Day 7 - Faculty Visit

First Lesson
This is our first lesson in China! Mr Loh taught us on Business Process Engineering. I spent the past 2 years studying in an air-conditioned environment, and suddenly studying in an open-air classroom felt odd. I thought the classroom would be rather hot, but incredibly it wasn't! As the building is situated on top of the hill, it is exposed to the high winds coming from the Yangtze River, and that made the classroom very windy and cooling. The natural ventilation is much comfortable than having the air-conditioning on as I tend to have dry throat after being in an air-conditioned room for some time.


School



School of Engineering
This is the building for the engineering faculty. There are many machines and equipment which are used in today's manufacturing companies here in this school. Students are taught how to use them to be skilled for the workforce.


Metal Sculting Machine
This machine applies great force to bend metals into desired shapes.


Blackboard Duster + Spray
It is an innovative invention as most classrooms in China are still using a chalkboard. Singapore has advanced from using a chalkboard to a whiteboard. The problems posed by a chalkboard is that the chalks used will cause the fingers to be dirty when writing with the chalk, and the classroom surroundings will be filled with chalk dust and cause throat and eye irritation.

In this photo, the spray is for preventing the dust from flying around when wipping the writings off the chalkboard.


Ventilation Shaft
This is a huge cooler fan installed in the computer database room. The rows of sealed cupboards containing computer data and memory have to be cooled with powerful ventilation fans.


Computer Lab
I was astonished that they have a computer lab here in China! More so, I thought that the computers they were using are the ones with huge monitors and Pentium II processors. In fact, they are using flat-screen monitors and up-to-date computer systems. Their CPUs are locked below to prevent theft.


Dusty Chair!
However, as I was about to sit on one of the chairs, my friend shouted: "Eh! Don't sit it's dirty!"
Thankfully, I missed the chair by inches. I came to find out that the chair was left there for ages without any maintenance!


Happy Manikin!
Next, we moved on to the School of Life Sciences. Although it is not related to our course of study, it was rather fascinating to learn something new. I also saw specimens of an unborn fetus and human sex organs.


Sunny Day
Today's temperature exceeded 36 degrees Celsius, which is scotching hot! Nightfall and early morning is very cooling, about 21 degrees Celsius. Many of the students in this school are well-equipped with umbrellas! Unlike the cool-looking Singaporeans who think carrying umbrellas look unglamorous, the China students are getting the upper hand.


Rock Climbing!
This is just a candid photo taken by a good friend of mine. It represents perseverance and endurance within me, and I have to face any challenges ahead of me!

REFLECTIONS

I am open to new experiences. The non-air conditioned classroom put my adaptability to the test. In order for the surroundings to be cool, I turned up the fan speed. However, in Singapore, speed 5 is the fastest speed, whereas speed 1 is the fastest speed in China. Therefore, there was a slight confusion, but trail and error paid off. Although the course I am mastering in is not directly related to machinery or health science, it is still very interesting to understand and gain knowledge from other field of study. This will also help widen my perspectives and general knowledge.

Before coming to China, I was hoping that the weather would be cold. Instead, the temperature was boiling hot! This is because China experiences the 4 seasonal changes (summer, autumn, winter, spring), unlike Singapore that only has summer all year round. I wonder how the Chinese here cope with the weather changes, and which season do they prefer the most.


We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.
-Michel de Montaigne