. They answered saying they try to pre-fab as much work as possible.

Shop 'til We Drop

We then all headed to the underground market. The guys really love haggling, and they are really good at it. I enjoyed it and it does give you a thrill when you get a good deal, but I'm no where near their level.

After the market, we all separated for dinner. We met back up to go to the acrobat show. The show was seriously impressive. I really enjoyed all the different acts. My favorite was the man and woman who were swinging around on the silk ropes. It was just like the scene of Zendaya and Zac Efron from The Greatest Showman. The most notable though, was probably the last act where they kept adding more and more people on motorcycles into a round metal cage. They looked like they were going so fast, and at any moment it would end really badly. They all made it out alive, thank God.