Our First Full Day in Hangzhou

The first full day in Hangzhou started with an enormous breakfast at the hotel. The selection of various foods was enormous and contained many dishes of both local and international flavor. The restaurant offered a great view of the West Lake area which was breathtaking.


After spending some time wandering around the West Lake, we got on the bus and traveled to Zhejiang University. Entering the campus, one could only be amazed by the size of the campus , but also by the modernity of its buildings, which were designed by students of the local architecture school. The university is well known for its business school, which focuses primarily upon entrepreneurship. During our first day at the university, we attended an insightful lecture, but it was particularly interesting to talk with the Chinese students. By the end of the first day, we had already known the students really well.



After the lecture, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Some of us stayed behind at Zhejiang and had the students help us tour the campus. They also thought it would be beneficial for us to get a local impression of the city, so they showed us around parts of Hangzhou. Upon our request, the students decided to take us to a local restaurant that served traditional Chinese food, served and cooked like it was home made. Having the students as translators proved particularly convenient, and in Chinese custom, one of the students ordered for the entire group. The experience was incredibly insightful – especially being able to observe the different customs. During dinner, I even picked up a few Chinese words and was given my Chinese nickname, which I unfortunately cannot write even in pinyin. After dinner, we returned to our hotel and wandered the streets of Hangzhou again.