We have reached the end my friend

Well I have arrived safely back in the good 'ol US of A. The flight back from Shanghai was so much better than the one to Beijing which made it much easier to survive. I was up for a grand total of 30 hours this go around so my bed Monday night felt fantastic. 

The wrap up in Shanghai was pretty fun. A fellow student and I, Robert, took the subway to the Shanghai Aquarium which is supposedly one of the best aquariums in all of Asia. It was pretty interesting, but nothing that I have not seen before. The penguin exhibit was shut down for maintenance which was very disappointing but the aquarium did boast the longest under water tunnel which was very cool.

For the final day I spent it with another student, Cosmo, who took me to a parkour gym so I was able to watch people run around and jump off extremely high places. It was a lot of fun, we went out to dinner afterwards with all the people from the gym for our final Chinese meal.

Overall this was a fantastic experience. I learned a lot not only about China but about myself.
I learned that I can do things on my own.
I learned that I can wander around a foreign city and not die.
I learned that I can handle a lot more than I ever thought I could.

For the final night we had a very nice dinner and shared our final thoughts on China. I think that if you are ever given the opportunity to travel to another country in a fashion such as this, you should. There is nothing like experiencing a different country (a VERY different country) like a local of some sorts.

Always take each experience for what it is and try not to put any expectations on the local people. Each city has its own vibe and feel and it should be respected for that.

Do not be afraid to try new things, I ate a scorpion for heavens sake!

There likely will not be a next time, for this blog at least, so I leave you here faithful readers with one of my favorite quotes from Confucius:

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Video from the Great Wall

My professor, Hamilton Bean, put together a video from our trek up the Great Wall.

Personal Space

I have realized that I hate being touched. I knew this before I came to China but this country has really solidified it for me. The concept of personal space is non-existent in China, well that is probably a fallacy, I am sure that they know what it is but they do not abide by it. I also do not do well in large crowds of people so visiting these historical sites has been . . . an adventure to say the very least.

Today was one of the worst days we have had so far as amounts of people are concerned. We went to the French area of Shanghai which was really interesting. We had about an hour to walk around a hu-tong (I think I spelled that right . . .) and I bought a fabulous clutch with brass knuckles and skulls on it (picture in slideshow). After that we went to a very traditional Shanghai(ian?) restuarant and had a noodle lunch. It was delicious! Following lunch we went to another garden that was beautiful but it had many more people than the one yesterday did which made it obnoxious. There were more huge koi that were being fed by people, it was super entertaining. When I worked at Petsmart my favorite part of pet care was the ability to feed the koi because they always lose their minds.

After the garden we were able to walk around and do some more shopping in the area. The amount of people was insane. I believe I heard one of the ICB students saying that today was children's day and so it seemed that there was a mass group of children everywhere you turned, and we all know how much I just love children.

So far we have bid farewell to two of our students that had to leave early, one of them being my roommate Jourdan so I will be in my room alone for the duration of the trip. It should be interesting but I am sure that I will manage, I always do.

Till next time gentle readers . . .

Shanghai slideshow

Shanghai express train

Well we are not on a train anymore but we did take a train to get to Shanghai. The forewarning about Shanghai was completely accurate. Beijing (if I failed to mention it before) has a very rustic feeling about it, there are run down buildings and areas of the city that could really use some upkeep but it is very friendly. As one of our ICB (International College of Beijing if I have failed to mention that as well) pointed out Beijing people will accept anyone, it does not matter how much money they make as long as they are a good person.

The silk worm factory
& process
Photo courtesy of Amy

Well Shanghai has been describe by many as a New York City or Chicago and they are not wrong. It is very Westernized and feels like you are back in the States, except you cannot read any of the signs. There are parts of me that really enjoy this because it makes me more comfortable but at the same time, the rustic nature of Beijing was just what you think of when you think of China.

Also, apologies for the lack of a blog yesterday, we had a camera melt down.

Yesterday we went to the Pearl TV Tower which is the 3rd highest building in Asia and you are able to go up in the ball of it and look around the city. There is also a level that has a sky walk and so you can see down. It was really cool to get a view of the city but it felt again, very Western like we were at the Space Needle or something of the like. On the first level of the Pearl TV Tower there is a museum about the history of Shanghai which was really interesting. Shanghai has only been in existence for a few hundred years compared to the thousands of years of Beijing or a similar city. I think this is what has lead to the mass amounts of Western influence really. After the TV tower we took a very non-amusing cable car ride under the river. It was not amusing simply because it was slow and built for 5 year-olds.

Today we went to a different province which was another 2 hour bus ride away, it was really interesting to see some of the country-side and the amount of factories that are out there. Once we arrived we went to a garden that was amazing. It was very peaceful and serine . . . except for the mass amounts of people. They also had some of the largest koi fish I have ever seen in my life and I have seen some big ones. After the garden we got some lunch at a very Western buffet. They served all American food and looked like there was only Americans in there. I think the culture shock of that was more than any other place that we have gone to. After that incident we went to a silk factory and watched them actually take silk from silk worm phase to product phase. It was really interesting to see the entire process in work. After the silk factory we went to another Buddhist temple which was far more commercialized that any of the other ones that we have gone to. In a way it is very sad to see these once revered places of worship be dwindled down to yet another cash cow.

It was an interesting day and the contrast between Shanghai and Beijing is very interesting to see. I am looking forward to continuing to explore.

Till next time gentle readers.

We have reached the breaking point

I had a whole blog written here and it was deleted when I added this picture . . . hope the picture is awesome and worth it. =( So apologies if this blog seems short and sad, I am sad but not short.

17 days is a long time to be away from your life . . . an even longer time when you are in a completely different place that is so far from what you are used to. I have reached my breaking point in this trip (SIDE NOTE: making this whole deleting of an entire blog all the more obnoxious I might add) and its for reasons that I never imagined would cause it. 
Before this trip I had a lot of fears about coming to Asia. I took a history of China class my first semester of college and it was one of the worst experiences of my life and it turned me off from all things Asian until the opportunity to actually come was put in front of my door. Once I made the decision to make the leap I had a whole new crop of fears arise.

I was worried about the food and whether it would be to spicy for me. I was worried about getting lost and never being able to find my way. I was worried about being kidnapped and never to be heard from again.

All of these were obviously unfounded fears, the food has been great and it is very easy to find non-spicy dishes. I still cannot read a street sign to save my life but I have gotten by bearings and I find my way back to the hotel with a fair amount of ease. I also have obviously not been stolen . . . there have been a few moments where it got a bit sketchy but I made it through.

The things that I miss and make me want to go home are things like my dogs, if you know me at all then you know that my dogs are my dudes and I hate being away from them for hours let alone weeks. I miss being able to turn around without bumping into someone and I miss being able to not worry about what the situation is in the bathroom. For those that are not aware, China is apparently not to big on toilets and so a lot of bathrooms simply have a hole in the ground. It is . . . interesting and it took me a good few days to get used to (and actually use) one. I miss being able to go to the grocery store and buy whatever I feel like. Its not that I cannot do that now but I would have no clue what I was buying.

I am excited for the rest of the trip and am looking forward to how the conclusion of our narrative is going to come together but I am excited that the conclusion is close.

The top of the world!!

. . . Or pretty dang close to it. Today we climbed the Great Wall of China and it was a climb. I am not an in-shape person so this is the most I've worked out in years but it was a really great feeling to make it to the top or at least one top points.

The day started off at about 8 A.M. with most of the group intact, we had a late night last night celebrating another group members birthday at a FABULOUS karaoke bar (I think I'm gonna try to open one in Denver). A little worse for the wear we all made it on to the bus and then it was a 2 hour bus ride to the site and a small (it was not small . . . it was quite long actually) hike to the Wall itself. The view reminded me of King Kong or Lord of the Rings, it was amazingly beautiful. We trekked along the wall for almost three hours and made our way back down. Luckily there was no injury or death I am pleased to report . . . not that there was ever a risk for death, but its always possible right?

Another 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel in which maybe one person was awake (it was not me). After we got back and showered my roommate, Jourdan, and I walked to an absolutely delicious dumpling restaurant where we ate for a grand total of . . . wait for it . . . $1.62 a person, and we ate a lot!

Tomorrow we leave for Shanghai at 6:30 A.M. I am really looking forward to the perspective of a new city, I'm told it is completely different from Beijing.

Until next time gentle (and faithful) readers, we'll see you in a whole different part of the other side of the world!

Chairman Mao's Hammer

The hammer of Mao might have fallen a while ago but his presence is still felt strongly throughout the whole country of China. Today's field trip took us to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Mao wanted Tiananmen Square to hold a billion people, and it is pretty close to it if not surpassing it. It is the biggest square in the world and is pretty impressive to see. Mao himself is interred there and is on display but we did not take the venture to see him. I do not particularly like dead bodies, so this was a good call in my mind.

The Forbidden City is just to the north of Tiananmen Square and it was the home of the emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was fairly similar to all of our other historical sites. But something that has interested me in all of the sights is the people in lower places of power such as the eunuchs and concubines.

At every site our guide, Henry (who is wonderful I might add), tells us about the concubines and eunuchs in some capacity and it always peaks my interest. The eunuchs were usually castrated at a very young age and were only used for servitude. They were used as servants because it was thought since they could not have children they would not be tempted or able to start their own dynasties. The last imperial eunuch died in 1996 I found out which blows my mind. The dynasties of China seem like they happened hundreds of years ago but in reality the last emperor died in 1967 but was of course out of power much earlier than that.

As for the concubines, some emperors had thousands of them but they were usually chosen every three years. In a lot of movies they portray the girls as wanting to be chosen but in reality it was not a very pleasant life. You would basically be one step above the slaves and would only spend time with your husband, the emperor, for two hours every few months. There are cases of a concubine becoming the empress and becoming very powerful but it was rare. The process would take a very long time as well because every girl over the age of 13 was eligible to be chosen and had to go for inspection.

Really it would be a sad life to be either a eunuch or concubine but for some it was desirable because they would at least be in the imperial court which was something they would otherwise never achieve. Just goes to show you how much someone is willing to sacrifice for a title . . . I would say this transcends cultural lines and well as time lines.

Tomorrow is another free day so I have no idea what mischief I will get into, hopefully not more scorpions but we shall see! And then Monday is the Great Wall day, lot of exercise!!

Until next time gentle readers . . . .

We went, we saw, we ate scorpions

Maymester China 2012 group

Apologies for the lack of a blog the last few days, it got crazy pretty quickly.  Lets start from the top and work our way down.

Wednesday was our first free day and our professor, Hamilton Bean, arranged for a group of us to meet with one of the head guys at East West PR around 11 A.M. Well it was on the opposite side of Beijing essentially and we had to get there on our own because our group was too big to fit into one cab. There were three students including myself in one cab and we wondered around downtown Beijing for about half an hour before we were finally escorted to the door of the PR firm. We all went to lunch at a wonderful outdoor cafe however and were able to chat about an array of topics (picture in the slideshow).

After the trip to East West a group of us went to meet a parkour group, parkour is a very interesting form of exercise. Look up a video if you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's worth your time. We trekked to Olympic Park and wondered around there for about an hour and finally gave up and found a restaurant. When we were finished at the restaurant we walked across the road to the Bird's Nest which is a stadium built for the Olympics as well and there was all sorts of things to see.

There was a food court area that was really interesting and lead us to the scorpions. Before we left for China there was a dare thrown down by a fellow student that I could not eat a scorpion, so when it was available I figured I would take the leap. Honestly, it tasted like deep fried. There is parts of me that wished it tasted worse since I made a 15 minute to-do about eating it. Oh well. After we ate some gross and delicious food we just made our way (on the subway!) back to the hotel.

Thursday we were taken to 798 which is an art district. It was really interesting to see a whole bunch of interpretations of art. There were a lot of models and photography happening as well which was interesting to watch. The mood was different than all the rest of Beijing that we have seen so far, I think it was because it was slightly more free and freedom of speech was enhanced so people were able to do and say what they wanted, to a certain extent of course. After the art district we went to the area of the Drum and Bell tower which had a bunch of shops that were interesting and fun to walk through. The Drum tower gave you a great view of the city (and the skies were clear too!!) which was a fun perspective of the city that you would not see otherwise.

Today we were taken to the Temple of Heaven which was kind of more of the same. That sounds terrible but all the historical sights begin to meld into each other after a while but it was still beautiful and great to see. After the Temple of Heaven we were transported to the Pearl Market . . . boy howdy, it was insane. In China you can (and are supposed to) bargain at all times. I am not good at this nor am I comfortable with it either. I feel bad haggling with people and I hate confrontation but I did pretty well. I picked up gifts for my whole family and a pair of shoes and sunglasses for myself . . . all for under $80.

Well I have to actually do some school work for tomorrow so I shall close here but until next time gentle readers, eat and live well!

Photos of Beijing

Summer-time in Beijing

I’m not totally sure that it is summer but it is close enough and the heat is proving it. Today it felt exceptionally warm and sticky but that could be because I’m from Colorado where there is no such thing as humidity.

The smog is also something to write home about. It seems like it is just a regular cloudy day but it never lifts and that is something that being from and living in Colorado my entire life shocks me and will likely continue to shock me every day. Unfortunately, it seems like the Chinese are not doing very much to counter the pollution issue. I am not a huge green living activist but anyone could see how terrible the air quality is.

There are also a lot of people that wear surgical masks around which I had seen before in TV shows or documentaries but I am realizing that it is not because of SARS or something of the like, it is simply because the air quality is so poor. In the picture of the Buddist temple at the Summer Palace you can see just how hazy it is . . . that is literally the clearest picture I have. When I post the photo album (the internet is being slow currently) I will post some that really show the amount of smog.

So despite the heat and smog we went to the Summer Palace and the Old Palace which were amazing sights to see. The Summer Palace felt like a movie set, there were fully intact ancient buildings and people sitting around playing flute. Of course there were 9,000 other people that were trying to see the same thing so that kind of deterred from the movie set feel but it was still amazing.

 The Old Palace was burnt down and destroyed in the early 1900s and the Chinese government has not decided whether they want to restore it or leave it as is, so for now it remains as is. The cool part about the Old Palace compared to the Summer Palace is you can actually walk amongst most  of the ruins and touch them. There was also a really fun maze, which is saying a lot coming from a person who hates mazes.

 After we walked around the palaces we went to a pizza place which was kind of odd to eat New York style pizza in China but it was really good. Once dinner was finished a small group of us took a stroll around the area, got some chocolate cake, purchased a nice winter jacket (for $35 I might add!), ate some more octopus, and got yelled at for eating said octopus in the lobby of the hotel.

 Overall, it was a pretty stellar evening/day and a good way to kick off what is sure to be two intense weeks of school. Oh yeah . . . we had class as well, I’m sure we will get to that somewhere along our narrative journey.

 Till next time faithful readers!

The mother of all journeys

So that title isn’t completely correct, I’m sure the trip toChina was much more rough a hundred years ago let alone a thousand years agobut so far as modern day travels, this one way pretty rough.

The flight was relatively packed which is to be expected but for being aninternational plane, this guy was tiny. I am a fairly tall individual and havelegs that go for somewhere around a mile so being crammed behind a guy whochooses to recline the entire way back the complete duration of the trip is abit agonizing.

I don’t mind flying so far as the actual flying part is concerned but gettingup and walking around while the plane is moving makes me kind of sea sick so Ilike to remain in my seat as much as possible. Well when there is a seat halfway in your frontal space it makes it a bit more inconvenient to stay there. Soa rock and a hard place is where I existed 90% of the flight.

The food wasn’t bad though, some beef concoction with rice, and the drinks (non-alcoholic I might add) flowed pretty easily. I was super jazzed because Sherlock Holmes 2 was showingon the flight and I hadn’t had a chance to see it yet. So I stayed awake (okaylets me honest I was going to be awake regardless) to watch it, it was third onthe agenda. About 15 minutes into the movie the picture froze but the soundremained on and it stayed frozen for about an hour and a half and when the screen did come back the program had also restarted so we got to watch the first four hours of programming all over again. So myone highlight of watching Sherlock Holmes was dashed.

Which brings me to another first world problem about that flight, there were noindividual TV’s on our seats, just a few large ones at the front of the cabin.I may be a diva for wanting my own TV but that’s how I thought allinternational flights were. Silly American.

All the flights were early for a change however which was nice and made thingseasier. My butt will probably hurt until about two days before we have toreturn, but alas I guess that’s international travel for you.

We landed at some time in the wee hours of Sunday morning MST and there was nosleep to be had on the plane either. So I am running on 5 to 6 hours of sleepfor about 26 hours of being awake . . . tonight should be a breeze to fallasleep.

We then attended a banquet and boy, was it a banquet. There were around 80 people in attendance and it was quite the to-do, unfortunately I was much to tired to fully appreciate it. But today is a new day! And it should be interesting.

Till next time . . .

Waiting at airport number 1

Well the time has come to hit the skies and make my way to China. I am currently waiting at gate B20 (as you can tell) relatively by myself.

There is a total of about 20 of us but the flight doesn't leave for almost two hours and this leg is domestic so it's to be expected.

Apparently a lot of people were delayed this morning (I would imagine the rain had something to do with that) in their arrivals to the airport, while I was waiting to check in at least 10 people needed over-rides because they were late. I however am much to paranoid for lateness for a flight.

I feel like I left something at home...probably like everyone who makes a major (or minor for that matter) trip. But I have checked and double checked all my lists and they are all crossed off so I should be fine.

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well and safe travels. I really have no control over it...I'm not the one flying the plane after all...but I will do my best not to perish while abroad.

I am under the impression we are flying relatively over land the whole way. The flight path online says up and over Alaska across to Russia and then down to Beijing but of course this could be incorrect because that was straight from Denver.

Either way, I'm fairly confident I will make it alive and also survive and thrive while there.

Well faithful readers (I've always wanted to write that) I leave you here and I will see you...6,000 miles away.

Preparing your stomach for travel

Pre departure:

I decided that my stomach (and taste buds) needed some priming before I leave on Saturday so a friend and I decided to go for sushi. I am not a big fish person but I am assuming there is going to be a ton of it over there. My friend is also a big sushi enthusiast and likes the out-of-the-norm kinds.

Before you there are four kinds of nigiri sushi: octopus, eel, tuna and snapper fish as well as two different kinds of rolls. Really it was the octopus and the eel that had me freaked out.

Octopus is chewy as all get out but really didn't taste like anything and the eel actually had a decent flavor. Everything else we had was really good.

One trepidation that I have moving forward is that everything is going to be really spicy. I am way to Nordic for my own good sometimes and cannot handle anything even remotely spicy (the orange sauce on one of the rolls was spicy and that was hard to power through) and I don't think they have ranch dressing in China to cool things down so I'm either going to have to stick to a rice diet while I'm there or learn to deal with spicy food.

I am told that I have to eat at least one scorpion while I am in China . . . I think starting with octopus in Colorado is a good jumping off point, we will just have to see if I work up the courage to go as far as a scorpion.

In the beginning

Pre-departure:

Travel commences in less than a week, Saturday, May 19 at 8:15 a.m. we will be in the air on our way to China.

Excitement is in full swing and the packing is almost done. Along with excitement there are some fears that still mingle but they are beginning to dissipate.

I am traveling to China with the Communications department at CU Denver for the Maymester program. It really is an amazing opportunity to see a small chunk of the world in a short period of time . . . the three credit hours don't hurt either.

Did you know that it's a capital offense to steal from a tourist in China? In essence, they will put you to death for stealing from a non-resident. Makes me feel a lot more comfortable leaving things in the hotel room . . . but my paranoid self probably will still have issues.

Things I am most looking forward to:
 -- trying actual Chinese food although I am worried it is all going to be wicked spicy and I won't be able to eat any of it.
 -- being able to experience an entirely new culture. Eastern culture is so different from the west and it will be
     very interesting to actually see how things actually operate there.
 -- traveling on my own for the first time. The only traveling I have done is either with family or within the
     borders of the United States.
 -- the opportunity to full immerse myself in learning. That sounds cheeky but I enjoy learning about the most
     random of things and completely involving myself in learning.

More updates to come soon!!