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Sarah Stoner

LHP International Trip

30 April 2017

Asia: Journey of a Lifetime

Introduction

Traveling to six different cities across different countries in Asia, all within five

weeks is an inimitable, life-changing journey. This time last year, I took a Folklore

and Traditions class where I learned to value the unofficial culture, or folklore, of

societies. I was looking forward to going to Asia to find the similarities in our

cultures as well as our differences. We are all humans and all share similar traits

and emotions but we are raised to respond differently to different and similar

stimulus. Prior to the trip, I also had the opportunity to read the first half of the book

Wild Swans, which gave me insight as to how the Chinese (and somewhat Asian)

culture developed over the past 100 years. This story explained to me how China

became a communist nation after World War II. I am currently finishing the book and

combining the cultural background with my experience to form a greater

understanding of Chinas current culture.

I struggled to prepare for this trip because I did not know what to expect. The

presentations helped me to better understand some basics for the vastly different

cultures, but nothing could have fully prepared me for being in the middle of a

single Asian culture. I found it impossible then, to fully prepare for six different

cultures. Despite not being fully prepared to leave, I soon found myself in the

middle of an entirely foreign country. I managed to survive and have returned to

Cincinnati stronger as an individual and much more knowledgeable on global

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markets. The trip held many lows and highs, but through it all I learned something

new in every city.

Japan

Japan seems so long ago now that I barely remember it was where we started

this trip. When we reached Japan, I was terrified. This was an entirely new

environment and I had no way to begin to feel familiar with anything around me. I

could not read any of the signs, I was not used to the traffic, and everyone looked

relatively the same and very different from me. I was scared to explore on my own

because I felt as if I could not navigate on my own. I was actually terrified to be in

this entirely different environment. Luckily, I was able to start to adjust to the Asian

cultures after a few days. The classes we took helped me feel more capable to

navigate around, especially the brief language course. Thinking about it now, I do

not remember a single thing about the language, but it was extremely useful at the

time and helped us to adapt. I was able to successfully go to restaurants and at

least attempt to understand the culture and be considerate with my lack of

language comprehension. Mr. Ishido Sensei was a great guide. His classes and our

visit to the Tokyo museum allowed me to learn more about how Japan has

developed after its time in World War II and how it has adapted its economics to be

more open to the global economy. I did not realize how renowned Ishido Sensei was

until the very end of the week when he shared with us his book on ASEAN and

mentioned his meetings with foreign diplomats. In addition to Ishido, bringing in the

well-achieved professor Kaewkamol (Karen) Pitakdumrongkit to share her

presentation on the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a great honor. Before this trip, I

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was not well-educated on global free trade agreements, particularly the Asian-

Pacific agreements and the countries involved. I still do not consider myself to be

well versed in trade agreements but now I feel more aware of global politics and the

global market. The culture in Japan was one of great discipline and humility. They

appeared to accept a lifestyle of living with less, but in a more efficient way. Being

in Japan allowed me to better understand how Japans culture has influenced the

Japanese goods exported to the U.S. For example, Japanese cars are typically

smaller in size and less extravagant, which reflects their smaller living styles and

dedication to work and efficiency.

Leaving Japan was a bit of a wakeup call for me. After a week in a foreign

country and getting ready to catch a flight, I felt as if I was taking a flight home.

Homesickness really hit me hard when we arrived in Beijing as I started to fully

accept that this trip was going to continue for another month. I was a long way from

home.

Beijing

Beijing was a fascinating city filled with a rich history and culture. The first

thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane and into Beijing was the haze

consuming the sky. Fortunately, the haze did not seem to really affect me while I

was in Beijing, at least not until we started to ascend the Great Wall. Another thing I

noticed about Beijing was the desperation of people to make a sale. Whether it was

the street vendors wandering or the sellers at the silk market, there seemed to be a

mindset of forcing the consumer to buy something. The products also all seemed to

be poorly made, cheap junk that they tried to pass off as quality goods. I absolutely

hated the market. The game of lying and negotiating and forcing people to buy

something does not fit well with my character. This tells me that I am absolutely not

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a sales person. I felt extremely uncomfortable the whole time I was at the market.

Despite my discomfort, I managed to buy sunglasses and a Cleveland Indians jersey.

I was ripped off, but I got the experience. Being able to see the Great Wall of China

was an interesting experience. I successfully climbed to the top and felt an

extraordinary amount of accomplishment. I felt winded early from breathing in the

poor air, so it was a struggle to the end; nevertheless, I persisted.

Shanghai

I have mixed feelings about my time in Shanghai. On one hand, I learned a lot

from the companies we visited and enjoyed a much needed break from everyone

with a room to myself. On the other hand, Shanghai is where I started to hit a wall

on the trip. I started to really feel the effects of homesickness and felt distant from

everyone else as I struggled to know what plans were going on without a roommate

to help. On the flip side, Shanghai is where the company visits really started to get

interesting for me. As someone who is passionate about the healthcare industry, I

really enjoyed the Ethicon visit. I knew very little about Johnson and Johnson before

this visit. I was blown away with what they offer and how they direct their research

through their various branch companies. Most notable for me is how they had the

objective of accelerating healthcare in China and identified five priority disease

states specific to China. Ethicon and Johnson and Johnson really seem to be having

a large impact on the advancement of healthcare in China and the market is

continuing to grow for them. Nielson was helpful in breaking down the Chinese

consumer and market for us. China is quickly advancing in technology and is

skipping generations of technological advancement as they do not need to build

upon or destroy an already established foundation. A Chinese consumer can do

almost anything within a single app, Wechat for example. The Chinese consumer is

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an ever connected consumer. Many Chinese consumers are becoming big spenders

as the entire familys investments go into their only child, so these little emperors

then spend money on big, luxury products. Chinese consumers are starting to

accumulate more wealth and are starting to spend more. The increased wealth of

consumers is helping to increase the purchasing power of China causing the

markets to grow at an exponential rate. Knowing this about the consumers and the

market environment allowed for a greater understanding of the companies we

visited following. Meeting with the EVP of North Asia at Unilever was an incredible

honor. What he shared about Unilever inspired me to want to use my future career

to take a serious focus on social responsibility and sustainability, whether that is

directly with Unilever or another company.

Shanghai is where I started to really recognize the lack of traffic laws and

enforcement. I was almost run over by a motor bike driving on the sidewalk and

rounding a corner. Bikers could be on the road, on the sidewalks, following

streetlights, or ignoring them. This is an interesting contrast to what we were told

about government frequently changing product regulations, but it also alludes to

the corruption in government and avoidance of following all laws.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong started the second half of the trip and I enjoyed this half much

more than the first half. After our flight to Hong Kong, I went out to dinner with the

group. While they then went to some bar, I decided to venture out on my own and

find my friend. A friend of mine from high school, Alex Eggert, is currently in Hong

Kong and I decided to link up with her and catch up. Despite thinking I would die

trying to reach her, I pushed myself to navigate the foreign city alone. I learned that

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I could manage this travel on my own as I successfully found my friend at the race

track. Seeing Alex and being able to experience an in person connection with a

friend helped me to push through the homesickness that I felt and helped me to

regain my confidence to better take advantage of the opportunities of being in Hong

Kong. Alex allowed me to feel confident about exploring a new city and I was able to

fully be my true self again. After catching up with Alex, I came to the realization that

I could not rely on anyone else to help me have a good experience or understand

my fears and concerns. Alex gave me the inner strength to make the trip my own

and to not allow those around me to define me. This set me up to have a better

experience during the second half of the trip.

Seeing the intermediary shipping companies while in Hong Kong introduced

the various steps and the intricacy in shipping products internationally. Seeing the

port was an eye opening experience because I had never given much thought to the

shipping part of business. To manage such a staggering amount of product coming

in and going out daily and on such a large scale is an astounding example of

operational efficiency. The visit with Colin and JLL presented the high costs of limited

real estate in Hong Kong, which gave insight to the local market, economy, and

consumer. This also illustrated more of the often high cost of being an ex-pat.

Vietnam

Vietnam was beautiful. It was eye opening for me to see this developing

country. Our tour through the tunnels helped me to learn more about the Vietnam

War. I cannot imagine being a U.S. soldier drafted to fight and wandering a

nightmare terrain where every step taken could lead into a death trap. It was very

insightful as to the mindset and guerilla fighting style of the Viet Cong.

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Our meeting with Dom and Shorelight Education was a great opportunity to

learn about a large opportunity for the U.S.: selling education. In addition to my

passion for healthcare, I also have a passion for education. Dom is passionate about

what he does and is very successful in it. Hearing how Shorelight helps to connect

talented international students to U.S. institutions so that they may expand their

horizons through higher education was very inspiring. I was sold on Shorelight and

their mission.

I really enjoyed the time spent on the Mekong Delta tour. This day was one of

my favorites from the whole trip. We got to try fresh coconuts and taste coconut

products. The local fruits and tea were amazing. It may have been very touristy, but

riding on the horse drawn cart and the boat made me feel more a part of the

culture. Seeing the country side of Vietnam during our drive out helped me to see

how a majority of Vietnamese live. The Mekong Delta tour is also where I made a

new friend! It was a snake, but I appreciated the hug.

Singapore

Singapore was my favorite city. I wish I had been allowed more time to

explore it on this trip. I had some help from my friend Winnie Lin, who is from

Singapore, in deciding what to do and what to see in Singapore with my limited

time. I was finally starting to focus on what I wanted to do in a city and venture out

to see it. Even though our company visits consumed almost all of our time, they

were the best visits of the trip. Nancy Boyle was a great professional to meet with

over breakfast because she is an incredible business women to look up to and have

as a role model as she pursues her career. Having another top executive of Unilever

meet with us in Singapore was a great honor and Pier was once again inspiring in

his explanation and promotion of Unilevers mission. I can now say that I have

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received a tour of a Google office (still waiting on my Google office massage).

Having the opportunity to learn more about additive technology was serendipitous.

Emerson in Singapore had just started the use of additive technology in their

production and I was lucky enough to see it. Additive technology is going to be the

next big thing in manufacturing and I learned about it and saw the machines

testing. Additive technology is a hot buzzword at GE Aviation and this visit allowed

me to learn more about different types of additive processes. Adam also had a J.D.

and attended law school with a focus in intellectual property and patent law.

Exploring the possibility of patent law as an option, I took the opportunity to talk to

him after and learn more about his experience through law school and the

intellectual property studies.

Givaudan was my favorite visit and a great one to end on. I love chemistry.

Learning about the history of Givaudan and how they invest in their perfumists and

flavorists was incredibly interesting. The number of products that they help produce

is astonishing and they seem entirely dedicated to their clients. Givaudan also

invests a large amount into training and educating their employees. After seeing

Givaudan both in Cincinnati and in Singapore, I would be honored if I ever was

offered an opportunity to work for Givaudan.

General Trip Experience

My experience from this trip helped me to expand upon my cultural

competency. I learned about the differences between different Asian countries such

as Japan, China, and Vietnam. Amongst all of the differences from western culture

that I experienced in Asia, there were a lot of similarities too. It helped remind me

that we are all human, but operate under different beliefs and systems. Even

though the Asian partners I corresponded with via email during my time at GE were

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always very efficient, terse, and aggressively detail-oriented, I now better

understand their work style and environment and can better interpret their

communications.

After this adventure, I value my freedoms as a United States citizen much

more. We have traffic laws that everyone is expected to follow. We have laws to

protect against corruption in business and government. We have a government that

is subject to the publics approval. We have freedoms that others do not get to

experience. People in these foreign countries seem to idolize Americans to some

degree. Several locals or domestic tourists would want to take pictures of us and

much of marketing appeared to feature Caucasian or very light skinned models. I

would be interested to ask for a natives thoughts and perspectives in this regard.

I am very excited to see how the global environment develops in the near

future and throughout my lifetime. This trip showed me the current directions of the

global market growth toward China and other Asian markets as those start and

continue to develop. Still being so young and ignorant, I did not really value the

latest growth and development in areas inside and outside of the U.S. China is

currently in a state of exponential growth. Susan even mentioned several times how

much has changed in the three years since the last trip. Reading Wild Swans taught

me just how recent China was brought into the modern age. It is still developing in

rural parts outside of cities. What is mind blowing to me is that everyone in China

including the rural farmers have cellphones because they are advancing so quickly

in technology. Vietnam should start to develop more as they start to bring

manufacturing to their country. Hong Kong may go through changes as a result of

China developing. I am excited to be more aware and in tune with how the world is

changing around me after this trip.

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Final Thoughts

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, so there are a number of things I wish I

would have done on this trip. I wish I would have been more confident in pursuing

what I wanted to see and do in each city. For example, I wish I would have explored

Tokyo more in Japan and seen the Big Buddha in Hong Kong. I wish I would have

spent more time exploring the cities rather than joining everyone else going to

clubs and bars every night. I wish the group as a whole communicated plans more

in the group chat so there could have been better planning ahead and not any

questions as to what people were doing (especially when I had my own room). I do

hope to return to at least Singapore and Hong Kong in my lifetime and now have a

better idea of what to do and what I will want to prioritize to see.

I found it incredibly humbling to be the minority in an environment. China in

particular, we consistently drew several stares and videos and pictures. As a white

female in America, I am considered a minority as a female, but I have a lot of

privilege through my other social groups. While I try to recognize my privilege, there

is nothing that compares to truly being the odd one out in a group of otherwise

homogenous people.

The lessons I learned on this trip to Asia could not be taught in a classroom.

Using the currency, seeing the local markets, and understanding the people are all

experiences that taught me about business in Asia that cannot be replicated in a

classroom. In addition, this experience also taught me many things about myself

that I would not have otherwise discovered. I learned to value the silver-lining in any

experience. Even if it is the worst possible environment, there are still lessons to be

learned. As I juggled responsibilities and friends back home with being engaged in

my present situation, I learned to really value what is important to me. I learned to

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manage responsibilities while abroad and in a different time zone. I learned to

appreciate my friends so much more now and the love and support that they give

me as they helped me to get through personal struggles while traveling. I learned to

take the opportunity to change and improve the things that I can, but also found the

strength to accept the things I cannot change. These are lessons that cannot be

taught in a classroom. This trip was a life defining experience that I can never

mimic. I feel much more equipped to take on the world and face any challenge that

comes my way.

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