Monday, June 11, 2018
Today was an exciting 3rd day in Shanghai. We started off the day by getting a tour of a design firm called IDEO. IDEO was actually originally founded in Palo Alto, California and is now based in San Francisco. The American influence of the company was quite apparent as everyone spoke fluent English and the layout of the office space gave a laid-back Bay Area vibe. The talk was quite fascinating as we learned about IDEO's ventures both with clients and regular Chinese citizens. For instance, a recent project of theirs had been working with rural farmers to help gather information surrounding the agricultural industry in China. After the talk we were given a tour of the office space which was quite amazing. The open floor plan, comfortable chairs, and all the other small details were all there for particular reasons. They then pointed us to a map of Shanghai on the wall with a list of recommendations. I tried to frantically memorize the list as there were no photos allowed in IDEO.
Once the tour concluded we said goodbye and headed to lunch, then it was on to the next company; Honeywell. Honeywell is a product design and manufacturing company. We started our visit with a quick look through of their products and international reach. It was fascinating to see the multitude of products they are involved with from non-cut gloves to bulletproof vests. The types of products they manufacture are often the ones you would not think about, an earplug dispenser for instance. After the quick tour, there were numerous talks and presentation regarding the finances of the company as well as its design process. It was quite fascinating, as Honeywell is also an American based company, to see how the same company works across the world from each other.
Once the Honeywell tour was over we were given the rest of the day to explore Shanghai by ourselves. I headed immediately to dinner as the tours had rendered me starving. I enjoyed a large plate of sweet and sour pork and an order of dumplings both of which were delicious and refreshing. Both the weather and food, I have found, in comparison to Chengdu have been quite refreshing. As the food is no longer intolerably hot and the weather is not drastically humid.
After dinner Francesca, Leah, Taylor and I decided to go to place called Bar Rouge. Bar Rouge is a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Bund which is one of the most spectacular views in all of Shanghai. This place is always packed with foreigners but we managed to order our snacks and find a table. We spent the night laughing and reminiscing about the dialogue. We are all surprised that we only have two days left as the trip seemed to have begun yesterday. We all decided that we were going to make the most of the rest of the trip, but begin planning our trip back.
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