The End

I'm leaving Beijing in about 10 minutes to catch my flight, so can't write much. Just wanted to say a few more words before leaving my study abroad experience in China.

Final verdict --- I'm glad I came. I learned a lot about China and Chinese culture, but also learned a good deal about myself. I am confident now that I can do well on my own and will be successful in anything I choose. Going abroad by yourself with basically nothing proved to be a very difficult experience, but I think I did well. And that shows me that I can be successful in anything I do.

As cheesy as that sounds, I believe it. I can't wait to get back and see how things have changed, hopefully not too much. I can take the best of me before the trip and combine it with the new me and hopefully can be an even better person.

Good bye Beijing. Thanks for all the memories and great times. I'll carry with me what happened this semester for the rest of my life and have no regrets on my decision to come here. Can't wait to come back with friends or family and show them where I spent a semester in college.

Seems like a really long road, but I made it.

I'm done.

Confused

Less than a week to go left in Beijing and I've made my decision about the Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou trip. It's a no go.

At this point I think I've done the traveling I've wanted to do. I've seen a bit of Shanghai, enough to tell me that I'm not dying to see the rest at this point. It's always good to save a city or two for your next trip back right? Whenever that may be...

I'm dedicating this week to writing my papers and seeing the few things left to see in Beijing. I hope to go over to the Yashow market tomorrow in hopes of doing some serious shopping. I'm talking suits, shirts, pants, not to mention buying gifts for all those near and dear to my heart. Yes, Moti, even you will get a nice little present from Beijing. I wonder if they make Chairman Mao chew toys?

Other than shopping I hope to go to this restaurant in Chaoyang that supposedly serves up the best dumplings in all of China. I wouldn't mind tasting the donkey dumplings with vegetables. Might as well enjoy that sort of thing while I can right?

As it's finally setting in that I'm leaving very soon, I find myself getting sad about that very fact --- leaving. Ask me one month ago and I couldn't wait to go home and be with my friends back in good old Oxford leaving behind all the antics that China throws your way. But now I'm realizing that I'm going to miss all those antics. There has to be some psychological term for this, maybe something along the lines like withdrawal syndrome?

Nevertheless, to my surprise I am getting sad about leaving this place. Although I don't really consider it home, it does, excuse the cliche, hold a special place in my heart. There's just something about this city that I haven't been able to put into words that makes me feel good and comfortable. Things just seem easier and carefree over here.

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to describe this feelings before I leave because who knows if I'll ever feel it again. You only study abroad once in your life, and although this may not have been my ideal city it was definitely an experience. I'm glad I came to Beijing, China and spent a semester abroad.

Beijing, wo ai ni.

South of the Border

Back from my first week of travels and I'm exahusted. I changed around my dates a little and went to Xi'an last Wendesday to Friday. I then left for Hong Kong Friday afternoon and then was in Shanghai for a night and onto Hong Kong for the following few days. Here's the run-down:

Xi'an --- A great place to visit for a day, but wouldn't spend much more time there. I took the night train which left from Beijing on Wendesday night and arrived in Xi'an the next morning at 8am. From there I basically saw all the sights I could see in 12 hours and was back on a train to Beijing.

The first site I saw in Xi'an were the Terracotta warriors. They are actually about 1 hour outside of Xi'an so I was able to get a quick nap in. Actually being there, only 20ft. from the terracotta army was a breathtaking experience. This is one site that pictures CANNOT do justice to. Pit one, which was the main pit, is enourmous. Seeing this was well worth the two nights of no sleep on the train.

After I was done admiring the terracotta warriors I made my way back to Xi'an to see a few more sites. Not to my suprise once I got back into the city it was very difficult for me to get a taxi. For some reason, and the same goes for Beijing, 75% of the cabs won't even stop for me. They'll just peer over, wave their hand in the air and shake their head NO. Then they'll go 50 feet ahead and pick up a Chinese person!

But I guess that's part of the charm. What's really funny is how I was being pestered by a man wanting to take me on his scooter. Since I know better than to get on a complete stranger's scooter, I brushed him off telling him I didn't want to ride that thing. 20 minutes go by and a cab finally stops. I told him where I was going and he looked at the man standing next to me. They exchanged a few words in extremely fast Mandarin and then the man quoted an absurdly high price. One thing I've learned about cabby's in China is that they are very territorial. If one cabby see's another cabby talking to a customer or at least trying to get them to become a customer, they'll back off real fast or even go to the extent to help them by telling the customer an extremely ridiculous price (as in my case).


So looks like I didn't know any better and next thing I know I have the wind flying through my hair on the back of some guys scooter. He was a nice guy, although he failed to obey almost every traffic law - going through red lights (after they've been red for minutes), going the wrong way down one-way streets, and to top it all off driving on the sidewalk. But I made it there in one piece, so looking back I can't really say I didn't have a little fun.

I did my thing in the main area of Xi'an. Visit to the Drum Tower, Bell Tower, and Muslim street. The Muslim area was great. For dinner I had some yang rou po -- tender lamb with bread crumbs in a soupy broth, the specialty of that area. Delicious. I went back to the train station, on another scooter =), and made my way back to Beijing.

I was at home for a mere 3 hours, enough to take a shower, check my email and get a very starteling phone call from my family. I had hardly slept in the past two nights so when I finally managed to get a quick nap in I get a very loving phone call from all of my family celebrating Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice, but made me a little homesick as for the first time I was the one person that was missing, rather than one of my older sisters who no longer live in Toledo.

I held the tears back though and made my way to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an amazing city. Period. It is probably one of my favorite cities that I've been to anywhere in the world. It's doesn't really represent Chinese culture (not that it should, since its technically not part of China) but I loved it anyways.

Great weather, great food, friendly people, and interesting places to go. What more could you ask for in a city? A lot of funny/interesting stories to tell you about Hong Kong, but at this point don't have the time or energy to blog about them. Hopefully during a later post...

I'm having second thoughts about going for another full week of traveling, as I've already spent a day in Shanghai. We'll see what the train prices look like and make my decision in the next day or so. At this point I don't know if I have the strength or time, since I haven't really started my papers yet, to travel for another week.

As always though, I will keep you posted.

Home Strech

I had my one and only exam two days ago for my management class and lets just say I did what I needed too. I didn't put too much effort into studying simply because I needed to get a 12% on the exam to pass. Since my grades don't transfer back to Miami for once I was delighted to just do the bare minimum. So that's that.

I have 3 papers to write for my other classes in lieu of a final. A 10 pager, a 5 pager, and a 2 pager, pretty manageable. I am trying to get those done in the next few days because after that my travel schedule takes off.

Less than one month to go in China and literally only a handful of days actually left in Beijing. Here's a tentative schedule of what the next month looks like for me.

Nov. 23 - 25 --- Xi'an
Nov. 26 - Dec. 1 --- Hong Kong
Dec. 3 - 7 --- Shanghai
Dec. 7 - 8 --- Suzhou
Dec. 8 - 9 --- Hangzhou
Dec. 11 --- Tianjin
Dec. 15 - 18 --- Bangalore
Dec. 18 - 25 --- Udupi
Dec. 25 - 28 --- Dubai
Dec. 28 --- Back to Beijing
Dec. 29 --- Toledo

It's going to be one busy month, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Some of these places I will travel to on my own and some with my roommate Drew. At first I was scared to travel by myself, but I've gotten a decent grasp of basic traveling Mandarin so I'm not too worried. I think that traveling by myself a little bit will be nice.

Obviously I'm excited for each and every city, but can't wait for a special few that I know will be a great time. Bangalore -- visiting my good friend Kalit from college. I haven't seen him in about a year, so it'll be nice to meet up and catch up with an old friend. Udupi -- two of my cousins' weddings, definitely a good time! Dubai -- a long anticipated trip to my roommates hometown. Bhavik and I are going to tear up the streets (and sands) of Dubai. Cannot wait for those cities.

Eleven cities in one month. Needless to say the minute I step inside my house in Toledo I'm going to hit the bed, Moti in arms. This very well may be the most hectic and stressful (traveling is always stressful to some extent) month of my life, but I can't wait to go out and see the world.

Here's to a lot of frequent flyer miles.

I know, I know, it's been almost a month since my last post, but I knew this blogging business would be hard to keep up. I'll give you a little update about life in Beijing since my last post.

The great wall was nothing less than amazing. I'm pretty sure I've put pictures up of the trip but if not, will do soon! It was something I've always wanted to do and it was really great to finally see the legendary great wall of China. It was a fun trip with two of my good friends from Germany, who I got to know really well and have really made a strong friendship with them since.

I feel like I've assimilated into Beijing life, moving through daily life as if there was never anything before. Things seem so routine now and the things I encounter don't really annoy me as they did when I last wrote. I've gotten it into my head as - that's just the way things are. It's almost like a second home.

I've re-booked my ticket home to the US for December 29th. I've also booked a trip to India (Bangalore and Udupi) for mid-December and also Dubai for 3 days in late-December. I'm really excited to go back to India and visit a good friend from college and go to my cousins weddings in Udupi. Dubai, what can I say about Dubai, of course I'm excited to go stay with my roommate in his home town and live it up!

As for Beijing, I finally feel like my time is coming to an end. Although I still have one solid month here, I feel as though I'm on my way out. One of my classes has already ended, I have a final exam next week for another, and yet another ends in 2 weeks. After my exam next week I will have 5 day weekends. Yes that's right Deepa, I will have more days off than I know what to do with but don't worry, I am appreciating it and know I'm very spoiled.

As for all those free days, I think I'm going to plan a trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and a separate trip to Hong Kong and maybe Macau. I also want to make it out to Xi'an to visit Mr. Terra Cotta Warrior, and I'm sure I'll have no trouble fitting that two day trip in somewhere amongst the free days.

As my time grows clower to an end I want to start writing some reflections pieces on my time here in Beijing. What I've noticed is that I really miss being home. I miss being in Oxford, around everything that is so familiar to me. I wouldn't change this experience for the world because I've learned a lot about myself, but I can't say its easy to maintain friendships and relationships while abroad. Was it all worth it?

Who knows?

So here's to a strong last month of blogging. I hope I can at least manage to squeeze one post out a week, I don't think that's too much to ask, although I am a very busy man over here. =P

Beijing oh Beijing

I hate to say it, but the longer I'm in Beijing the less I like it. I like it most of the time, but there are certain days when I just can't take it. I'm not sure if this is a don't like all of China thing, or just don't like Beijing. I'll have to wait and see when I visit Shanghai. But it's different living somewhere and going there for the weekend, you know?

Something that goes along the lines of getting really frustrated with this city is getting frustrated with Beida. Now again, I'm not sure if this can apply to all schools in China or just mine, but it seems that they are terribly unorginized and incapable of fixing a simple situation.

For example, on the course sign up sheet they had listed a course titled "International Financial Mangagment" which I planned to take. I go to the first class only to find out that the class doesn't start for another 2 weeks. Ok, they made a simple mistake on the course sheet, no worries. Go back 2 weeks later and there is still no class. I go to the business school office only to find out that the whole course is now cancelled.

This was the week I got up at 6am to take a flight back from Sichuan province in order to make it home in time for this class. A simple email saying, "the course you have signed up for is now cancelled due to xyz. Sorry for the inconvience." But no, I was just supposed to magically sense that the class was cancelled.

This put me in the bad position of being one class short and already being in the fourth week of the semester. I had to sign up for another class and catch up on 3 missed classes worth of material. But for some reason it wasn't bad at all to make that up...

On another point about the school, it is suprisingly easy. Beida is consistantly either the #1 or #2 school in China, year after year, yet it seems to be easy. Is this just because of the classes I'm taking? Who knows.

I got back a group paper which I thought was a pretty sub par paper, for my Operations Mangagment class today, and got a 96% -- highest grade in the class. My group didn't work that hard and wasn't really close to any of the right answers that the teacher had gone over after we turned in the assignment. In the comments she wrote that our paper was very well written and we had good use of language. This may be because Drew and I did most of the paper seeing how our European groupmates weren't confident in their grammar skills.

It's just interesting to me because I work really hard at Miami to get good grades, but over here is seems like I haven't really had to even open a book yet. I mean I'm not really complaining, but I am at the same time. I wish I was learning over here, because this is my one time to learn about China in China.

I guess this just allows me to not have to worry about schoolwork on the weekends which will allow me to travel more. I'm sure next month I'll have more stories of how annoying this city and my school can be at times. Everybody needs to vent sometimes.


At least I'm going to the Great Wall tomorrow. I'm going to the most challenging/dangerous part of the wall called Simatai. I'm going with 4 Germans in my program, should be an interesting day.


TIC.

National Day Holiday Trip

I've been back from my week long trip for a few days now and haven't really been motivated to write down my feelings about it. I had a great time on the trip and it was everything I expected, its just that I've actually been busy around the house and in Beijing the last few days and haven't had time to write about my trip.

First I was off to Chongqing. I had heard about Chongqing from two friends from Miami that have been there for a few months and are studying there for the next year, but never really knew what all the hype was about. Now I do. Chongqing maybe the fastest growing city in China right now and after seeing the hundreds and hundreds of cranes, I believe it. As my friend Andrew put it, China's new national bird is now the crane.

After a few days in Chongqing, I headed to Chengdu. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the earthquake damage sites but in a way I'm glad I didn't. Chengdu was filled with culture streets and pandas. The pandas were cute, but not all that exciting. Just sat around and ate, or just sat.

Next was Leshan. This is where it starts to get interesting. At this point I've left my friends from Miami behind in Chengdu and it's just me and my roommates. I like to think that I planned this part of the trip because I figured out all the logistics for the rest of the trip, and to my surprise there was not one glitch.

Leshan was a smaller city, parts of which reminded me of Udupi. It had that small town feel, but actually had a few tall buildings. The main attraction in Leshan was Dafo, or Giant Buddha. It was something that I really wanted to see while in China as I've seen it on TV multiple times (thanks Zimmerman --- not). It was a breathtaking sight to see how big the Buddha actually was in person.

After only a few hours in Leshan we hopped on another bus to Emeishan. Emeishan or in English, Mt. Emei, is one of four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. We we're checked into our hotel in Emeishan when we decided to go check out a local monastery called Baoguo Si. Walking around Baoguo Si I was really amazed at the planning put into this specific monastery.

While in awe I was approached by a Chinese man named Patrick. Patrick told us that he was a tour guide in the Sichuan region and was basically a VIP at the monastery. He told us that we could stay at the monastery if we wanted that in one of the guest rooms for only 30 RMB ($4.40). We had already paid our hotel for the night, but called them up and told them that we were going back to Chengdu that night and got out of the hotel. We ran back to the hotel, picked up our stuff and stayed at the monastery that night.

Staying at the monastery wasn't life changing or anything, but it was definitely a cool experience. We got to eat dinner that night and breakfast at 6:30 in the morning with the monks. It was really peaceful in the morning, feeling like it was just us and the monks.

So we had a full day of climbing, around 9 miles total. In fact, we only had time to climb up half way because to climb to the top you need a full 12 hours. We had to catch a bus back to Chengdu that evening, so could only do half. Nevertheless it was a fun hike. Went to monkey mountain (check out the video of that monkey intimidating me!) which was a lot of fun, at some a great lunch on the side of the mountain, and just had a good time hiking the mountain and breathing the fresh air that seems to be in short supply in the bigger cities.

I went back to Chengdu that night and back to Beijing the following morning. All-in-all a great trip to Sichuan province. Oh, and forgot to give you the scoop on the food. Excellent! The hot pot was particularly good (boiling meats and vegetables in a vat of oil, water, and spices). We got the lowest amount of spice in our vat that night and it was still hotter than anything I've had. I can't even imagine the spicy stuff!

Back to Beijing, back to school. The schoolwork is starting to pick up although I really don't see it getting overwhelming anytime this semester. This school may have a great reputation as the best school in China, but there are many things that make it seem like it's not. More about this during a later post though.

Now that I've made it to Sichuan, just have to go to a few other cities before I go home. Speaking of home, I'm coming home early, although the exact date is TBD. I've found out that my exams will end by Christmas, so maybe come home then, maybe go to Hong Kong, maybe go to India? Not quite sure yet, but I will be home for New Years.

Gan Bei.

Sichuan for some Szechuan

So I managed to book a flight to Chongqing leaving tomorrow. My roommates and I are going to meet up with a friend of mine from Miami (thanks Amit) as he's studying there for the whole year. He's actually been really helpful - he's picking us up from the airport, he's reserved out hotel room, and is letting us tag along on his trip to Chengdu on Thursday.

I'll be in Chongqing and Chengdu for the next week and am exciting to go to Sichuan Province. It's supposed to be the region of China that has the best food (Szechuan). Can't wait to get my hands on some Szechuan (Sichuan) chicken! That should be a nice change up from Beijing food.

I'm really excited to see another city in China. Chongqing is the biggest city in China I believe with over 31 million people. I guess if I thought Beijing was too many people, this is going to be off the charts.

I'm feeling a little bit better, the antibiotics seem to be kicking in now. Hopefully by tomorrows flight I'll be 100% ready to go for my week of traveling. Even if I'm not, I'm still going to have a good time.

My roommates went to the Great Wall today, but I wasn't feeling great and decided to stay back and get better for this trip. I'm not too disappointed though, the great wall is 45 minutes away and I can go practically any day I want. I'm sure I can convince them to go next month with me. I want to see the wall covered in snow anyways.

Hopefully I'll have a good trip to Sichuan province. I can't wait to eat the food and see the sights. Make sure to check back in a week for the pictures of my trip.

Bound to Happen

I knew I was going to get sick at some point this semester, but who knew so early? I've been struggling with a fever, sinus problems, and frequent bathroom visits for the last week or so.

I'm not only physically sick, but I'm sick of the food. I know I was praising the "hole in the wall" restaurant just last week, but if you eat two meals a day at any place you are bound to get sick. I thought I'd switch it up and go to KFC tonight but that turned out to be a bad move as I got undercooked chicken.

Looks like one thing is for sure - I'm making my way over to the grocery store tomorrow and loading up on all different types of soups. Those seem to be the only thing I can stomach right now.

Hopefully this is only one of a couple posts where I dog on Beijing, but right now I'm not the happiest of people. I did go to Tianamen square and eat Peking Roast Duck the other day (yes, I'm not letting my sickness get in the way of my adventures --- maybe that's why I'm still sick...) Videos and pics to come soon.

Next week I don't have school so hopefully I can go to the travel agent tomorrow and book a flight to Hong Kong or Sichuan province. Although traveling during National Holiday week is supposed to be like traveling around Christmas time in the states, I'd still like to take my chances.

Seems appropriate to leave you with this ending,
Cough.

Bon Appetite

So I've been here for over a week now and have a pretty good idea of what the food is like. But before I get to my food reviews, here's a little bit of exciting news.

I had orientation a few days ago and met a lot of people from all over the world. How would this experience be complete without a fellow Indian by my side? Surely enough, he was there. Our eyes connected from across the room, we slowly moved towards each other, everything around us moved in slow motion...no, I'm kidding. I go to get my bag to leave and lo and behold our friend is sitting right next to my bag.

At first glance I was absolutely shocked --- his name was Ajay Pai. You have to be kidding me I thought to myself. What are the chances that there would be another Konkani, let alone Pai in my program at Beida?? We got to talking and yes he is Konkani and yes this is a miracle of God. I hope to hang out with him soon and brush up on my Konkani speaking skills. Who knew I would come to China and get better at Konkani?

Besides all the excitement that is still pumping through my veins from that night, I've gotten a pretty good feel on Chinese cuisine. In one or my earlier posts I told you that I got a great meal at this "hole in the wall" place, when really I failed to notice the real hole in the wall place right across the street. This place is a diamond in the rough. Excellent food, great service, and of course amazing prices.

I eat there at least once a day, if not twice. I've gotten pretty fond, and frankly almost sick, of the pork dumplings. At this place they are made fresh to order and it really does make a huge difference. I've come a long way from those frozen dumpling packets I used to buy at Jungle Jim's.

I also immediately fell in love with the fried rice and noodles. Now I'm not that big of a noodles guy, but I just got back from eating some fried noodles with pork and is was delicious, or as I tell the owners, hao chi.

The slight, and by slight I mean of the slightest possible meaning, downside to all this food loving is the effects on my stomach. Even though I grew up on all those spicy Indian dishes, there is something about the food here that doesn't always sit well. I'll leave the rest up to the imagination, but no I haven't had to take an Pepto Bismol yet.

Now that I think about it, the area of my Mandarin that has improved the most is in the food setting. I can virtually go sit down, eat a meal, pay, thank them, and walk out without a word of English. I would be hard pressed to find any other circumstance in which I was able to successfully speak Mandarin the whole time, but this may be due to the lack of English speaking people over here. That'll be the topic of discussion for the next post though.

All-in-all the food is great. A little different than China One buffet on a Saturday afternoon, but I'm not complaining. I can say one thing though to set the record straight - people here, at least from my experience, do not eat scorpion and seahorse. Only tourists like me do, check the videos on Picasa! You can't come to China and not eat those things! Next thing you know I'm going to say that about eating dog, poor Moti...

Here's to some good eats!

When the Sun Goes Down

Looking back at the last post, it feels like weeks ago. I can't believe I've only been here for 5 days. I've gotten into such a routine of waking up, getting breakfast, checking out the town, and then going out at night. So far, it's been pretty great.

Let's focus a little bit on Beijing nightlife. The last two nights I had two completely opposite experiences, one I loved and one I hated. Let me back track and give you the whole story...

A few days ago Drew and I were eating lunch in a small "authentic" restaurant when we came across a guy named Adam from New York. He's in his mid 20's, has been studying Chinese for several years and is virtually fluent, and is studying ancient Chinese at Beida.

We friended Adam, told him we'll all go out sometime soon - that night was Thursday. We hit up the Houhai bar district and were walking down a small hutong (alley). We were in search of that bangin club/bar that was filled with people, but ended up going into this restaurant with only about 10 people inside.

The waitress told Adam, all in Chinese of course, that the restaurant was just about to close. Adam said a few words, the owner who just happened to be sitting around, invited all of us in for free food and drinks. We ended up hanging out there for the rest of the night!

The food and drinks were plentiful and the conversation was good (Adam acted as translator). The owner seemed to be some sort of local police, he was trying to convince us that he was Chinese FBI, but he was just trying to get a rise out of us. It was really funny, Adam would turn to us and explain what this man was saying and then add in a "This guy is such a F*ckhead" at the end and then would just start laughing and the Chinese man would laugh with all of us because he thought he was a cool, funny host.

Normally I don't think it's very cool to make fun of people to their face in a language that they don't understand, but this man deserved it. He was saying some pretty bad things about the US and wasn't willing to accept our views. Anyways, the night continued on and to cap it all off, the owner called some random server and had him play some local folk music from Western China.

It was CRAZY! It's not the first time that I've felt such emotion from music but it was amazing. It reminded me of when my friends and I would get back after a late night, set the lights low, and listen to nice, chill music. You don't realize what's going on around you, the music engulfs everything. This is where I was on Thursday night. After the man was done playing his beautiful music, I snapped out of my hypnotic state and felt like I had just slept for 12 hours.

Needless to say, Thursday was the night that I loved. It is probably a night that I will never get again as long as I'm in Beijing. Friday night, last night, was a little bit of a different tale though. We went to a local club called Propaganda. It's right here in Wudaokou, so it was basically tourist city. While it was cool to make a few good friends from Amsterdam and Switzerland, the club just wasn't my scene.

It was too crowded, too expensive, and had to many people that thought they were the shit. Surprisingly it seemed to be the wealthy youth of China that seemed to have their noses in the air the highest. I bumped into a man, walking past one of the private tables, and he said something I immediately understood. This exchange had no words, but I understood that he was saying, "What the hell did you just bump into ME for. Get outta here before I throw you out of this club."

Looks like some things are the same no matter where you live in this world. You'll still have clubs that are way too packed, people bumping and grinding all night, and way to many people that have a fake sense of authority. Wasn't a great night and I ended up leaving pretty early, but I'm glad I had the experience. It'll be interesting to see how it will be next time I go back there, because I'm sure I will at least one more time this semester, since my roommates seemed to have a decent time.

There's my first piece on nightlife. Can't wait to explore more of the different bar districts around. There are definitely some really nice places where I could see myself loving, the problem is finding those places.


On a side note, I think this blog business is going pretty well. I see myself analyzing things much more in my head though and don't really have the will to type it all out. Maybe I'll look into Vlogging (video blogging). That may be a suitable alternative in which I can dive a little deeper into the emotions and questions I have for this city.

Housh.

Arrival

It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to start a new post. I think it was the combination of being up too early, half the website being in Chinese, and my inexperience with blogging. Anyways, I've got it all set now, so let's try and tell you all about my first day in Beijing.

The flight can best be described as, well frankly, absolutely agonizing. I'm no stranger to long flights, but long flights with a 6'6", 250 lbs. man sitting next you, taking half of your seat and ripping some of the most fowl smelling farts I've ever encountered = agonizing. I'll take one for the team and suck it up though, since I made it here in one piece.

My first impression of Beijing was of course the smog, but at the same time I couldn't believe how clean the streets and highways were. Maybe it's because of the Olympics or the Paralympics that are going on right now, but this place is virtually liter free. It's pretty amazing actually. All the roads seem to be newly paved, again I'm sure in lieu of the games but nonetheless pretty impressive.

I soon got to my place to meet my roommates, Marco for the first time, only to realize that it was Marco's birthday. I feel bad that he had to celebrate his birthday with somewhat strangers in a strange place that is new, but by he didn't seem to mind.

I came in, unpacked, got showered up and then we hit the streets for some food. There is this great place about 3 minutes walking where we ate last night and oh my was it GOOD! You know that $1 meal I was talking about last post, yeah, this is one of those places.

What seemed like a little hole in the wall restaurant turned out to be a great eat. We had quite a bit of trouble trying to order though as Drew doesn't speak any Chinese, Marco has only taken a few classes, and I haven't got in the Chinese language mind set yet. We ended up getting pork dumplings and some sort of a sweet, fried chicken. Delicious.

All in all the bill came out to about 10 kuai per person, which is roughly $1.40. Not bad for a great meal. I can see myself eating at that place and places alike quite a bit seeing how the prices are unbeatable and the food is great. The quality of food does not suffer because of the low prices and in fact might taste a little better with that authentic cooking style. A little dirt and spit never hurt anyone right? Mmmmm.

After we stuffed ourselves we came back to the apartment, relaxed, talked about some payment, rent fees, utility issues and then headed out for the night. We jumped on the subway, which is only a 5 minute walk, and took a short cab ride to this nightlife area. I forgot the name, but seeing how there are only a handful of places to go at night, I'm sure I'll have the name for you soon.

We started the night by walking around, checking out the sights. It was a beautiful place, very touristy, but beautiful. They mimicked old style Hutongs which are a series of alleys in which shops are located. Past the tourist Hutongs there was a huge lake surrounded by many, many bars, restaurants, gift shops, etc.

It was fun to roam around and see the diverse culture. I'm in China at such an exciting and changing time for these people. They just put on one of the grandest Olympics anyone has ever seen, they are dominating the world economy, and both modern and traditional advocates are living and walking the same streets.

This is what I first noticed - you have the older, lets say Gen Y, people that are very traditional and don't speak a word of English. Then you have the youth of China, Gen X, that are exploiting all this new money that China is pumping into their economy by opening up swanky lounge areas and bungalows. They dress well, roll in big groups, and don't care too much to talk to Americans.

Whatever is said and done, no matter how many of these young hipsters I meet, I cannot group all 1.6 billion citizens into specific categories. Last night we met older people that spoke good English, we're very hip, and didn't care to talk to us much. We also met younger people that we're eager to get to know us and practice their English. So you can't label definite group characteristics to each person in China, but that just goes to prove even more about the sort of cultural change China is going through right now.

Ok, enough about last night. Today should be filled with even more great adventures, which include getting a cell phone, grocery shopping, and registering at the police department. If we get some more time and the weather is nice, we might stop by Tiananmen and check that out.

Runner's Take Your Mark...

Like I said, it's going to be very hard for me to get in the habit of all this blogging business. I started off so well, initiating my blog with my acceptance into Beida, aka Peking University, but have since forgotten about my blog. Let's hope this will be the official start of my blog.

So here's a quick synopsis of what has happened since that first post oh so long ago...

Drew (the other Miami student studying at Beida) and I had secured a great apartment courtesy of the two students that went to Beida for the spring semester in early May. It was fully furnished, had a great living room with a new flat screen TV, clean bathrooms, basically everything we could have asked for. Not to mention it was on the 30 something floor in a fully "Beijing" neighborhood.

By this I mean that it wasn't a place where all the foreigners live, it was 100% Beijing, right from the landlord that didn't speak a word of English to the fact that Drew and I would most likely be the only two foreigners in the whole building. This was the best part about that place --- being fully immersed in Beijing culture and getting a real taste of living in China. But of course, it was too good to be true.

Around July, Drew and I got word from our Chinese counterpart that the landlord "didn't feel like leasing the apartment to us anymore." I think it was the combination of not wanting a 5 month lease coupled with the fact that he realized that he was charging Americans too less. Drew and I wanted the place so bad we even agreed to paying for an extra months rent just to secure the place. But no, Mr. landlord wanted to either rent out for 3 weeks during the Olympics or rent out for a full year. Neither of which fit mine and Drew's situation. Bye bye perfect apartment, hello to the major pain of apartment shopping in Beijing.

So all this took place during the heat of the summer, needless to say taking summer classes didn't allow me to devote much time to finding the 2nd best place in Beijing, since the best got away.

I do have a place now, it's in an area called Wudaoku in the Haidian district. It's about a 20 minute walk to the school or a short subway ride over (so I'm told). So it's nice and close to Beida but the area is exactly what our first place wasn't --- tourist city. Wudaoku is supposedly a very clean, friendly neighborhood but is host to hundreds of international students that are studying at one of the numerous universities around the area.

I guess I shouldn't complain after seeing what a pain it was to even get this place. And I can't even take credit for all the shopping that was done. Drew actually took the reigns on this and talked to numerous real estate agencies in Beijing until finally, through his own connections, secure this place --- mysteriously referred to as Apartment C.

Here's a look at Apartment C

As you can see, I don't know what's worse the bathroom or the kitchen. Both seem to an equally charming presence about them that just scream home. The best part about Apartment C is that my mom was very concerned about the absence of a stove in the kitchen, "how will you cook if you do not have a stove Abi??" Which my response was, "Mom, meals are $1 over there, I'm not planning on cooking even one day while I'm there." Maybe that's a little extreme, but if it really came down to it, how can you argue with a $1 dinner? Hopefully that's $1 isn't for the dog or crickets...

So this was my place up until yesterday when I get an email from Drew, who got to Beijing on Tuesday, saying that the place is absolutely disgusting. He said it was so bad that he felt dirtier after coming out of the shower then when he went in it! Thankfully he said one night was enough and the second day he was there he had found a nicer, better place in which we will spend our semester in.

No pictures of the new place yet, but will come as soon as I move in. And one last thing about this apartment business, we have another roommate that will be living with us: Marco from Texas. I believe he's a student at Texas A&M and is studying abroad for the semester as well. So we got together with him and we'll each prosper from the lower rent of a 3 bedroom apartment as opposed to a 2 bedroom apartment.

Besides all this apartment drama I've gone through, nothing else too big has happened. I leave on Sunday the 7th and will arrive in Beijing at 3 in the afternoon on the 8th. I'm still a little concerned on how I will get from the airport to my apartment seeing that I don't have a complete address, but I'll find it somehow. I'm sure that'll be the topic of discussion for my first post in Beijing.

As for now, it's time to get back to packing.

For my next post I'll write more about how I feel about leaving the place I call my home (Miami) and the people that are considered my second family.


Best.

Acceptance

My name is Abi and I have just been accepted to study abroad next fall at Peking University in Beijing, China. I wanted to start this blog as my experience began and seeing how I am going through the process of submitting all my papers, the experience has already begun.

I hope to continue this blog until I return to the US in mid-January and am very excited to see what the blog will reveal not only about myself but my experiences in an unknown land.

Here's to a blog that will probably fade within a few weeks and (an amazing) trip to China.

Cheers.