GleeK Off!

I didn't post at all this past week just because I didn't do anything and was busy doing work! I thought it was going to be an easy week since we had test last week... I was wrong.

I love being roommates with Heather! I slept so well all week long. I also did more work than I was doing before, which is obviously a very good thing.  We also decided we would watch one hour of news a night in chinese, well see how long that lasts!

Tonight Katie, Laura, Heather and I decided not to go out since tomorrow night is Halloween!

Heather and I drank wine and watched Glee for awhile. Then I had the brilliant idea to have a GleeK Off against Laura and Katie! We told them we had a surprise for them and it would be ready in 30 minutes.

Heather and I did Don't Stop Believing and Say a Little Prayer. We had the correct costumes and everything. Probably one of the more childish things we have done in Beijing, but it was so much fun!

When we were finally ready we went into their room and did it. Then they made their own dance to Telephone and did it for us. They definitely won... but I am convinced that they made it up at Tufts last year!

Tonight was a lot of fun! There aren't any pictures of the GleeK Off, just really embarrassing videos of us!

Back to reality...

This morning we arrived in Beijing at 7:15am.  We didn't get back to campus until around 9am.

Right when we got back Chloe asked me if I would help her move all of her desk stuff into my old room. I did that and then completely unpacked and set everything up in my new room!!! Including my new painting!!

When I was done Heather and I got an early lunch and then put Glee on and fell asleep for hours.

I woke up around 3 to Katie delivering me flowers! My and Wilson's one year was on the 23rd and he sent me flowers :)!

After I showered, did some work, then we went to get baozi to go and headed to our business class. The class ended up going until 8pm. So it was 2.5 hours instead of 3 but it felt like FOREVER because I was still so tired!



Here are pictures of my new room :)...

My bed

Now I am off to bed in my new room!

My desk and the really cool wall decoration we put up!

We both know, that you know, that I know that I LOVE Nanjing!

This morning Heather and I woke up around 10:30. Last night we got back to the hotel we ended up watching the first 3 episodes of Glee with Perry and Jiahua. So we didn't end up going to bed until 1!

Heather, Jiahua and I went to this cafe called 68degrees. It was SO good. They had croissants, all sorts of bread, smoothies, hot chocolate, etc. I ordered so much for breakfast.

After we watched a movie on HBO at the hotel until everyone was ready to go to Dim Sum around one. The restaraunt was right around the corner from our hotel. When we got there they said they had no more food. We found out that Dim Sum is more of a breakfast thing...

We saw this one restaurant that looked pretty good, so we looked at the menu and decided to eat there. It was DELICIOUS! We ordered spring rolls, noodles, rice, fish, beef, chicken and these rolls stuffed with pumpkin. The spring rolls were my favorite!

After lunch we went to the day market and walked around for hours. We bought more movies and TV series. I also bought decorative chopsticks, this hand warmer thing and a small backpack.

We went back to the hotel around 4. We all chipped in and paid to have the room for the rest of the day. We weren't leaving until 8pm so we wanted to be able to go back and shower/change before the train.

McDonalds was for dinner... we didn't have much time and we were all craving real chicken. It's so sad that we all go to McDonalds to get real chicken.

At 8 we left for the train station. Our train didn't leave until 11:16pm, so we had a lot of time to kill in the train station.

We made friends with this little boy who gave us little paper cut outs. Then we played some card games to kill the time.

I absolutely LOVED Nanjing. I would absolutely live there if I got a job, especially teaching little asians!

Nanjing- Day 1!

Last night we left for Nanjing from the Beijing South Railway Station. It is definitely the nicest train station in Beijing! It took around an hour and a half to get there from Beida. We got there around 8pm and had until 9:30pm. We were all starved so a bunch of us got McDonalds. Heather and I paid for Tom's McDonalds since we owed him from the night he served as "Bank of Tom".

Thankfully we had soft sleepers both ways this trip! And the train was SO much nicer. They had tvs in each room. Heather, Katie, Laura and I shared a soft sleeper.

We now have more close friends! There names are Mariel, JiaHua and Perry. They hung out with us for awhile in our room. We drank wine in celebration of Heather and I becoming roommates. Then we went to sleep around 11:30.

This morning we arrived in Nanjing at 5:49am! SO SO SO early, especially after a week of not much sleeping and a lot of studying. We arrived at our hotel around 6:30am. We weren't able to check in until noon, but CIEE was able to get 5 rooms for us to use to clean up and change for the day.

We had breakfast in the hotel.... "breakfast". It's a good thing I like hard boiled eggs now otherwise I would have only eaten fried bread. I was so excited when I saw that they had orange juice.... until I was filling my cup and my hand was super hot. Of course... the orange juice is hot, the chinese LOVE hot drinks. Totally makes since?

After breakfast around 9:30 we went to the Zhongshan Mountain National Park. There we had free time to explore around on our own. Our tour guide told us that we should definitely go to the Linggu Pagoda and climb to the top to see the view. We (we includes our new friends!) decided to follow her advice.

The park was very cool and relaxing. We passed a lot of neat things, including the "roundest of holes". When we got to the Linggu Pagoda we only had about 30 minutes left until we had to meet back with the whole group.

The Pagoda had 9 floors! We first stopped at each floor and looked out but by the 4th floor we decided it would be best to go all the way to the top. We climbed 8 floors of spiral stairs. I was completely out of breath by the time we got to the top. It was totally worth it though! The view was absolutely gorgeous.

On our walk back to meet up with everyone we passed this guy who was melting glass to make different sculptures/animals. It was very cool, so I bought a glass pig!

Once the whole group was together we got on these little trains to go to lunch. Oh and it was raining all day long... so we were all freezing! The weather forecast said it was going to be 60 and sunny... lies. I guess the weathermen in China are just as great as the ones in the states!  Anyways... lunch was great! my favorite dish was qiezi which is fried eggplant. Who would have thought?

After lunch we went to this "bird farm". Honestly, I am TERRIFIED of birds. Big or small, birds scare me so much. So the entire time I just stood at the top, frightened the entire time. Almost everyone else was in the grass feeding the birds and the birds would fly on them and just sit on their shoulder, head, back, head, etc.

When everyone finally had had enough time playing with the birds (I had fun watching), we went to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum.  In order to get to his Mausoleum we had to walk up a billion stairs. So we made it fun and took a lot of pictures, including ones of us jumping. The Mausoleum wasn't that cool (sorry Sun Ya-sen).  However, the view from the top was gorgeous!

We got back to the hotel around 4pm. Heather and I were roommates :). We all decided to nap and then get dinner at 8pm.  We all agreed on going to Henry's Home Cafe and were so excited. The cab driver dropped us off and pointed across the street. So we walked over to find out that it wasn't there anymore. All the other restaurants around were really expensive so we decided to just go back by the hotel and have dinner.

After dinner we went to the night market that was right by our hotel. It was GREAT! This night market had all the movies and TV series you could possible want. And the most expensive TV series was $4. I bought soooo many... One Tree Hill, The OC, Friends, True Blood, the Twilight series and many more!

We left the night market around 10pm, absolutely exhausted! Tomorrow we are going to try to get Dim Sum and then go back to the market (it's also a day market... conveniently!).

It's been a GREAT day!

I AM DONE WITH MY FIRST TESTS!!! I had Hanyu this morning. It was not terrible, but it took me the entire time. I was so exhausted by the end of it!

Chandler told Heather and I that we are able to switch rooms we just have to talk to Chloe and Liz first!

Before talking to Liz, Heather and I sat in Laura and Katie's room debating what to say to Liz. I guess there really is no nice way of saying we want to switch rooms. So eventually we just got up and went into my room to break the news...

The two of us sat down on my bed (of course by this point I was sweating... SO nervous!). Heather told Liz we had something awkward to talk to her about... and she immediately knew and was fine with it!

Now it was time to talk to Chloe... we brought Chloe in to my room and told her the situation. She was also fine with it. She said she wouldn't be able to move out until next Friday, so we told her we would just move all of her stuff for her except for her desk. She was fine with that... it made it easier for her anyway!

By 3:30pm Heather and I had moved all of Chloe's stuff out and all of my stuff in to her room (now MY room!!). Then we went to Wumei and bought decorations for our new room to make it feel all homey. I'll post pictures of my new room later next week!

At 6:30pm we have to meet the CIEE bus because we are all going to Nanjing this weekend! So I am off to go pack my things and get some dinner before we head out.

Test Week... October 18th-21st

This week was test week! Well I still have my Hanyu test tomorrow. But,  I was so busy all week so I never had the opportunity to update my blog. I also had nothing too exciting to write about since I was studying all week long!!!!

On Wednesday for lunch we had Chinese Table. We went to a Korean restaurant on campus and ate with the laoshis ("teachers"). Any food that isn't from the cafeteria tastes delicious!

Heather and I have started studying at Starbucks now. We've realized that doing work in our room, especially studying for big tests, is not going to work.

I think my kouyu test went well.  It was very nerve-racking though. She gives you a picture 5 minutes before it is your turn and you have to come up with a 10 sentences story. The test is just with the teacher. I had to make sentences with certain grammar points, say sentences from the text correctly and explain what 5 different characters meant... using chinese!

One of my words was park... to me a park is where kids go and play with their moms or friends. But... to the chinese it is where you go and play soccer. Of course... so I don't think I got that word right!

Oh and also... Heather and I went to the CIEE office on Monday to see if we could switch rooms and become roommates! They told us they would get back to us so we will see......

Now I need to get back to studying since my hanyu test is tomorrow!

A very non-productive day...

This morning I woke up around 11am. I needed to have woken up earlier to get a head start to have a very productive day of studying at The Bridge Cafe. Of course after a night like last night that was not going to happen...

Laura, Katie, Heather, Kathy and I left for the bridge around 12:30pm. It was ABSOLUTELY packed. I guess everyone had the same idea since most of us have our first big tests next week!

For lunch I ordered the American Breakfast (French Toast, Bacon, and Eggs). It was delicious!! I love American breakfast. The Chinese have no idea what they are missing out on!

To be honest... I barely got anything done at The Bridge. I was so tired the entire time and really just wanted to go to sleep. We all ended up leaving around 4pm. Katie and Laura picked up a Pyro Pizza to bring back to the dorm for dinner. It was obviously delicious. On Sundays from 2-5pm you can order a large pizza for the price of a medium. AMAZING :).

I am going to head to bed early tonight so hopefully tomorrow I will have a more productive day studying! I have my kouyu (speaking) test on Thursday and my hanyu (reading) test on Friday!

We only have two big tests during the semester for each class so I really need to do well.

I have now been to all three sections of the Great Wall!

This morning I woke up at 8am to go on the day trip to see the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. The Great Wall is called ChangCheng 长城 in Chinese.


The CIEE bus left at 8:30am to go to the Great Wall. It was only a 2 hour drive. MUCH shorter than the drive to closest part of the wall that I went to with my parents!

When we got off the bus we had to walk for about 10 minutes, up hill, passing a lot of little shops, just to get to the stairs that you took to get to the Great Wall.

At the Mutianyu section you have the choice of taking a cable car or stairs up to the Great Wall. We all chose the stairs because we didn't realize how many we would actually have to take. I think after 500 stairs we finally reached the Great Wall. I had never been so out of breath in my life. I felt very pathetic! Especially when old chinese men and woman would speed right passed me.

The 500 stairs were definitely worth it though! This part of the Great Wall is absolutely gorgeous! I was completely taken back once I got up there. The scenery is something you have never seen before.

We all walked around and explored different parts of Mutianyu for about two hours. Then Heather, Mariel, Jiahua, Mike and I decided to take the Cable Car down. Lazy... I know. But we thought it would be really cool. And it was... it went extremely fast though!

We got back from the Great Wall around 3:30pm. Tonight two of our friends, Kameron and James put on this party at a club in Wudaokou called Global. A bunch of us went to Korean Barbeque first and then to Global.

Korean Barbeque is my new favorite place to go in Beijing! It is all you can eat and drink for 48kuai. Which is about $6.  It is buffet style. So you go up and get whatever you want- chicken, beef, little hot dogs, bread, vegetables, dumplings, bacon, etc....

I don't think I have ever eaten more in my life... which was probably good thing since I drank more beer and Maotai than I ever had before.

After Korean Barbeque we went to the FX Hotel to pre-game (as if we needed to do more of that) and then left for Global around 10.

Global was so much fun! We got two free beers. We did a lot of dancing and singing. I'm not sure how much I enjoy the club scene though. I definitely miss the PIKE house!

Around 1am, Heather and I left because we were really hungry and wanted McDonalds. When we got to McDonalds we realized neither one of us had any money. We left extremely upset... but thankfully we ran into Tom who was headed to McDonalds himself. He called himself the Bank of Tom and let us borrow money to get food! Those chicken nuggets and fries definitely saved my life.

Hard Rock Cafe

Today I got out of class at 12pm. I was exhausted... as usual. So I got lunch and then took an hour nap.


Tonight Katie, Laura, Heather and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. We took the subway there, which only took around 45 minutes. The subway is actually really easy to take and it is only 2kuai which is 30 cents!

Hard Rock Cafe was so cool!! No one knew what they wanted to order- we had so many options and were craving everything!!

The food was great! I ordered a Cheeseburger with fries and garlic bread. Laura and I had Mojitos and Katie and Heather got margaritas.

Hard Rock Cafe is honoring Breast Cancer this month so I couldn't help but buy the Hard Rock Cafe Breast Cancer shirt! It was 200kuai though; which is the most expensive thing I have purchased so far. 200 kuai is $30 dollars so thats really not too bad...


After dinner we took a bunch of pictures outside and then headed back on the subway to Beida. It's an early night tonight because we have to wake up at 8am tomorrow for our day trip to the Great Wall! I hope it's not too cold!

The Week of October 11-October 14

During the week I really don't do much other than work. I literally work all day long. Since I have been lazy and have fallen behind on my blog I decided to just clump the weekdays together!

This weekend is full of events though so check back for fun stories!

What a Wonderful October Break!

It's Sunday and our October break is officially over :(. It was fabulous though!!!

This morning I woke up around 11. Heather, Katie, Laura and I were planning to leave for The Bridge cafe around 11:30 to have breakfast and do work. We all decided to sleep in so we got a late start and left around noon.

The Bridge cafe was packed. I guess everyone had the same idea. I ordered cream of mushroom soup and a fruit cup. It was delicious.

I had the hardest time motivating myself to do work. After 10 days off from school I was not ready to get back in study mode.

Around 4 Katie and I ordered Caesar salads and then we left to come back to the dorm. We all had a hard time getting work done.

When I got back I watched Grey's Anatomy and then went to sleep! It's going to be an early morning tomorrow.

Back in Beijing!

I never thought I would be so happy to be back in Beijing. Even though I had a great time in Inner Mongolia I could not wait to be back! Two days there is just enough time.

We got back to the dorm around noon. We got lunch and then I unpacked and did laundry.

Heather and I watched movies all day and slept. Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive day since I have so much work!

Sunrise to Sunset

This morning we woke up at 6am and watched the sunrise for a few minutes. It was absolutely gorgeous but freezing out!! Then we had breakfast. They had hard boiled eggs so I figured I would try one. I love them now... it's amazing what I learn to like while I am in China.

After breakfast we got into the van with the two chinese men, the couple and the chinese lady from Beijing. We were literally a packed van. No room to move or breath. We drove 5 hours to the desert. The car ride was pretty miserable.



The desert was absolutely gorgeous. It was totally worth the long, miserable drive! First we had lunch, which really meant we were going to eat the white rice and then eat peanut butter. Honestly, I think I would have died by now if I didn't have peanut butter. Definitely never eating peanut butter when I get back!

After lunch we put these boot things on, purchased colorful masks and headed out to explore the desert. We first road in a jeep wrangler all around the desert to get to where the camels were. Then we road camels for 40 minutes. It was the fastest 40 minutes of my life.

I can't even describe how cool of an experience I had in the desert. Riding a camel in the desert is by far the coolest thing I have ever done.

We left the desert around 2pm and made our way back to the train station. But first we stopped at this factory. The lady who walked us around did not say a word. It was the strangest thing ever. It was also the most random factory... the top floor was paintings and the first floor was where they packaged all this dried food.

After the thirty minute stop at the random factory our tour guide dropped us off at the train station. We got dropped off around 5 and had until 10 till our train left. Talk about a long wait...

So we went to dicos (it is sort of like McDonalds). When we walked in everyone stopped eating and looked at us.

The four of us sat in dicos for 4 hours until we got kicked out. We were so delirious and tired. Then we walked to the train station and sat there for another hour and became even more delirious and tired.

Inner Mongolia was absolutely amazing. This trip definitely made every tear I ever shed before coming to Beijing totally worth it.

Welcome to Inner Mongolia

This morning we arrived in Inner Mongolia around 7:30. We were told to meet our tour guide outside the train station and that he would have a black flag.

Well, there was no black flag. But, thankfully there was this chinese girl (she is in her 20s) with us that we followed to find our tour guide. If she hadn't come with us from Beijing I am pretty sure we would have been lost. 

Our tour guide only spoke Chinese and very fast Chinese. We just sat in the van and looked at him. Our faces told him we didn't understand a word he was saying so then he would try to act out what he was saying. At times we got it. 

How they greet you

However, the most important thing he said during out 1.5 hour van ride to the grassland, none of us understood. I knew it was something religious... he touched his forehead a few times as if he was putting ash on it. So of course I thought when we arrived there they were putting ash on our forehead. No... I was wrong. 

We drove on this dirt road for about 30 minutes until we arrived in the yurt area where we were staying. We were literally in the middle of no where. Four girls greeted us with this alcohol. We all thought we were supposed to take a shot of it. I mean... it was in a little cup. When someone gives me alcohol in a little cup that usually means I am supposed to take a shot. Wrong. The chinese lady went after us and you are supposed to flick some of it behind you and wipe your forehead with it and then take a sip. It was a religious thing. I have no idea the meaning behind it and still don't. 

Right when we got out of the car they took us over to where the horses were. They tried to tell us where we would be going on the horses. All I knew is that I needed to pay 120Y and I would be on a horse for two hours. 

Somehow we ended up being in a big group of about 20 and we were the only white people. Of course. So they all just took pictures of us the entire time. And randomly this one guy would tell the horse to speed up. I could have killed him. It's a good thing I went to horseback riding camp in elementary school, otherwise I probably would have freaked out.

Our first stop was at this ladies house. She gave us warm goat milk and some snacks. Can't say I enjoyed the goat milk. We were there for about 30 minutes and for that entire 30 minutes everybody kept coming over and taking pictures of us. They sat us down at this couch and they all sat at tables staring at us. It was so interesting. You would have thought we were famous. 

The next "stop" was.. well I don't even know. They didn't even tell us what it was in Chinese. We just quickly road by it. So here's a picture....

After we headed back. Our butts were SO sore. Riding a horse for two hours is extremely painful. When we got back it was 11:30am and our tour guide told us we could rest until 12:30 when it was lunch time.

So we went to our yurt and napped. The yurt was so cool. They gave us blankets and pillows and our bed was the ground.

Lunch was very interesting to say the least. All was going well, we were enjoying our food (white rice I mean) and then all of the sudden music starts playing and people start chanting. They brought in two lambs. THE WHOLE LAMB! The head was tied with a piece of white cloth. Then this man and woman who had these robes on danced around the lambs and took "shots" of that alcohol. Then the lamb was served and the girls came around and gave everyone another "shot". 

The lamb was okay... extremely fatty. And I didn't really enjoy the fact that I saw them cutting this dead lamb that I was about to eat. 

After lunch we had more time to rest until dinner. We decided to go up to the grassland and just lay at the top of it. It was very relaxing and a nice break from the Beijing air!

When it started to get cold we went back to our yurt and read/rested till 6:30 when it was dinner. Dinner was standard. More people joined our tour group- these two guys and couple. They weren't very nice at all. They made fun of us a lot. I was NOT a fan. But it was a good way to practice our Chinese. 

After dinner we watched this mongolian dance and then went to sleep. For some reason we were all exhausted. The yurt was obviously not heated. So we went to sleep in everything we brought... IT WAS FREEZING! 

WE LEAVE FOR MONGOLIA!

Today I literally slept all day long. I woke up around 10:30 and was still exhausted. So, I went back to sleep and woke up around 3 in the afternoon. Then I packed for Inner Mongolia!

If you didn't guess, I am going to Inner Mongolia with Katie, Laura and Heather. Surprise, surprise!

We are supposed to meet some with a green flag at the train station at 7:30 to get our tickets. Completely sketchy.

We arrived way too early and had to sit on our bags and wait. We all felt very chinese though!

Around 7:15 a guy approached us, with no green flag and gave us our tickets. Remember how I said I would never take another over night train and sleep in a hard sleeper... well I lied.

My parents left today....

This morning my parents left. I was really sad to say bye to them. I loved having them in Beijing! It's nice to have family visit; especially when you are in a city like Beijing where nothing reminds you of home.

I got back to the dorm around 11 and rested for a little. Then I unpacked all of my winter stuff. Heather and I watched Gossip Girl and movies while we tried to do our work. That was an epic fail. Today was pretty much just a lazy day. The most productive thing I did was unpack and clean the room.

 We leave for Inner Mongolia tomorrow at 6pm! I am so excited!!!

Crowds in China

Today was my last day with my parents. I am sad they are leaving tomorrow; the time with them flew by!

This morning around 11 we had the brilliant idea of going to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I am not sure why I didn't just put my foot down and say NO. I mean, it's not like I haven't done that plenty of times before. But instead I just went with it.

When we got a taxi I told the driver we wanted to go to Tianamen Square and he immediately laughed. October 1st-October 10th is China's national holiday. Therefore, every single person who has off travels. Which also means that probably more than half of the population goes to Beijing and to Tianamen Square. Here is a picture for proof...

The entire cab ride I kept telling my parents how terrible of an idea this was. When we pulled up my mom said, "OH Ralph..." Of course Mr. optimistic said it was the experience we were going for. And what an experience we had there. You could hardly move around. We saw one 11 year old girl (thats just a guess) peeing in a plastic bag in the middle of the square. Really? Is that necessary. One little boy took a poop as well. I think they need to make a law against using the restroom where ever you please.

So, we walked around the square for a bit. Found out you can't see Mao after noon; that was a disappointment. Then we started to walk towards the Forbidden City until I saw a HUGE line of people. When I say HUGE I am not exaggerating. I'm pretty sure those people standing in line were going to wait for four hours. Totally not worth it. Especially since we had all been before.

Thankfully we decided to go back to the hotel and have lunch. I got Singapore fried noodles again. I love them.  Dad ordered another half chicken but they brought him the whole chicken instead; including the chicken head. I was completely amused, Mom on the other hand wanted to throw up.

After lunch we rested for a bit. I took full advantage of the comfy bed since I only had it for one more night.





Around 5pm we left to go to Houhai; my favorite place in Beijing! We walked around the lake for awhile. I bought a pair of chinese handmade shoes and a scarf :). Then we stopped at a tea house and had tea by the lake. The tea was extremely expensive! After we drank our expensive tea we headed to dinner.









Dinner was AMAZING. We got these prawns in a bucket of salt; an entire bucket of salt. I could not have been happier. SALTTTTT!  I think my dad had two and I finished them off. We also had really good fish, fried rice and dumplings.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and had our last round of cocktails. I sure am going to miss cocktails every night.

"The other Great Wall in China is the Great Wall of Cars"

This morning we left for the Badaling section of the Great Wall. This section is the most touristy and easiest to climb.

We hit the usual traffic heading out of Beijing and then things started to clear up. Well no traffic at all was too good to be true. We were literally in stand still traffic. As I said before, if you don't NEED to travel during the October holiday in China... don't. You're better off staying in. Everybody in China seemed to be headed to the Great Wall today. I figured they had all seen it already, why do they need to go again? Wrong. My dad came up with the clever saying, "The other Great Wall in China is the Great Wall of Cars". Our tour guide didn't seem to understand that joke.

Before walking up, all smiles!

Our 2.5 hour car ride with traffic turned into 4.5 hours. AND we ended up going to the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. It's the closest section to Beijing. If we had gone to the Badaling section it would have taken another 6 hours. No thank you. People were getting out of the cars and going to the bathroom on the road. Some were just walking up ahead of their car so they could get out and walk. It was honestly the most insane thing I have ever seen. You haven't seen bad traffic until you have come to Beijing. I literally thought I was going to pee in my pants. And there was no way I was going to get out of the van and pee in the street.

When we finally arrived to the Juyongguan section Mom and I sprinted to the bathroom. I don't even think you can call the bathroom we went to a bathroom. It was flooded, with who knows what, there was "dirt" everywhere. The doors didn't lock. It smelt terrible, even the chinese ladies were holding their noses and gagging. Worst experience of my life.

We met our tour guide at the ticket booth and she gave us our tickets and we entered this section of the Great Wall. It wasn't until we looked up at the 70 degree incline when our tour guide decided to tell us that she has never taken a group of tourists to this section. GREAT... we are going to die.

After conversing, we decided that we had to give it a shot. We didn't just sit in traffic for 4.5 hours to look at the steepest section of the Great Wall. So we did, and eventually we made it to the top. And let me tell you, it was quiet the accomplishment when we made it up.  The view from the top was worth the almost death, trip up.

They made it down!

Getting down, that was a different story. But we made it!

We got back from the Great Wall around 3pm and got lunch in the hotel. I had my first cheese burger in a month. It was delicious.

View from the Atmosphere Bar

Then we relaxed for awhile until 7ish. Had cocktails and went to dinner around 8:30pm. We went to the restaurant called Three Guizhou Men. It was authentic Chinese food and nobody spoke english. So, I used as much Chinese as I could to order our food. We ordered way too many dishes. The best dish was this pulled pork with peanuts. It's as close as i'll get to southern pulled pork for awhile. It was extremely spicy though, but I still loved it. Definitely going back there! After dinner we went to the Atmosphere Bar. Its on the 60th floor of the tallest building in Beijing. From there you can see pretty much all of Beijing. I guess, I don't really know. But it was really cool. The drinks were pretty expensive though and they only had one cigar on the menu for $800... yes, American dollars. Crazy!

Olympics and Duck!

I have been in Beijing for exactly a month! I can't believe it. I feel like I was just at the airport in a panic because I had forgotten my passport at home.

This morning we had a late start; understandably so after the 12 bottles of wine last night. Dad said he wanted to get his moneys worth out of the executive room... I think last night covered that.

After breakfast (I had the same thing as yesterday) we booked our trip to the Great Wall for tomorrow and then made a reservation at Quanjude, one of the best roast duck restaurants in Beijing.

We took a taxi to the Olympic park since my parents are never taking the subway again. The first thing we saw when we got there was a McDonalds. Dad said that was going to be for lunch; he really needed some fries today.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, but the olympic park (where the water cube and birds nest are) was packed. We were supposed to meet the girls there, but that was impossible. So we told them we would meet up after.




In China, lines don't exist. So we stood in the chinese version of a line and waited to get tickets for the water cube.  For some reason random chinese people would come up to us and ask us about the line. Why us? Do you really not see 50,000 other people around here who are ALL chinese. I honestly haven't figured out how their minds work. In the end, we got our tickets to the cube and everything was OKAY.

The water cube was really cool. They have a water amusement park inside; definitely going there when Wilson and Julie come. Mom really wanted to buy this one bathing suit that looked like a dress but it ended up being too long. We stood in the stands where the official olympic pool was held. One chinese girl came up to me and asked to take a picture. I would love to know what she tells her friends and family about the picture. This is my american friend I met in the cube for .5 seconds? Who knows.

After the water cube we sat in the actual olympic park for a little. It was very peaceful and nice until a million chinese started coming up to us and asking to take a picture with them. I honestly don't think I'll ever understand that concept. I mean when they come to America we don't get all excited and ask to take pictures with them. And I think American's have been coming to China long enough now. It's not like when my Poppop was one of the first American's in China (sorry I had to... for those of you who know that story).

The birds nest structure is amazing and blows your mind away. It's even more amazing when you are there standing in front of it. We sat inside the stadium for awhile. In the winter they open it up for skiing. I hope it opens up while I am still here!

After the birds nest we met the girls at McDonalds for lunch. McDonalds was absolutely packed, of course. When we were done eating we went back to the hotel to rest and they went to the birds nest and then came to the hotel to hang out until our duck dinner!

We watched Letters to Juliet. Dad didn't stay for long; he said he knew exactly what was going to happen after the first 10 minutes of the movie. Blah blah blah, MEN... not appreciating chick-flick movies.

When the movie was over we had cocktails and then took two taxi's to Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant. It was absolutely packed. I guess the moral of this blog is that if you plan on traveling or doing anything during the October break in China be prepared for BIG crowds and LONG lines. Thankfully we had a reservation so we got seated right away. The waiting room has a big window looking into the "kitchen" where they roast the ducks. Instead of describing it anymore i'll just post this picture... I hope you're not eating any time soon! The duck was absolutely amazing though and mom ate it!



One last short story... the table behind us was a big Chinese family that had a chinese version of an Italian Poppop. The guy got really really drunk off of baijiu (chinese white rice wine... disgusting) and was acting insane and yelling at everyone. He ended the family meal and they all took him out. It was hilarious- you definitely had to be there but hopefully this picture helps explain the scene a little.


Now I am off to bed. Mom, Dad and I are leaving for the Great Wall tomorrow at 8am!

Campus tour... Dad knows I go to class now!

This morning I got my first FREE american breakfast! I didn't have to go to Grandma's Kitchen and pay 50Y for a great american breakfast. I got an omelet (plain of course), bacon, toast with butter and fruit... I think thats it. I also got jasmine tea; which is my new favorite drink. I probably have at least 6 cups of day. Better than drinking coffee!

After breakfast my parents and I took a taxi to Beijing University. I gave them a tour of the campus. When we walked in the south west gate to go to my dorm they both asked me, "you think this is pretty?". Well no... where my dorm is located is not the central part of campus. I guess they were expecting a Wofford pretty campus and by NO means is this campus a Wofford pretty campus.

Me in front of the Russian building where my classes  are.

Anyway, we came to my dorm first to drop off my suitcase of winter clothes. They weren't surprised that my roommate was still asleep at 11. So we quickly walked out and I continued to give them a tour. My dad was just waiting to see where my classes were; because, for some reason he doesn't think I have classes. But here is proof...

They both loved the library and thought it was absolutely gorgeous. Of course the library is part of central campus. At least central campus to me. Honestly, this campus is so big there are probably parts of it that I have never seen or know about. I miss Wofford's small campus.

After I gave them a tour of campus we came back to my room so I could pack my bag for 4 nights to stay with them at the hotel. My mom laid on my bed and could not believe I have been sleeping on it for an entire month. So I haven't been lying when I say it is literally like sleeping on the floor. Once I packed my bag we went back to the hotel to eat at the Chinese restaurant. It was absolutely delicious. I got Singapore fried noodles with shrimp, mom got yang zhou fried rice and dad of course got the chicken. It is amazing how delicious chinese food is outside of the cafeterias on campus.

When we were done eating we went to the Silk market and met up with Heather, Katie and Laura. The silk market from the subway is only one stop away so I convinced mom and dad that it would be completely fine and so much cheaper. Well... lesson learned, the subway is NOT fine during the October holiday. It was absolutely packed. I don't think any of us had been so close to someone before in our lives. Needless to say, that was their last time on the subway in Beijing.

The silk market was absolutely insane; I guess we should have guessed based on the subway. Heather and I really wanted North Face jackets and bargained with this once guy for about 20 minutes. When I finally got him down to the price I wanted he had his brother bring me a "new" jacket from his factory across the street. He showed me the jacket and unbuttoned and buttoned each button to show me they all worked. Which was true; until the last button which flew off. So I left, all mad and went to the next place where I found the perfect jacket and dad got it down to a lower price! So everyone was happy. Then I got a tea set and a chopstick set. All the things I wanted to get while my parents were here so I didn't have to carry them back (besides the jacket, which will be a necessity in the winter).

When we had all had enough with the Silk Market, Dad invited the girls back to the hotel for a few free drinks and food in the executive room. Well...a few drinks turned into 12 bottles of wine by the end of the night. Who would have guessed that one? They enjoyed the food just as much as I had last night and again tonight. We were all just as excited about eating CHEESE.

They left around 11 and took a cab back to campus and mom, dad and I went to bed. Tomorrow we are going to the Olympic village.

My parents arrived in Beijing today!

Today I had class from 8-12pm. I had tingli and hanyu. Hanyu we had a test and it was SO hard. Tests here are so much harder than at Wofford, but I guess that is expected.

After class I made a pb&j sandwich- amazing as always! Then I napped for a little. Heather and I went to go recharge our internet and then watched gossip girl while I packed for the next 4 nights in, I hope, a GREAT hotel!

I left to meet my parents around 5:30pm where they/we are staying, the Marriott Hotel City Wall in Beijing (obviously). I was so excited the whole cab ride there. Seeing them waiting for me at the front of the hotel reminded me of the first time they visited me at Wofford freshmen year.  Needless to say, we were all very excited to be together.

The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and it is HUGE. Dad upgraded us to the executive floor which meant every morning we got "free" AMERICAN breakfast and every night we got "FREE" appetizers and cocktails starting at 5:30pm. I plan on being in the executive room every night at 5:30pm. 

I can't tell you how many times I went back to the buffet for "seconds"... I'm pretty sure I went up 5 times. I mean... they had CHEESE! And guacamole and BEEF (real BEEF!) and american chicken with honey mustard. It was GREAT.

My parents were pretty exhausted from their long trip so we had an Italian meal in the hotel (no complaints there!). They didn't think the food was all that great, but I thought it was great. Pretty much any food that isn't cafeteria Chinese food tastes delicious to me.

After dinner we came back to the room. I get to sleep in a King size bed all by myself. It literally is a cloud and I am not exaggerating at all. I never want get out of this bed.