Xi’an Day Two – Bell Towers and Muslim Quarter

Today has been a very relaxing stroll through Xi’an. Let’s get started!

Breakfast:
Breakfast was at 7:30 A.M., and my friend Darlene and I didn’t know that the eating area was on our floor of the hotel. We searched for the group by going to the restaurant next door and were welcomed by a big pile of dog shit in the entrance hallway. My friend Lakeshia told us where to go and we found our amazing hotel food! I had fried rice, noodles, tiny pieces of toast, and EGGS! COOKED RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! AMERICAN STYLE! They were amazing!

Morning Dance
Our walk to the bell towers was amusing because we saw a large group of people who worked at a communications company perform a very awkward dance in front of the building. Lakeshia and I decided to spice it up by jumping in and participating in the dance. We jumped in during a pause in the choreography, which at first made us feel not welcome because they were staring at us. They let us stay, so we performed the long and emotionless dance with them. We (especially Lakeshia) tried to add life to their morning routine by acting very happy and excited… I hope that made their morning entertaining. I understand why they looked like empty souls… I would too if I had to do that boring dance before work every morning. I truly believe we added some joy to their day because they kept smiling and looking at us after it was over.

Bell Tower
The bell tower was built during the dynasty days because the people thought it would tame an underground dragon that was causing earthquakes. It’s situated in the middle of a very busy section of the city, so it’s pretty much an artistic oasis to the roundabout that surrounds the tower. They used to strike the giant bell at dawn to signal the start of the day. We took pictures next to the huge bell, saw a cultural musical performance(bells, strings, ocarinas), and got to walk around the balcony towards the top of the tower, which gave us a good view of the city. A random thing I noticed from the balcony was that the driving here is SO much more organized than Changsha. People actually follow the driving lanes here! The building was full of very old art and antiques. My pictures will explain what I’m talking about.

Drum Tower
The drum tower is a five minute walk away from the bell tower. It housed a giant drum, which was used at sunset to declare the end of the day. There are many giant drums outside for tourists to take pictures with, and play with when none of the employees are around. I got caught. There is an artistic drum museum inside of the tower, with some of them being thousands of years old. There are a few performances per day on the first floor, but we were not able to stay for one. The top floor has sets of furniture placements from the Ming Dynasty. We also got to enjoy a great panoramic view of the city from the top floor’s balcony.

Starbucks
We enjoyed an hour slice of America at Starbucks before visiting the drum tower. Many of us got coffees, sandwiches, and pastries. I enjoyed a grande iced coffee and a slice of marble cheese cake. This was probably the fanciest Starbucks exterior that I have ever seen. It was paradise.

Muslim Quarter
We returned to the Muslim Quarter for lunch and shopping. The Muslim Quarter is a district in Xi’an with a heavy Muslim population. This place is packed with restaurants, merchants, and food vendors. The shopping area here was large enough for me to spend two hours walking around. One long alley of merchants would turn into an even longer one, which would take you to an intersection… I got lost for about 30 minutes. I bought quite a few gifts for people back home, all of which I was able to bargain down to 50% of the asking price. Some of these merchants were pushy! Some would see us looking at their products, then put the stuff in front of us, then offer us a price, then grab our arms and offer an obscene low price when we walk away. One of my friends actually got smacked by a merchant because she didn’t want the merchant’s “double silk” pajamas. There was a great variety of neat souvenirs that I was interested in, but didn’t have enough money on me. Some of my friends and I want to return here tomorrow after visiting the Dayan (Wild Goose) Pagoda.

Pictures of today’s adventure can be viewed on my Facebook album at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1789621746380.2093840.1414680180&l=11c0b42fa3

– Mike L.

Xi’an day 1 – Terracotta Warriors

We have arrived in Xi’an, after a short and comfortable 19 hour train ride here!

Unlike our train ride from Shanghai to Changsha, this train to Xi’an was pretty nice. We rode in first class, with four people to a cabin, four beds, and a solid sound-proof door. The 19 hours flew by because some of us watched a movie, I hung out with some of my friends, watched Gaga’s HBO Monster Ball Special, and took a sleeping pill. I slept for around 11 hours. Our next 12 hour train ride to Beijing is supposed to be the same quality too!

ARRIVAL:

The arrival at the train station was the same as the previous one. A lot of people carrying heavy luggage to one exit, countless tour buses waiting outside, and merchants outside to sell us maps of the city. We walked FOREVER to find our bus driver, then we had to cross the HIGHWAY to get to the bus. This was the first time that I have ever walked in front of a giant red truck, speeding at me at probably 50’ish mph. Our short bus ride took us to our business hotel, which is pretty nice. Our shower is weird because it doesn’t have anything separating it from the rest of the bathroom. We proceeded to eat dumplings and noodles at the restaurant next door

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS

Now to the highlight of the day, the world famous TERRACOTTA WARRIORS! These statues were built as a part of the incomplete excavated Emperor Qin’s giant tomb. All of the soldiers’ statues are a unique representation of the people who built them. They’re all unique, with different heights, facial expressions, widths, etc. They all face an eastern direction, which means that they were built to guard Emperor Qin’s tomb. Every person who worked on Qin’s tomb were killed to keep the location secret, with evidence that many of them were buried alive.

We visited the excavated three pits and a museum. Pit 1 is the largest and most famous. When we walked into the pit, I my jaw literally dropped. I was speechless. This place literally looks like a giant hanger with the soldiers’ statues lined up in rows and sections. Any pictures you have seen of the Terracotta Warriors probably came from the first half of Pit 1 because these statues are well preserved and lined up in an orderly fashion. The middle section had a lot of broken statues, but I could still piece together what they were supposed to look like. The third and last section of pit 1 had rows of amazingly preserved statues, but that’s only because they were put back together from broken pieces. All in all, Pit 1 is the largest and most famous attraction of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Pit 2 was large, but barely had any visible statues. That’s because the people in charge of the museum decided that the only way to preserve the statues’ beautiful color was to keep them housed under the original roofs that were built over them. The roofs were really neat, they looked like rows of fossilized huts. There were encased exhibits of different Terracotta Warriors on display, which included a general, a kneeling archer, a standing archer, and a man with a horse. There were also exhibits of weapons, artifacts, and original construction materials.

Pit 3 was the smallest pit on display; however, it did have well preserved Terracotta Warriors on display! The pit was very deep, with many of the warriors standing with their backs to the walls. A lot of them were missing their heads. I noticed that multiple warriors with their heads were looking down.

The museum was a neat addition to the three pits because it houses many artifacts from the pits that couldn’t be put on display there. There were also a lot of ancient artifacts from other places in China and from different dynasties. They housed statues of Terracotta Warriors, Terracotta Acrobats, bird statues from the pits, along with bronze, pottery, and bone artifacts. I got kind of annoyed by our tour guide trying to rush me through the museum. Sure she has to see this everyday, but damn, this is most likely a once in a life time experience for us!

Where there’s tourists, there’s merchants trying to sell people overpriced souvenirs. I, of course, made the first mistake by being the first person to buy something from a vendor. A guy harassed me to buy a Terracotta figurine for 30 Yuan, I talked him down to 15 and purchased it. He then pursued me and tried to get me to buy the whole box, with four more figurines, for 100 Yuan. I talked him down to 5 Yuan, making the whole purchase 20 Yuan. A few of my friends were able to buy the same box from other vendors for 10 Yuan. However, later I was able to buy a Terracotta Warrior lighter and two meditation balls for half of their asking price!

We left the Terracotta Warriors sight at around 6 P.M., just in time for dinner! We took our bus to the Muslim Quarter, a famous Muslim district in Xi’an. It used to be very populated a looooong time ago, but the numbers of Muslims here decreased. We had an amazing dinner, which included the ever elusive orange chicken! We had to go back to the hotel shortly after dinner due to rain. We will return to the Muslim Quarter tomorrow for a more in-depth tour.

That concludes day one in Xi’an! We will be visiting the famous bell towers tomorrow, which includes the Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan Pagoda). The Wild Goose Pagoda is a Buddhist tower (5 stories, 177 feet) that was used in the old days to store art, artifacts, and other Buddhist things. Many things from all over China and India were stored here. From the pictures I’ve seen of this tower, it looks beautiful! There will be a post tomorrow about our second day in Xi’an!

Pictures from today can be found in my Facebook album at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1789621746380.2093840.1414680180&l=11c0b42fa3

– Mike L.

Zhangjiajie. Welcome to Pandora!

Remember seeing the floating islands on Avatar? I do. I was awe-struck by their beauty and longed for a place that beautiful in real life. Well I got as close to the real thing as possible — Zhangjiajie National Park served as the inspiration and source of those lush-floating islands.

Zhangjiajie National Park is China’s first national park and on the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Zhangjiajie’s beauty includes the high-altitude mountainous Baofeng Lake, a forest of towering rock pillars, wild monkeys, and a preservation of the culture of the Tujia ethnic minority people. Our two and a half days in Zhangjiajie’s town and national forest (Wulingyuan Scenic Area) exposes tourists to a region in China that is a pretty rural, less populated, dense in ethnic minorities, and connected to the beauty of the national forest.

This place kind of does remind me of Avatar because many of the preserved areas in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area are similar to the movie’s world called Pandora. The Tujia people have strong and historical elements of their culture rooted in the mountains… remind you of Avatar’s Navii culture? Maybe this is just the nerd in me coming out.

DAY ONE:
We ate lunch at a busy hotel restaurant after our four hour bus ride to Zhangjiajie. Many of us bought scrolls painted by an artist in the restaurant after we were finished eating. Me being me, I didn’t think that it was a situation were I could bargain the price down. I ended up paying the full price of 260 yuan for my beautiful scroll, while others were able to bargain the price down to around 150. However, I’m still very happy with the scroll I purchased.

We made our way to the national park after lunch and all of us were taken by surprise at how we were suddenly engulfed by the towering and lush mountains. We walked up a very steep hill and ascended and descended some stairs to reach one of the parks main attractions; Baofeng Lake.

Baofeng Lake is a pretty large lake is situated in the mountains at around 1000 meters high and has a depth of around 300 meters deep. This pristine lake is surrounded by mountains, stone peaks, and greenery, which made me feel like I was in a completely different world.

Our boat tour around the lake kept me gazing in every direction. Whenever we passed a boat house we would clap and cheer, which prompted a singer to come outside and sing a cultural song to us. Our group leader Dr. Ping challenged a woman to a singing match and put up a big fight, but apparently he lost. In the old days, if a man lost one of these singing battles to a woman, they would have to provide her three years of hard labor, three years of collecting firewood, and three years of some other service (I forgot). He told her that he would be back…. liar!

That evening we saw a cultural dance performance by a group of Tujia people. The performance was an introduction to their cultural and historical roots. Some of the highlights of the show was some of the dancers putting fire on their bodies, the men dressing in drag (Chinese drag queens!), women handing us a bowl of an unknown drink and making us Gambe! (chug it), zombies, and the halftime is-this-your-bride show. A few people from the audience were taken on stage, including a few from our group, and had to see if the covered woman in front of them was going to be their bride. My friend Chris uncovered his mother-in-law and my friend Sam uncovered his bride! They got married and he wore his just married face marks throughout town that night, which sparked much interest among the random people we walked past. The post-show performance outside was occupied by people walking on glass, walking on fire, and putting hundreds of pounds of weight on their bodies.

DAY TWO

We saw most of Zhangjiajie’s beauty on our painful hike up Tianzi Mountain. My thee hour hike spanned over 3 and a half miles, and up 7,000+ stairs. The base of the mountain gave us an amazing view of the park’s forest of stone peaks, towering at thousands of feet in the air. The hike up the mountain………. pain. There were times during the hike that I wanted pay some random guys to carry me on a chair up the mountain. I did get some amazing pictures though.

Towards the peak of the mountain I climbed an additional and optional 280 stairs to Zhangjiajie’s “Heaven’s Platform.” A sign on the base of the stairs said that one can only truly claim that they have been to Zhangjiajie if they have visited the Heaven’s Platform. We were surrounded by a few other mountains, peaking above the clouds. Being surrounded by clouds and such natural beauty makes Heaven’s Platform live up to its name.

After FINALLY reaching the peak of the mountain (most of the group was waiting for us for around two hours), we took a bus ride to the tallest natural rock bridge in the world. The walk across the bridge was very short because it’s only 25 meters long, but it’s 357 meters high! There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of pad locks that are fastened on the safety railings, which have peoples’ personal wishes engraved in them. A few prominent figures of China’s government have placed locks on this sight, wishing for a prosperous future for China. We hiked on a trail for about an hour and witness many priceless views of the neighboring peaks. The clouds gave an artsy and eerie theme to the sight, but they did hinder a good portion of the potential viewing distance. On the bright side, the ocean of clouds and the mountains piercing through them gave me the feeling that I was on Avatar’s floating Hallelujah islands.

We ended the day’s trip by riding a cable car down the mountain. The ride was really fun and I took a video of our dramatic reactions when we left the station to be hanging thousands of feet in the hair… from a thread. The clouds blinded our view for a good portion of the ride, but we descended through a clear portion of the mountain which let us enjoy a few minutes of breathtaking sights. I took full advantage of that opportunity by taking many amazing pictures.

DAY THREE

We were only in Zhangjiajie for a few hours before we left for Changsha. We walked through the Golden Whip Trail, which is situated next to Golden Whip Stream. The rain caused the stream to turn into a river, which caused some of the trail to be blocked off due to flooding. The trail was surrounded by vegetation and views of the rock towers from ground level. Some of the trail’s attractions include Rock of Welcoming Guests, Golden Whip Rock, and Reunion Rock, and Purple Grass Pond. On the way back we saw a wild monkey! It hung around the people because a few other tourists ignored the “don’t feed the wild monkeys!” signs and fed it a cupcake and corn on the cob. I didn’t mind that because I took many great pictures of it. I’m shall name it Twinky.

These few days were filled with examples of China’s naturalistic beauty. If you have the chance to go anywhere near China’s Hunan Province, you NEED to visit Zhangjiajie. This place is Eden. This is probably the most beautiful national park that I have been to, and I have been to some famous ones (Yosemite and Sequoia for example). If you love Avatar like I do, Zhangjiajie is as close to Pandora as you will ever get.

Pictures can be found in my two Facebook albums:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1789621746380.2093840.1414680180&l=11c0b42fa3

My third update on Changsha life will come tomorrow. Classes will officially be finished tomorrow! We’re heading to Xi’an on Saturday, then Beijing, and finally back home in exactly one week.

– Mike L.

Changsha part 2

This post is a list of things we’ve done so far.

Yuelu Mountain

A few friends and I hiked up Yuelu Mountain after our first day of class. Unaware of the paved road from the base to the peak of the mountain, we hiked up the dirt trails. I’m glad we hiked up the natural path because the steep hills were a challenge!

The peak of the mountain provides an amazing view of Changsha. We were able to see the entire city and were surprised at how big it is. The view would have been flawless if there wasn’t pollution. I couldn’t capture any clear pictures of the city because of the pollution.

There is a tower and a Taoist temple on the top of the mountain, but we didn’t go to them because we thought that rain was coming. We rode a cable seat ride down the mountain, which provided us with more angles of Changsha. Riding over the canopy of the mountain’s trees is one of my favorite sights so far.

We also got to ride a toboggan slide! We would each sit in an individual cart, have a pulley take us around half way up the mountain, and then we would slide down the steel track. Zooming through the woods and fresh air was pretty damn fun. I was going fast, but I could have gone faster. I’m going back to this slide before we leave.

I don’t think we even saw half of the attractions at Yuelu Mountain. There are more memorials, temples, pavilions, etc. that I want to visit.

Yuelu Academy

A few days ago the entire group went to the Yuelu Academy, which was an academy that the Confucius philosopher Zhu Xi taught in. It contained many characteristics of what one would assume to be old school China; a lot of greenery, poetry and philosophy engraved in stone, a central pond, bamboo, and a quiet atmosphere. Many Chinese graduates were taking pictures there because there are engravings that say something to the tune of “Intelligent people come from Hunan.” There is also a wall that people rub for good luck in their studies.

Hunan Normal University Business School Welcoming

Two days ago the business school at Hunan Normal University threw a welcoming ceremony for us. Most of them spoke English. They started the ceremony by re-enacting Cinderella, in English. After that, a few girls sang a couple of High School Musical songs very well! They wanted us to sing for them, but none of us knew of anything to sing. My roommate Zack saved us by starting to sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.” More people from our group joined in and we had a few pauses because we needed time to remember the lyrics.

We had time to talk freely among each other after the performances. There was two girls who I talked to, whom surprisingly had a big interest in America’s perspective in politics. They asked me what America’s opinion on the Taiwan situation is, Japan, premarital sex, and homosexuality. They both believe that Taiwan belongs to China because many people from mainland China live there and that it is an embarrassment that Taiwan is claiming independence. When they asked me what I think of Japanese people, I told them that I view everyone equally. They told me that they both have some animosity towards Japan because of the history of Japan invading China(this doesn’t hold true for all Chinese!). They told me that the conservative people among the elderly Chinese don’t understand premarital sex, but the young people do. One of the girls told me that she thinks homosexuality is disgusting, which struck a big nerve in me, so I replied to her:

“Well if you don’t like gay sex, then don’t participate in it. It’s not your business what people do in the bedroom. You shouldn’t view a gay person as a lesser person because of the one characteristic out of many that makes them a human being. You wouldn’t want someone to judge you because of one thing you were born with.”

She replied to me, “Ooh! That’s right. You’re a real nice person.”

Our group and the business students took a giant group picture after the conversation period.

Liling Ceramics Factory

Yesterday we took a two hour bus ride to a ceramics factory in the city of Liling. They are the largest ceramics exporter in China and the official ceramics producer for the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo. We started in their showroom and I saw many plates, bowls, and cups that are sold in Kohls, Macy’s, JCPenny, Taget, and almost every other large U.S. department store.

We toured the actual factory production area, which was amazing because most of the production is from human labor. All of the art on the plates, bowls, cups, etc. are hand painted! Very little machinery is used in producing their ceramics, which I admire because there is more of a human artistic element in their products. I might just buy some of their stuff when I return home!

We took our bus to a hotel in Liling for an amazing and luxurious lunch! We were put in a VIP dining room on the fifth floor. The dining room had a large center table with flowers in the center, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plush carpet, and very comfortable chairs. Our silverware consisted of a large golden spoon and fancy chopsticks with gold at the base. We were also given warm and moist towels. The food was mostly spicy Chinese dishes; chicken, pork, beef, rice, sweet potato noodles, veggies, and EEL!

Pictures from these sights are on my Facebook photo album at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

We’re leaving for Zhangjiajie National Park tomorrow! We’ll be there for two days. Google pictures of this place, it’s beautiful!

– Mike L.

Pictures (2)

Pictures of Hunan Normal University can be found at:

http://www.hunnu.edu.cn/english/infofor/Visitors/CampusScenery/index.html

I have also added more pictures to my Facebook album at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

Changsha part 1

Hello All!

I apologize again for the slow updates. This week has been very busy for me. I had a quiz on the first 20 Chinese radicals, Chinese tutoring, a presentation on Mao in my seminar of China’s economy & society class, and an exam in my international economics class.

Basic info on Changsha

* Over a 6 million population
* Capital of Hunan Province
* Growing rapidly! We were surprised at how developed this city is!
* Chairman Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, began his political career here
* Public transportation is mainly buses and taxis
* The weather patterns are very similar to the Ohio Valley. Hot, humid, and rainy during the summer and cold and snowy during the winter.
* The two halves of the city are separated by the large Xiang River

Hunan Normal University

We received a very warm welcome from Hunan Normal University. Their international student’s office gave us a very delicious and large welcoming banquet. Two of their staff members were so friendly! One of them, Amy, taught us a few eating customs. For example, if someone says “GAMBE,” everyone toasts and chugs the rest of their drink(we only had green tea so we were safe). Another thing she taught us was that the end of a meal is signaled by watermelon and other fruit being served.

We walked around the campus for a little bit and I was very impressed at its beauty. There are a few gardens and parks for students to quietly study. One of them is an “English Corner” and Chinese students will go there to recite books and talk only in English. The Yuewang Pavilion spot is a large area with a pond, a bridge that crosses the pond, a lot of greenery, an entrance to Yuelu Mountain, and the Yuewang Pavilion. The Yuewang Pavilion is a memorial for the people who died when Japan invaded Changsha during WWII. To prevent the Japanese from gaining anything from the city, the Chinese soldiers had a plan to burn the city down when all the citizens were evacuated. The sight of the first fire was the signal for the other soldiers to set their areas on fire; however, that plan backfired when an accidental fire was mistaken for the signal, which unfortunately caused many people to die because the city was set ablaze prematurely.

We live and study in the building designated for foreign students. This building contains 6 floors, dorms, classrooms, a recreation center, a kitchen, a student union, a general convenience store, and a very nasty cafeteria(we don’t eat there). Our dorms are pretty high class! Two people share a room which contains two queen size beds, wood floors, a full bathroom(which has a western style toilet!!!!), a closet for each student, a large desk area for each student, a flat screen TV, air conditioning, a balcony/clothes drying area, a mini fridge, and housecleaning services. I love the way we enter our dorm rooms because all we have to do is place our key card on the door handle, wait for it to make a happy beeping noise, and walk in.

Having our classes in the dorm building is very convenient because of the close proximity, but I wish our classes were in the regular campus academic buildings; however, I do understand that us being here for only a month would be a waste of space in the academic buildings.

I’m cheating on Arabic by sitting in on the Chinese language class. Attending the class is free, I’m in China, and Chinese language skills are in high demand, so why not? The class starts at 7:50 A.M. and lasts for an hour, but boy do we cover a lot! Dr. Ping has been teaching us pronunciation of Pinyin, conversational skills, and currently we’re learning the 40 basic Chinese radicals. The Chinese radicals are basic words that everyone learning Chinese needs to know because they’re used as a base for many other words to build on. For example, the character for water + the character for sun = oil. Get it?! I’m enjoying this language and I think I will continue to study it when we return home because of how useful it is due to globalization. Learning Arabic and Chinese at the same time will be fun but sooooo challenging!

The international economics course is great for this trip because China is obviously a powerful actor in today’s world of international trade. Dr. Volkan Cetinkaya teaches it in a technical manner, but adds a lot of examples using China and the U.S. I like this way of teaching because we learn the economic theories and concepts and see how they can be applied to this region of the world. I recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn economics abroad because we get to live in a country that is a great example of strong growth in a globalized world. Everyday I witness examples of the international economic theories that I’ve learned in this class.

Dr. Volkan Cetinkaya also teaches the Seminar in Economics: Chinese Society and Culture class, which is designed to teach us the cause and effects of the conditions of the Chinese economy and society during major historical periods, transitions, and in present day China. I enjoy this class because I feel more culturally aware and sensitive of the Chinese people by knowing how this country progressed through their tumultuous history in the past 100 years. Interacting with the people here enhances the teachings of this class because I am learning their perspective on the issues we cover.

I believe that in my future I’m going to continue to reap many rewards from this study abroad experience because I’m going to pursue a career in international public service. China is obviously going to be a huge player in the international stage of tomorrow, so being knowledgeable of their language, their culture and history, and international economics is going to put me at an advantage by preparing myself for the future…today.

To anyone interested in international affairs and/or economics, you should take a serious look into studying in China. Investing in yourself is the most intelligent investment you’ll make in your life. This will not only boost the prospects for your career, you’ll also earn unique friends and fun experiences that can’t be copied anywhere else. Don’t underestimate the five weeks here, because we’re on week 2 and my world has already changed.

Part 2 of this post is coming soon!

– Mike L.

Pictures!

Hey!

Here is a link to my Facebook album in which I will be uploading all of my China pictures. The scarcity of a good internet connection makes it very difficult for me to upload pictures onto WordPress.

I’ll try to keep updating as much as possible… as long as The Fifth Tone(local coffee shop) retains its wifi.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

Ni hao! Starting off in Shanghai

Ni hao! Wo jiao Michael! (Hello! I am named Michael!)

I have FINALLY been able to reach the internet, though it’s very slow. My first few days in China have been very adventurous so far.

SHANGHAI:

Our first few days in Shanghai were very action packed. I love how vibrant this city is and the western influence on it helped us a lot. All of the signs have English and there are many American shops; for example, I had French Fries from McDonalds and a coffee from Starbucks.

We landed in Shanghai at 7 P.M. and had our first Chinese dinner. Our program director, Dr. Ping, ordered for us. We had rice, dumplings, spicy tofu, beef, pork, chicken, eggplant, and probably some other things. Many Chinese restaurants have a spinning turn table(like a microwave plate) on the center of the table, all of the dishes are put on the spinning plate, and we pick what we want and put it on our personal plates for eating. I like this a lot because it helps prevent over eating 🙂

Our second day was spent at the Shanghai museum and at a bazaar(like a flea market). The bazaar/market was very fun because we kept getting haggled and abused to buy souvenirs, knock off clothes, jewelry, and many useless things. “LADY GAGA HEADPHONES!” was yelled at us sooooo many times! We learned our first lessons in bargaining by getting tricked into overpaying for a Chinese stamp. We paid 80 Yuan each, and we quickly found someone down the road was selling them for 40 Yuan. Anyone who shops at these markets need to be good at bargaining and saying no, because if they don’t, they will get extremely ripped off. It is easy to purchase items from these markets for half off or even less.

I had an awkward experience in a mall while I was trying to find a bathroom. I was walking towards it and a woman literally pulled me to her stand so she could polish my shoes. I thought she was trying to polish my shoes and charge me, so I kept repeating “bu yao! bu yao! cesuo cesuo!” (No! no! Bathroom bathroom!). The small patch of polish on my shoes was free.

Our third day was spent at Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower in The Bund(downtown area). It’s the tallest needle tower in Asia. We went to the observation deck at 263 meters, which gave a breathtaking view of the city. Shanghai is literally an endless horizon of buildings, which are mostly apartments. We went one floor below to an observation deck that had a clear glass floor. Small portions of the roof were left open to let wind travel through this glass observation deck, which gave us a feeling that were outside. After that, we rode the elevator to the tower’s first sphere at 90 meters high and rode the world’s tallest indoor roller coaster! It was only 30 seconds long, but still pretty fun :).

The whole group met at the hotel at 1 P.M., rode a bus to the train station, and left for Changsha at 5 P.M. I thought our train would be nice and luxurious… boy was I surprised! The bathroom was one of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen, it was literally a porcelain hole in the floor with an atomic mix of fluids swirling around it. We only had thin and firm beds to sleep on, which had three bunks per row. I had a few funny experiences in which my blanket would fall off my bed and knock over drinks on the table below me. We met a new friend named Nancy from Changsha who spoke English, and we hung out with her for a good portion of the train ride. We arrived in Changsha at 7 in the morning to make our way to Hunan Normal University!