From a lab point of view, everything went well, including the final presentation, even though we were relatively rushed getting everything together. As usual, everything that can go wrong goes wrong when it comes down to crunch time. Our acid did not arrive on time, we lacked volumetric tubes and were constantly unable to locate the professor with access to the machine (he refused to give us a key to the lab in the first place). In addition to all that was listed above, three days before we were scheduled to give our presentation, our machine decided that it was fed up with us and we had to take it apart. This was definitely an experience as I have never taken apart scientific equipment before. To me, they have always been either working or not working, and it never crossed my mind that I would personally be helping fix or diagnose the issue. Obviously, miracles happen and we managed to collect all our data within the allotted time and finish the presentation.

With hard work comes the need to play hard as well. I would like to start with a list of everything we did in the past two weeks. We went bowling, played basketball and badminton, went to the Zhangzhou campus TWICE, took a sketch village bus to visit the geological park, had “all you can eat” dessert, toured the Xiamen campus and even helped my grad student find an apartment and move into it. Within the last 3 days that we have left, we plan to go karaoke, spend a day in the botanical gardens and go on a sunset cruise around Xiamen Bay. I thoroughly enjoy the fun that I have had and will have with my lab mates. If not for their eagerness to show me around, I probably would not have had the chance to do half the things that I have done within these past two weeks, let alone seen everything that I have had these past 2 months.

Now that everything is said and done, and that our projects are finished. I have to say that I have accomplished what I had initially wanted to come to Xiamen to do. My goal was to figure out if I would be able to work and live in China (which is relatively closer to home). I now realize that there are many aspects of Chinese culture that I didn’t even know I missed after living in the States these past two years. I now realize that I am able to adapt back to the culture here and that working here would definitely be a possibility in the future. However, I also realize how much I will miss the States if I were to come back to Asia after I graduate. There will be a lack of individuality and independence that many people take for granted while in the States. The transition will not be an easy one and honestly, I do not know whether or not I would be willing to make it. However, figuring out the direction of my future was not the point of this internship. My goal was to “figure out if I would be able to work and live in China”, and my answer to that is: “If it comes down to it, I would be able to work and live here. It is an option.”

Once we got on the road, things got a little bit trickier. We biked through the campus, and watched a group of guys turn the outside of an auditorium into a skate park. How they manage to have fun while not crashing into people walking to and from class or getting hit by delivery trucks, I will not ever understand. But they made it work and had a lot of fun showing off to the girls watching. To get out of campus, we took a tunnel that led to the male dormitories (female dormitories are on campus, while males are off campus). Most of the tunnel wall was covered in graffiti and filled with memories from graduated previous graduating classes. The culture that the walls illustrated was one of a globalization. There were French words, traditional Chinese poems and even renditions of famous western paintings. Everywhere you look there would be something you failed to notice before. However, most of my lab mates are afraid of walking through the tunnel at night. This could be due to the graffiti as well because you would never know where there would suddenly be a painting staring at you while you walked home at night.

The next interesting event was when we hit the road by the beach. If you had to draw a comparison, biking along that road would be similar to trying to thread a needle with yarn. There were so many cars, bikes and people all trying to get to where they needed to go in a lane that could barely fit two cars. Over the entire trip, I personally almost hit 3 children and 2 adults and nearly got hit by 2 cars. Being one of the most convenient and popular modes of transportation, my personally experience with bicycles here would say that it is also one of the most dangerous.

Elevators are also used frequently here instead of stairs. Thus, the question of the day was, “If you were stuck in an elevator, what would you do?” Today I got stuck in an elevator and I have to say it was the most fun I’ve had all week. We weren’t stuck in the elevator for very long but it was dark and it got stuffy relatively quickly. I now understand why people are claustrophobic and afraid of the dark. But, the story should not be of us in the elevator but rather of us getting out of the elevator. We somehow managed to get in contact with the security guard but not in contact with the emergency numbers in the elevator. Furthermore, we were stuck on the 5th floor and for some reason, the guy with us decided to push the doors a little. This prompted the doors to open and we walked out of the elevator without help from anyone on the outside within 10 minutes of getting stuck. What an interesting turn of events.

As a “thank you” to the entire lab group, the graduated individuals invited the lab to dinner. It is tradition and I was glad that I got to witness it. Being the hosts, they would have to toast their lab mates, thanking them for different things. For example, one would toast to helping them calculate statistics, or supervising them in lab work, etc. However, the first person they toast is the professor, for allowing them to work on his research and be in this lab group and for helping them with everything they needed. Similarly, since the professor had to leave early, there was also a toast before he left initiated by him, to everyone at the table, to a safe and fun filled night. Basically, there was a lot of toasting the entire night. It definitely had a concluding feel to it and I hope that they would give me the chance to show them all my appreciation when it is my turn to leave.

Besides eating together, we hiked up the mountain together as well. When they first told me that we were going to climb the mountain, I was very reluctant. It was hot, it was going to be sweaty and I didn’t have the right shoes. However, since everyone was going to go, I really didn’t have much of a say and in the end, I was glad that I went. The city lights were amazing and we could see the entire school from up there. I think that was the best part of the hike, being able to look down at the building that we spent our days and nights, lighted up against the dark sea. We hiked up the mountain at dusk and got scared while hiking down the NanPuTou Temple steps at night. But everything turned out alright because we were all together.

I guess it is the sense of security that makes me associate my lab group to a family. I spend so much time with them, doing things with them, that I even dream about them. Last night, I dreamt that I had a family here and that everyone was worried about me.

Father: He called the doctor and rushed me to the hospital, explained the situation and got me all settled and paid the bill.

Mother: She stayed with me all day; she came to the hospital, walked me back to my hotel room, made sure I took my medication and comforted me when I said that I was afraid of injections. She even called me at night to make sure that everything was alright.

Oldest brother: He bumped into me on the way back and told me to go to bed early. He made sure I knew that it didn’t look too bad and that I should not blame myself for being careless.

Second brother: He got the taxi to send me to the hospital and registered me, making sure all the paper work was done while I went to see the doctor. He stayed with me and Mother the entire day to make sure that nothing went wrong. Most of all, he made sure that I was taking care of myself, eating the right foods so as to not create bigger issues by messing up the balance in my body.

Little brother: When he heard, he said he would come over as soon as he was done with lab work for the day.

Little sister: She was the first one to find out. I comforted her and told her that it was not her fault and that she shouldn’t worry because it didn’t hurt too much and it wouldn’t scar. I hoped that she wouldn’t take it too hard on herself.

The situation was as follows, I was in my lab which is a sealed, clean, dust free area. I was adding concentrated HNO3 to my samples and somehow, it splashed up onto my face. Little sister had just left the lab and did not close the outside door properly meaning that the inside door could not be opened. Thus, I was locked in the lab.

It was nice that everyone cared about me so much even though I was new in the group. Even after I woke up this morning, they made sure I was taking care of myself and that I slept fine. I am lucky to be in such a lab group that is so accepting, willing to care and love.

Walking the streets of Xiamen, things were very different from the big cities I’ve lived in. In Xiamen, even though there were still a lot of people, it was significantly easier to navigate the city. We visited GuLangYu which was a historical resort island. Gabby and I went to see the aquarium where they had all sorts of fish, but it was definitely not comparable to the New Orleans Aquarium (which was the last one I went to). In America, the tanks are always clean and the animals were the first priority. Gabby brought to my attention the zip-ties on the penguin’s wings and we saw an exhibit of dead piranhas which was shocking to say the least. The dead preserved piranhas were hung in a liquid by plastic string and put on display. It did not ever cross my mind that an aquarium would display something of that sort. However, I guess I have taken for granted the benefits of living in the United States for the past 2 years and that for some people here even dead piranhas are something special to look at.

Being Asian with the ability to speak mandarin and in the southern part of China also changed the way I thought of myself. I have never thought of myself as a local here, and having lived in the Beijing and Shanghai in the expatriate area, I was definitely not seen as a local. However, here everyone thinks that I am from Xiamen, which was flattering and shocking at the same time. This was brought to my attention when shopping with Gabby over the weekend when the staff at the shopping mall asked me if I was her translator.

From a lab point of view, having interned in a lab at LSU, this experience is definitely something very different. In the US, there is a 9 to 5 schedule. Sure, if the experiment calls for it, one would come in to the lab at odd hours of the night but there is still that unwritten 9 to 5 schedule where people are supposed to be at work. At Xiamen University, things are a little different. I get to the lab around 9 in the morning, and people are already here, they have started experiments and are in the middle of discussions. When I leave at 7 or 8 at night, they are still here, discussing, running experiments, or working on papers. This, to me, was an unexpected, even though I knew that the work ethic was different here and that people were generally willing to work long hours every day.

Another aspect that struck me as rather unexpected is how willingly the students here adopted me into their little “family”. I call it a family because they are, from multiple aspects, a family. First, there is family drama, where the people are struggling to get everything together before they graduate in 4 days or they have students that did not listen to what they said. When one person in the lab has something the rant about, they do it over lunch and everyone listening comforts them about it. I think this is very different from lab environments in the United States as people tend to live their own lives outside of the lab and not discuss anything but lab work with their lab mates. It made it very hard to get to know them and the relationship purely professional. Second, the entire lab, even the professor, eats together and exercises together. For lunch and dinner, we would all decide on a place to go. If someone from the lab is not in class but not in lab, one person would call them to let them know that it is lunch time. If people are busy doing experiments, then one person would be delegated to bring food back for them. As for exercise, basketball and badminton are played every week on a certain day. Everyone is encouraged to come and most use it as an excuse to get away from their work. This is definitely not the case in America. As mentioned before, going to lab is like a 9 to 5 job and eating together rarely ever happens. Even though there is definitely a hierarchy with undergrads being the little children in the lab, everyone is included in everything, which from my point of view is very much appreciated.

Overall, I think that speaking the language is definitely a big part of learning the culture of a place as I would not have been able to bond with my lab mates and feel at home here in the lab. From the research perspective, I think that the work ethic would definitely throw people off especially if they are expecting a 9 to 5 work day. However, I believe that if one arrives with an open mind and is willing to adapt, they would definitely be able to enjoy and excel here at Xiamen University.