Tag Archives: China

Living at IES Beijing – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

After arriving here at the IES center at Beijing Foreign Languages University, I have the great pleasure of living in yet another new type of environment I have yet to experience: dorm life. As a transfer student into Penn State I have the luxury of not having to live in a dorm, and my previous university experience I had the luxury or living at home while attending classes. So when I arrived at IES, I was….to say the least not excited. Mostly about the size and the lack of privacy.

Welcome to my dorm at IES Beijing

My roommates bed lacks proper support and cusioning

I will be living with a Chinese roommate that does not arrive until next week. But after sharing a room for several days with a homestay student, I am worried about how cramped it is. I have not shared a room with someone since I was about 6 years old and the lack of having my own private space is worrisome, but this is a problem that plagues the entire country of 1.4 billion people.

The Goods:

There’s WiFi (Sometimes.) and ethernet. There’s also a nice sized kitchen with 3 refrigerators and drinking water is provided since we obviously cannot drink the tap water. The downside to this is that people don’t remember they put food in there and it spoils very quickly leading to the refrigerator smelling quite funky. But hey! That’s negative! We don’t think about that for this part. There’s also a nice community room with ping-pong and some other types of small games which we can enjoy. Honestly I have never been to the dorms in Penn State so I have no idea how they compare to this, but I have seen many Chinese dorms and I know that I am living a life of luxury. Many Chinese dorms have 4 to 8 people in a room, have to hand wash everything, no hot water, have to pay for showers outside, no kitchen, and usually have to share a bathroom with more than 50 people, and sometimes there’s no bathroom at all and they have to use a community bathroom outside that’s shared with 2 buildings. Depends on the quality of the school. So keeping this in mind, i’m quite lucky to be living in a co-ed dorm building with only one roommate. My roommate will also be Chinese, so that gives me a great chance to practice my Chinese.

I haven’t had the chance to cook yet, but can’t wait to fire these bad boys up.

Western microwave and toaster oven, living the life at IES Beijing

Ping Pong table which unfortunately has been used more for a studying table than actually playing ping pong

The Bads:

Honestly we are quite segregated and isolated from the other international students and students in general. This building is all international students, but on our floor there are signs everywhere telling people that the amenities on our floor are only for IES students (people in my program which is all American). The problem with this is it doesn’t allow us to branch out and meet people from other countries. Instead it keeps us isolated and segregated from the general Chinese and international population. There are many diverse countries represented in the building, but it’s a shame that only the American students have signs like this which if I were to see signs like this on another floor saying you are not welcome here, I would have nothing to do with them. Really hurts our immersion attempts.

Unfortunately these signs only further encourage our segregation from the Chinese and international student population

Lounge for IES students only

Again, if you’re not an IES student you CANNOT use these facilities.

Having to share a bathroom with a floor of strangers is also worrisome. There’s only 3 toilets and while we voted to not make it co-ed, the females bathroom and shower room had their shower curtains taken away for some reason and they have not appeared again for several days, so like it or not, I am now sharing a small bathroom (3 toilets, 4 showers) with 50 people. Obviously it could be worse, but this is not a situation i’m accustomed to dealing with, so the only culture shock i’m going to have is from living so close to people in situations where I feel I am being forced to make friends, which is not always the best tactic.

Our 3 toilets. Note: You CANNOT put toilet paper into the toilets.

At least we have a washer at IES….dryers not included, we need to air dry our clothes.

The Ugly:

Well, there’s no too much ugly about living here. The building behind us has been under construction since we got here, which means loud hammering starting at 6am, but honestly it’s not too bad. I’m also getting yet another cold which is quite ugly, but aside from that, I think I will be able to make the most of living here for the next year and signs be damned, I look forward to branching out on my own to make friends with different people from different backgrounds.

Location: Beijing Foreign Languages University

A Seaside Paradise

My first impression of Dalian was that it is a lot less crowded than Beijing.

It seems to be nicer here in terms of air quality, cleanliness, and modernity. When we arrived we got picked up by Xinli’s friends and some bus drivers. We packed all of our luggage into one bus and rode into the city from the train station. I got to ride with an employee of the hotel in a really nice BMW X5. We were listening to some really cool Chinese music, which I loved. I liked being able to experience a more normal car ride, and not always being on a bus. It was a nice change and I enjoyed the ride to the hotel.

Once we got to our hotel we changed and got ready for breakfast. We then went to visit a high school and an elementary school. The elementary school we visited was very high-tech and was beautiful. Many people were asking if it was a private school and how much the tuition was only to find out that it was actually a public school. The principal of the school stressed to us how much they valued education. They showed us a classroom that had a gigantic touch screen in the middle of it. It was probably 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. It just looked like a giant iPad. You could do homework problems on it. It looked like a great tool for collaboration. There were also projectors that touched three walls in the room. It was amazing and the capability of the classroom made me jealous that we don’t have anything like it at Penn State. We also saw a coffee shop, a pottery classroom, and a huge stadium with a soccer field and track and field equipment. The stadium was really large – bigger than many high school stadiums in the United States.

This is what a public school’s elementary soccer field looks like.

When we arrived at the high school, the students were outside waiting for us to come. They were so excited to see us and they ran to meet us and greet us with gifts; they were extremely welcoming. We got to tour their school and they even let me play soccer with their soccer team. I wanted to play soccer in China, and being able to play with a high school team was probably the best experience I could have asked for. We didn’t play for long, but it was really fun and I am glad they let this random American girl join their game. After playing soccer, they let us practice writing characters and gave us a great lunch. The two girls I was with had near perfect English, I was very impressed. They asked me questions about America and I learned that their High School years are much stricter than ours. They have to live on their school campus for a month before their gaokao exam which could be compared to our SAT’s. It is a huge 2-day exam that determines if they can go to college and which college they can go to. They also told me that they have mandatory study time and practically study all day in preparation for the gaokao. They go to class 6 days a week and sit in rooms studying. I also found it interesting that they said they can’t date anyone. Although some of them do, they have to do it in secret. The students I was with were also explaining to me that if you play sports that means you will usually go on to play professionally and if you don’t play sports they make you focus on studying and you will usually go on to go to college. It didn’t seem like there was a middle, you had to pick a side. Many of the students I was with said they didn’t play sports much and many of the students who were playing sports focused on the sport a lot more than classes. I learned a lot about the culture difference when it comes to high school from meeting with the high school students in Dalian.

My new friends from a high school in Dalian.

We then went to visit the UFO and got a great view of Dalian. We hiked up a lot of stairs to the top of a huge hill and could see Dalian all around us from the top.

Great view of the city from the UFO. (A little smoggy)

After visiting the UFO, we went back to our hotel and got ready to go to our first dinner in Dalian. At dinner they provided us with a lot of beer and seafood. They brought out Rice Liquor, which is very popular in China, towards the end of the meal. It is a really strong alcohol, you can smell it from 3 feet away. I was surprised that everyone of all ages in China was pretty good at drinking socially. They were very good at handling their liquor. Apparently they start drinking very young in China and it helps build up their tolerance. After dinner, we sang some Karaoke and then went back to our hotel rooms for the night.

Our next day in Dalian, we went and visited a large square. It used to be ocean and they built this square right where the sea used to be. We then got to walk around Dalian a little bit, see some nice architecture, and then head to lunch. After lunch we went to another plaza that had a huge ramp. The ramp looked like a halfpipe and you could run/walk all the way up to the top of the ramp. You can get away with a lot more in China than you would be able to in America. On the ramp there is a yellow line that you aren’t suppossed to cross, but everyone was crossing it and getting all the way to the edge of the ramp. There was no one stopping them from doing so either.

Yeah, we went to the top of the ramp too…

The ramp was located next to a small amusement park, so we were given an hour to go explore it. There were go karts, bumper cars, roller coasters, pirate ships, and many more rides all around. It surprised me that kids in China have the same type of rides at amusement parks as us and that they have the same type of fun. I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect it, but it was really cool to find out and see.

After visiting the plaza, we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. One of Xinli’s friends was hosting an extremely fancy dinner for us.

We all got dressed up and headed to dinner.

There was more seafood and I tried a bunch of new food. There was sea cucumber which I did not really enjoy. I thought it tasted like a slimy gummy bear. I wasn’t able to finish it. I also ate a piece of chicken wrapped in leaf. I was sitting next to our friend Tong, who is the son of the host, and he was helping me learn how to eat some of the food. At the end of a meal, the Chinese put out fruit. We have been eating family style meals so every dish is placed on a huge lazy susan. The table we ate our meal at was gigantic and there were about 35 of us seated around it. The turntable was also huge, but because there were so many people around the table, the difference in the circumference of the table and the lazy susan was a lot greater than if we were sitting at a small table. This caused the seats to be further away from the lazy susan – or more importantly, the food! Sometimes we had to stretch to reach for food, and just to make it more difficult, the turn table was automatic! It kept spinning and sometimes a dish would pass you by before you even had a chance to grab what you wanted. When I saw nectarines on the table, I knew that the meal was over. They usually like to provide melon. Watermelon is very popular, but canteloupe and honeydew are often given at the end of the meal. I have really been missing fruit, I eat so much fruit back home and that is not as common here. So when I saw the nectarines on the table I grabbed a few. A lot of people had been having a lot to drink, so they weren’t neccessarily paying attention to the table. I was lucky and got to grab some early on. I shared them, but I definitely could have eaten all of them on my own if given the chance.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel and Tong took us to a Karaoke place. We sang for a while and then headed back to our hotel. The next morning we were able to go up to the top floor of the hotel and see the CEO’s penthouse. It was amazing up there. It was so beautiful and spacious. There was even a secret elevator to get up to his penthouse. I wondered what it would be like living in a hotel. I’m sure he is used to it at this point and it is probably no different than living in a really fancy apartment building, but it is very different than anything I have ever experienced.

Once our tour of the penthouse was over we were able to head to the airport to catch our flight to Xian. When we got to the airport, we saw a Subway and everyone freaked out a little bit. I wouldn’t say I am sick of Chinese food, but the way meals work in China, especially the meals we have been having, causes a lot of repetition in food choice. There is not much differentiation between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And we have been eating family style meals, which often causes you to eat a little bit of the same things every meal. So seeing a Subway, (with bread!) made us go crazy!

We saw a lot of people wearing these around cities, Kent wanted to give it a try.

Location: Dalian, China

Ode To China

On my last full day in China, I woke up and walked down the street to get some juicy dumplings. I ate 10 dumplings and only paid $2.00. I will definitely miss the great food here. If I could, I would take dumplings back to the United States with me.

My last order of juicy dumplings in Shanghai.

After my dumpling brunch, I walked around and did a little shopping. I wanted to spend most of the remaining money I had, so I bought a few more souvenirs for my friends and family.

At that point, it was time to take the final exam. Once I finished the exam, I posted a blog…a day late (oops!) and then I hung out for a little while.

We then walked a block or so away from our hotel to meet Chinese students who will be attending Penn State in the fall. I really like meeting with students because they give us insight into many things that we are curious about, and we are able to do the same for them as well. I paired up with a girl named Meg and we talked for a while about campus and how she decided to go to Penn State. In China, and even other countries now, there is a very popular app called WeChat that is used for communication. Most of the time when I meet someone new I will add them on WeChat so we can easily stay in touch. You can send messages through it, make phone calls, video chat and much more as long as you have WiFi or are connected to cellular data. It is pretty amazing to know that I met people from all over the world while in China and I can stay in touch with them so easily.

After meeting with all of the incoming students, we went to another room to share our personal reflections about the program. Everyone went around and we talked about many things. A lot of people mentioned their favorite parts of the trip or the most exciting things they learned. Many students talked about different events that gave them a culture shock and others talked about how much they learned from the program. It was great to gather and talk about all that we had experienced over the past month and be able to spend some time together as a group before leaving each other.

We have all grown so close. We have essentially been stuck with each other for the past month – if you want to call it that. We have traveled for hours on end with each other, had each other’s backs when we were walking through sketchy areas, helped each other finish food when we didn’t think we could eat anymore, not get hit by a car (or moped), and most importantly we have helped each other grow.

Going to China and experiencing it in this setting has been an extremely humbling experience. There were times when I could not communicate what I wanted to others. There were times when I was definitely lost, but I always found my way back. There were times when I realized how lucky I am in so many aspects of life. I learned so much from the people of China, but I also learned so much from everyone who was with me throughout this entire journey. I know that I saw amazing wonders that I will never forget, but I also know that I made memories and friends that will last me a lifetime.

For anyone reading this, whoever you are, wherever you are, and however old, young, strong, or scared you may be, I would encourage you with all my being to go somewhere new. Going to China was something I had dreamed of, and I think that made my experience so much more valuable. My expectations were not that high coming into the program, but if they were, they would have been exceeded in unimaginable ways. Going abroad and being outside of my comfort zone helped me learn so much. I learned things that you really can’t be taught in any way other than through experiencing them. I would definitely go abroad again for this reason alone.

Going back home is bittersweet. I learned so much while in China that it is hard to leave, but I know I will always be able to take what I learned with me. I might not have my juicy dumplings anymore, but I will always have the new knowledge I have gained.

I’ll miss so much, and I won’t miss so much. Me and China will probably always have a love hate relationship, but if I am lucky enough to be given the opportunity to go back, I would definitely take it.

On to more adventures in the USA!

From somewhere over the Pacific, I hope you all enjoyed my blog! Go to China and get the juicy dumplings!!

Location: THE OCEAN

So Many Dumplings, So Little Time

Tuesday morning we went to Shanghai’s Exxon Mobil facility. One of Xinli’s former students is currently working there and was able to help us get a tour and overview of their operation. When we got there, Jay, Xinli’s former student, and Mr. Liang gave us an overview of their company, what they do in Shanghai, and their products. They specialize in lubrication, mostly for engines. At this Exxon Mobil site, they are trying to work with local companies in China. Their plan for the future is to be able to spread the company’s reach to other countries in Asia.
We watched a safety video first, then we were introduced to the company and specifically the work that Exxon Mobil is doing in China. Once we learned more about their work, we learned more about their specilization, lubricants. Jay prepared a powerpoint for us and talked to us about lubricants. He said it was something he never learned about while in school, so it was cool to know that he was giving us an introduction to something we probably will never be taught otherwise.

After Jay explained in more detail the purpose and complexity of lubricants, we got to go upstairs to see the lab that the oil is tested in. There were many tests that they perform in the lab, but testing viscosity was the most important one. They had all sorts of equipment in the lab, and there was a huge atomic absorption spectroscope that they said cost $300,000. There was also an engine in the lab that they said was just a toy. I did not realize people had engines for toys, but it must be the geeky side of oil chemists.
After our tour, we returned to our hotel for the night. We were supposed to go see the skyline from an observation deck of a building, but it was unfortunately rainy and foggy, so we had to reschedule for the next day. I got more juicy dumplings. They are too good to resist.
Yesterday morning, I woke up and had a typical Shanghai breakfast. I have been getting a “pancake” every morning. It is an egg and dough bread and they put whatever you want inside of we it. I get sweet sauce that is the consistency of jelly and cabbage and then some type of meat. I have gotten chicken and pork. Some people are afraid of getting street food, but I think that it is part of the experience and as long as a lot of people are at the stand, I trust it. If local people are eating it a lot then I think that’s a good sign. I don’t want to limit my experience here by being afraid to try new things or by being too cautious.

We took the high speed train to Suzhou this morning. On the train we got a snack bag, even though the train ride was only 30 minutes. The train went 300 kph. That is about 187 miles per hour. So we traveled around 80 miles that quickly. The train uses special windows so the speed does not affect your vision. It looked like a magnifying glass in a way. It would be awesome if this existed in State College and you could get to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, and D.C. that quickly.

You could tell that this study abroad program is for engineering students, because we talked about the acceleration of the train and momentum and the engine required to power it and I thought it was pretty hilarious that deep down we are all just curious about how the world around us works. It is cool to experience so many new things with a bunch of engineering students, because we question everything and are able to talk to each other about everything we see and how it works. I think I have gotten a better understanding of certain aspects of China and just all of the new things I have seen and experienced in general because everyone around me is so knowledgeable and is equally as curious as I am.

When we got to Suzhou, we all went to get food. Naturally, I got fried dumplings. I ate so many of them – probably 12. I love dumplings, but I will be deprived of them when I get back to the United States. I am not quite sure how I will recover.

In Suzhou we toured a garden that was made for an emperor in the Qing Dynasty. We found out that it took 3 years to construct the garden and then the emperor died only a year after it finished which is pretty unfortunate. We then went to get on a boat for a brief tour of the city. Suzhou has so many man-made canals, so you can take a boat around the city. It is definitely the Venice of China. It was beautiful. The canals were built in the Ming Dynasty, so they are really old. Rocks surrounded the edges and concrete was the predominant building material used. I noticed that at the base of some of the concrete pillars that supported motor vehicle bridges, there was some deterioration. I wonder if the pollution in the water got through the pores in the concrete and made the rebar expand. I will probably learn this in one of my classes, but for now I can only guess.

After visiting Suzhou, we took the bus back to Shanghai. The bus driver drove to Suzhou while we took the train, so he was able to bring us back. We then went to the Shanghai World Financial Center to see the view of Shanghai from above. I have seen New York City from the top of Rockefeller Building, but this view was even more amazing than that. The city is so big that you can’t even see everything from above. The buildings just keep going until they dissappear into the sky. The sun was almost completely set when we got to the top so the buildings were all starting to light up. It was very beautiful.

Today we will be visiting with local students who will be attending college in the United States next year and taking our final exam. We will then be having a final dinner together and saying goodbye to everyone, and to this lovely country we have spent the last month in.

Location: Sichuan Zhong Road, Shanghai, China

Not Quite Beijing

We almost made it out of the United States!

We made it?

We have finally arrived..in Texas. We didn’t quite make it to China. Me and four other students missed our connection to China due to delayed flights. Weather and mechanical issues caused us to miss the flight by just minutes. As devastating as it was, we got to bond a little more and will now even get to stop in Canada on our way to Beijing!

The airline gave us free hotel rooms so we are going to get some rest and wake up bright and early to hopefully actually make it to Beijing this time around.

Our lovely home for the night.

Wish us luck!

Location: Irving, TX 75063

Maybe It Is Fate

China has been on my mind since I was in 9th grade.

I was 15 years old when my 9th grade history teacher proposed a question to our class. She asked if anyone would be interested in having a penpal from China. Being the social butterfly that I am, I decided that it would be awesome to have a Chinese penpal. Over the summer, my teacher coordinated details with a teacher in China and her students. When I came back to school as a 10th grader my penpal’s email address awaited me. Unfortunately, she was soon too busy with school work to keep in contact, but I still got to exchange emails with her for a few months. This was the first, but not last, of many exchanges I would have with people from China, and the more I heard about their culture, the more interested I became. And although I did not know this was part of the penpal deal when telling my teacher I was interested the previous school year, I somehow ended up being taught Chinese by a Penn State Graduate Student.

At first I considered stopping the whole penpal and learning Chinese thing because learning a completely new language was a little daunting. I was already learning German and was really interested in the language, but somehow Chinese stole my heart. This was one of the first times I remember being met with something so new and off my radar. I had to make this decision on my own and I am so glad I decided to stick with it. Learning Chinese helped me realize that trying something new and going outside of my comfort zone would help me grow and learn. I was taught Chinese by roughly six different teachers by the time I graduated from high school. It was a fun journey, but I knew I wasn’t done. I still wanted to travel to China at some point. I liked Chinese so much that I decided to take classes at Penn State in what seemed like yet again, another spur of the moment decision. I submitted my application last minute, and ended up taking Chinese during the summer for the next two years.

When I attended WEPO, an orientation program for freshman women engineering students, I learned of the opportunity to travel to China with Xinli through the ENGR 118 course. After being exposed to so many different learning environments, I had been taught about Chinese culture, I had participated in Chinese New Year activities, done paper cutting, and done calligraphy, but I wanted to see all of this first-hand. I was hooked the moment I found out it was possible to go to China and called my parents as quickly as I could to ask them what they thought. Luckily, they have been supportive of me and have encouraged me to find my way to China. I obviously won’t be experiencing Chinese New Year while in China, but I will probably be able to find paper cutting and calligraphy along the way.

I am all packed and ready to leave. I “packed,”

: First Pack

unpacked,

Unpacking before even leaving home

and re-packed

Packing is finished! Ready to take off.

and am still not confident that I did not leave something behind. Every time I leave my house, I end up running back inside 30 seconds later because I forgot something. So…we will see how this turns out.

I just drove to Pittsburgh and am catching a flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas on Sunday morning. From there I will be flying to Beijing, arriving Monday afternoon.

So yeah, you could say I have been unknowingly awaiting this trip my entire life. Fate or just a string of very well put together events?

Either way, I am going to China!!!!

Location: Pittsburgh, PA 15212

7 Days ‘Til Liftoff

It feels so far away, yet so close at the same time.

I know I will be so busy this week, that I won’t even realize how quickly the day of departure is approaching. However, anytime someone mentions that I will be leaving for China soon, or asks “Are you excited?” My heart starts to flutter.

I can’t deny my excitement. I do not think I have ever anticipated the arrival of anything more in my life. I remember how excited I was to move in on campus this past summer, but I have been waiting to go to China since I was in 10th grade. It has been four years, and every time I think about how it will actually be happening in just over a week, I don’t even know what to do with myself. I feel a loss for words. I am thrilled. I am also worried about missing my flight, but who wouldn’t be?

When I signed up to take this course and go to China for nearly a month, I thought that leaving two days after the semester ended was too soon, but now I am so grateful. I wouldn’t be able to wait any longer if we weren’t leaving directly after the semester ended.

My biggest task over the next week will be packing. Forgetting something is not an option. I really need to make sure I check over what is going into my luggage thrice. There are a few things I already have packed…the essentials (playing cards, sunscreen, and chocolate).

I can’t wait to explore China, make new friends, meet new people, experience a new culture, and try new food.

For now, I guess I will continue to count down the days.

Did I mention I have never traveled outside of the country?

Wish me luck!

Location: University Park, PA

Field Trips on Field Trips

I’ve only been here for about a month and I’ve already been to so many places in Shanghai. I visited some places through my classes and some because CIEE has their own field trips on certain Fridays, but now I just want to travel everywhere!

A model of Shanghai at the Urban Planning Museum

One Friday we went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall and I couldn’t even believe how big Shanghai actually is. If you can just imagine how small a person is compared to the buildings in this model….it’s just amazing! Sometimes I still can’t grasp the fact that I’m in China and I have two months left to explore as much as I can.

: Look at that Skyline

Some of the field trips held through CIEE are called “Old Shanghai” where on our free days we can learn more about the older and more historic areas of Shanghai. Although it is awesome to see all the new, modern things here I actually like exploring the older areas. I think that it’s more interesting to see what life in Shanghai used to be like compared to all the tourist areas. Don’t get me wrong, the tourist areas are awesome, but it’s nice to also see areas where there aren’t so many tourists.

A market in old Shanghai

And with that said, this past weekend I went to Hangzhou with some classmates and our teachers and we went to all the areas where there are all the tourists. We went to Leifeng Pagoda, a boat tour on the West Lake, Linying Temple and also a tea farm.

Leifeng Pagoda

A view from the top

An ice cream break after climbing all those stairs up the pagoda

(When it’s 75 degrees out and you’re walking around all day, an ice- cream break is obviously needed.)

And flower crowns because why not?

On this trip we actually had a decent amount of time to go explore the area on our own. I think one of my favorite pictures from this trip is from Saturday evening when the sun was setting. I was told that Hangzhou is beautiful and I can also confirm that so if you ever have a chance to go to China, check out Hangzhou!

A sunset in Hangzhou

On Sunday we went to Linying Temple and I was mesmerized by all the carvings in the side of the mountain. I always think, “Wait, someone actually carved all of this by hand…..”

Linying Temple

A tea farm in Hangzhou

So I can say I’ve seen a little bit of China, but I really want to see more. I still have so many places in mind and I’m so excited that it will happen sometime in the next two months!

Wait, it’s only been two days?!

If you can’t tell by the title, I honestly can’t believe it’s only been two days! I arrived in China Monday night and orientation started bright and early the next day. We’ve been so busy yesterday and today that it feels like we’ve been here for a week. Everything is just so new to me that I just want to take in as much as I can.

So how was that flight?

Between only getting three hours of sleep before heading to the airport and then going on a 16 hour flight, I somehow managed to stay awake for the whole thing. I think it was because the plane had movies and tv shows to watch during the flight. I managed to watch two movies and too many episodes of NCIS.

16 hours later after I made it to Hong Kong I had the wonderful experience of having my plane being delayed an hour and a half. I already had a two hour layover and I found that I’m not one to wait too long between flights. Although the Hong Kong airport was AMAZING (so many stores that I couldn’t even believe were in an airport like fancy clothes, handbags, jewelry and even a Disney store….let me repeat that…A DISNEY STORE!!) I realized that I just get too excited about getting to my destination and I can’t wait for too long. Also I realized that once you’ve seen the whole airport there’s not much to do after; who would’ve thunk? But once I was on my connecting flight to China I finally realized how tired I was. They gave us food and I was asleep soon after.

Bye Hong Kong!

Look at that sunset

Fast forward a bit

After meeting some CIEE people at Pudong airport, we took a bus to the dorm on campus. Once I got there I met my host mom and she took us to her apartment. With my home stay I’m living with three people (grandma, mom and daughter) and it’s been interesting. My host mom speaks English so that helps when I don’t know certain words but my host grandma doesn’t. Considering I’ve taken 5 semesters of Chinese I’m actually not doing too bad at speaking with her, but I don’t always understand what the daughter is saying. She’s 8 years old so it’s like talking with any other 8 year old except I’m trying to do this in Chinese and she only knows a little English but it’s been fun.

Alsoooo, the apartment is 20 minutes from campus and I’ve actually managed to figure out how to get to and from campus within the two days I’ve been here. I think that’s an accomplishment! But one thing I noticed here while trying to get around is that the drivers just do their own thing. I don’t think I’ve had so many cars drive so close to me while I’m crossing the street or walking around campus.

just walking around campus

And we’re still typing

So far orientation hasn’t been too bad. I already knew a few people from previous Chinese classes at Penn State so that made things a little easier when I went around to talk to people. I’ve met a bunch of new people and we’ve all added each other on WeChat. WeChat is a messaging app that’s used here so we all got it to talk to each other. Even with orientation going on, there are already events being planned. Tomorrow morning I’m going to Zhenru Temple for the lantern festival. I’m not too sure what to expect but it should be pretty cool. The only thing is that I have to get up super early (we have to meet at 7am!) and I’ve been hit by that whole jet lag thing. If I’m not busy doing something, I get pretty tired.

And on that note I should head to bed and try and get some sleep. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings in this update and I’ll see you at the next blog post!

Location: Shanghai, China

Home Town after 10 years!

So here I am in CHINA after spending like 20 hours in the airplane, watching 6 movies and sleep TONS.

I arrived in China one week early than the program starting date and my first stop is Fuzhou, Fujiang– my hometown. Unreal but it felt strangely familiar and comforting.

The immediate impression when I stepped off the airplane was: people. There are A LOT of people out in the streets in China. Think of holiday shopping season in a big mall in US– thats like everywhere and everyday in Fuzhou. There so many food stands in the streets selling vegetables and cheap snacks and hot food, and restaurants set up tents in the street for people to just sit and socialize with friends while eating food. There are people playing majiang out in the open too! A lot more daily activities are taking place out in the open, which really gives Fuzhou a greater sense of community and I am totally loving it!!!

And oh did I mentioned that there are LOTS of cars too, ranging from bikes, mini motorcycles (a very popular mean of getting around in Fuzhou), driving out of control because rules are lax and there are much fewer traffic lights in Fuzhou than back in state. The week I spent in Fuzhou, I actually needed to be escorted to cross the streets.

I did not get a chance to explore the city too much the week I stayed there because of jet-leg but I did went back to the neighborhood (仓山） I used to lived. Great I was still able to recognize the apartment I used to stay in but the surrounding area changed dramatically with new roads, buildings, and Walmart.

The internet in China really sucks so I can’t upload any picture 🙁

Until Next time.

Location: Fuzhou, China

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