CSI in the News - CSI Today

CSI students journey to the Far EastPublished: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 2:17 PMBy Mark D. SteinSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - WILLOWBROOK - A handful of College of Staten Island (CSI) students embarked ona once-in-a-lifetime journey to the Far East. Last Wednesday afternoon, three of them presented a photopresentation of their trip to Shanghai, China, to fellow classmates and members of the InternationalProgram.Their series of photographs highlighted special moments and sights that the three students – AlbulenaPrelvukaj, Gary Raia and Suzie Sky – experienced during a four-week stay at Shanghai University.The group left Dec. 29 and returned at the end of January with an unforgettable number of stories andimages. Overall, six CSI students and 27 other people from the City University of New York (CUNY)participated.According to CSI's website, which detailed the winter trip, students paid $1,800 to take either one or two 3-credit courses in the following disciplines: Business in contemporary China, psychology and Chinese culture,or learning the Chinese language.They traveled throughout Shanghai and made visits to Beijing and Hong Kong. The group toured legendarysites such as the Great Wall of China, the Jade Buddha Temple and the Lion Grove Garden."You have to check out Hong Kong," said Raia, a philosophy major. "It was the greatest place I've been inmy entire life."Raia and Ms. Prelvukaj explained that not knowing the foreign language didn't affect their ability to getaround China."Just to have the ability to figure out things on your own: How people could connect without using verbalexplanation of things. You sense how far you could go, and who you are, and how you can communicatewith people, in general," said Ms. Prelvukaj.The ability to negotiate a deal on an item sold by a vendor is great, said Raia, who noted that some people,especially tourists, can get ripped off.Page 165 of 179