.png)
The trip thus far has been extremely interesting, to say the least. Although the plane ride was shorter than the one to the Philippines, it seemed much longer. I think that had something to do with the fact that the plane had no individual televisions. When we first arrived in the Beijing airport it was somewhat odd that there weren't that many people (besides the ones who had just gotten off of the plane) in the airport. In addition, the people in the airport were really quiet.
We came in on a pretty foggy day so all of our pictures from the first day were quite cloudy. The dinner we had that night was setup family style like most of our meals have been thus far. We had traditional Chinese foods, and even had some very good Chinese beer (YanJing).
This week we have visited: Tienanmen, Mao Mausoleum, the Forbidden City, Wang Fu Jing street, Chinese Ethnic Culture Museum/Park and the Pearl Market. Tienanmen, Mao Mausoleum, the Forbidden City, and Wang Fu Jing street were all on the first day. We left that morning at 9 and got back to the hotel that night around 10:30; needless to say, we were pretty exhausted. The next day we had a much more relaxed day and spent most of it at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Museum/Park. I refer to it as a museum/ park because most things in the museum were not authentic. However, the park was very beautiful and we ate at a tasty Korean restaurant for lunch, at which "dog" was one of the dishes on the menu.
We spent our first free day at the Pearl Market. The guys initially wanted to go and get tailored suits (although Trey ended up being the only guy who actually went through with it), Amanda and I got some tailored Chinese dresses, and everyone else ended up buying some shirts, scarfs, and really cheap technology. A few of the guys found some Dr. Dre Beats headphones which are around $300 in the US and got them for more like $38!!! Regardless whether the headphones the boys found are authentic or not, they most definitely sound like the real thing! After leaving the Pearl Market we headed back to the hotel and ate at their Western restaurant. I was a bit worried that going from all Chinese food to some Western food would mess my stomach up, but with it being the next morning I'm feeling fine so far.
The first class lecture went really well. Each class is two and a half hours long and the topic that Dr. Hua is teaching this morning (China's fragile state) has been very interesting. The Chinese students in the class have been interactive, and I was able to talk with some of them during the break. After our first lecture we had time to eat on campus (which we did) and invited our other students in class to join.
— Alexandra Jenkins, in the People's Republic of China
We came in on a pretty foggy day so all of our pictures from the first day were quite cloudy. The dinner we had that night was setup family style like most of our meals have been thus far. We had traditional Chinese foods, and even had some very good Chinese beer (YanJing).
This week we have visited: Tienanmen, Mao Mausoleum, the Forbidden City, Wang Fu Jing street, Chinese Ethnic Culture Museum/Park and the Pearl Market. Tienanmen, Mao Mausoleum, the Forbidden City, and Wang Fu Jing street were all on the first day. We left that morning at 9 and got back to the hotel that night around 10:30; needless to say, we were pretty exhausted. The next day we had a much more relaxed day and spent most of it at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Museum/Park. I refer to it as a museum/ park because most things in the museum were not authentic. However, the park was very beautiful and we ate at a tasty Korean restaurant for lunch, at which "dog" was one of the dishes on the menu.
We spent our first free day at the Pearl Market. The guys initially wanted to go and get tailored suits (although Trey ended up being the only guy who actually went through with it), Amanda and I got some tailored Chinese dresses, and everyone else ended up buying some shirts, scarfs, and really cheap technology. A few of the guys found some Dr. Dre Beats headphones which are around $300 in the US and got them for more like $38!!! Regardless whether the headphones the boys found are authentic or not, they most definitely sound like the real thing! After leaving the Pearl Market we headed back to the hotel and ate at their Western restaurant. I was a bit worried that going from all Chinese food to some Western food would mess my stomach up, but with it being the next morning I'm feeling fine so far.
The first class lecture went really well. Each class is two and a half hours long and the topic that Dr. Hua is teaching this morning (China's fragile state) has been very interesting. The Chinese students in the class have been interactive, and I was able to talk with some of them during the break. After our first lecture we had time to eat on campus (which we did) and invited our other students in class to join.
— Alexandra Jenkins, in the People's Republic of China