Interesting...

I saw this out in front of the School of International Studies the other day. I think this picture says a lot.

Reflections on Interactions with Beida Students

It’s currently late Sunday night and I have a ton of homework to do for tomorrow, but my friend Kuong (he’s American) and I were just discussing this issue and I realized that if I didn’t write about it right away, its effect would wear off.

So anyway, we were talking about meeting Chinese students and what we discussed with them, and I realized that I often do all of the talking. Now, most of you know that I’m quite a talker in general, so naturally I would attribute a lot of this to the fact that I simply like to talk. However, I do feel like I spend a lot of time simply answering their questions and talking about what activities I did in high school and what I do in college apart from classes and where I have worked, etc. (by the way, I’ve found explaining to many Chinese people that I worked for a US Senator to be very difficult, no matter how good their English is). I make a sincere effort to ask them about their own backgrounds, but the conversation inevitably turns back to me. Clearly, this has a lot to do with the fact that they are exceptionally curious about what our lives in America are like, but I consider myself equally curious about their lives in China. It just doesn’t seem like they have much they want to tell me.

Here’s the deal with the students at Beida: Beida is widely considered to be China’s most prestigious institution of higher learning. It is incredibly difficult to gain admission to Beida, especially when you factor in the sheer number of Chinese students that exist in China. In China there is a huge test at the end of high school that is used to determine if/where you go to college. It is a huge test, like no test in the US, even the SATs. I mentioned earlier how my roommates and I meet every couple of days with our language partners, Phoebe and Crystal. We recently asked them how they were accepted to Beida, and their response was that they essentially devoted all of their non-sleeping and non-eating time to studying for and taking tests. Crystal said they typically woke up at around 6 am and went to school and studied until bedtime at midnight, and this was what almost everyday was like for them throughout middle and high school. There was no time for extracurricular activities or after-school jobs. For the most part, due to China’s one-child policy, Beida students are only children, and all of their parents’ focus is devoted to their success (this also means that a lot of them – but certainly not all of them – are very spoiled and have pretentious attitudes). Ah ha! This also must also explain their sheer amazement at the fact that I have three younger sisters. Anyway, many of the Chinese students just love to hear us talk about the sports we played or clubs we were in or jobs we had when we were in high school and in college. They didn’t have that luxury – all of their time was devoted to rigorous study.

My Chinese friends have also mentioned how strict their schools are. In the US, we are generally taught to think for ourselves and to stand up for what we believe in and to question authority, whereas my friends in China were taught to be obedient, both in the classroom and out, and not to strive to be individualistic and independent. As part of their preparations for the GREs, Phoebe and Crystal have sample essay questions that they have to practice answering, and many of them ask for their opinion on a certain issue and then to elaborate on their viewpoint. They asked my roommate Katie and me what to do because apparently, they aren’t accustomed to expounding a personal opinion. This initially caught me off guard because so much of my writing in high school and college involved defending my opinions (and everyone knows that I certainly have my opinions!). At any rate, to a fiercely independent individual like me, the notion that one would strive to be like everyone else seems utterly foreign and unwise. I could get into how this probably relates to questions of why Mao was able to do what he did and why China’s government remains so authoritarian despite unprecedented economic reform, but I definitely don’t have the time to do that at the moment.

It is also hard for my Chinese friends to understand the issues with which America constantly grapples. I mentioned to my friend Cherry that Spanish is widely spoken in the US because the Hispanic population is so large. She started to ask me questions about immigration and minorities, among other issues, and seemed amazed that we even had such concerns. It makes sense, though, when you consider the homogeneity of China’s population. In the same way that China’s homogeneity is so intriguing and unfamiliar to me, America’s diversity and its effects must be overwhelming for many Chinese.

China is such a fascinating place to study, and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to see it for myself. I wish more American students would choose to learn Chinese and study abroad in China. Like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, many Westerners simply view China as a future rival of the US that has aspirations to one day take over the world. They don’t understand the naiveté of such convictions.

Now that I’ve spent so much time writing this entry, I guess I should really start my homework. Hope all’s well with everyone!

Pictures from the Summer Palace Trip

It's too hard to think of a title for this one...

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Beijing for two weeks! Time is really flying, but even so, my first few days here seem like forever ago. Each day I tell myself that I’m going to be better about writing in my blog, but the prospect of attempting to condense all that I wish to write about into one entry is simply daunting and tends to keep me away from my computer. But don’t worry, I promise I’m going to start writing more entries, now that the internet is working (albeit extremely slowly!).

A lot has been going on since the last time I posted. We visited the Summer Palace, which dates back to the 12^th century and has a series of man-made lakes. It’s absolutely gorgeous, even in the winter. I can’t even imagine how amazing it must look in the spring when all the flowers are in bloom. At some point I'll post some pictures, but right now the internet is so slow that I'm only able to post text.

We recently started classes. In addition to my super intense Chinese language class, I’m taking classes about China in the global economy and Chinese political reforms. After a placement test and a couple of interviews, I somehow managed to place into the Intermediate 2 Chinese class, which is the class just below the advanced class, where everyone is pretty much fluent. Needless to say, Chinese is by far my hardest class. I’m pretty sure I made it into Intermediate 2 because despite the fact that I’m not the greatest Chinese speaker, the interviewers simply asked us to tell them about ourselves, among other things, and I’m actually pretty good at Chinese when I’m using it to talk about myself. Other than that, there’s a lot working against me in Chinese. First and foremost, I arrived in Beijing only knowing traditional Chinese characters. For those of you who don’t know, there are traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Traditional characters are much more complex than simplified characters, as they involve more strokes. They were used in China until Mao’s time, when they were simplified in an effort to increase literacy in China. Traditional characters are now only used in Taiwan, although you still see them sometimes in China as well. At Maryland (as with many other universities), traditional characters are taught first, with the switch to simplified happening upon entrance to the third-year Chinese class. I have only had three semesters of Chinese (albeit three 6-credit semesters, whereas Chinese is only 4 credits at other schools), so I only know traditional. The rationale behind learning traditional first is that students learn the different parts of each character better when learning traditional characters, and that switching from traditional to simplified is easier than vice-versa, which I guess is true, but it’s hard to appreciate that when everyone else in your class knows simplified! Also pretty much everyone else in my class has either spent a lot of time in either China or Taiwan or has taken at least two-and-a-half to three years of Chinese. I guess that just serves as more motivation for me to work on my mad Chinese skills!

This past weekend we went shopping at a couple of different places. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention to where the first market was because I was with a Chinese friend who knows Beijing way better than I ever will, but it was pretty neat. I love bargaining for everything. That’s another area in which my Chinese skills are actually quite good. I was a little slow with my bargaining at first, but by the end of the weekend I had become a pro. Anyway, I bought a coat at the first market, and it was kind of funny because my American friends and I ended up having to get coats that were extra larges because all of the sizes were super small! We also went to the Silk Market, which is HUGE and has tons of fake (and some real) designer goods for exceptionally low prices. I was so overwhelmed by everything that I only bought a small bag and some jeans. I’m definitely going back, though.

I’ve come to enjoy what I eat here and how I eat it. For breakfast I usually eat whatever snack food we bought at the store down the street from us (it’s called Wu Mei and is now without a doubt one of my favorite stores ever – I’ll post more on Wu Mei later). Lunch is often at the campus noodle place, where you pay about 50 cents for a giant bowl of noodles with some kind of meat and vegetables, or at the jiaozi (fried dumpling) place next door. Jiaozi (and the closely related baozi) have become some of my new favorite foods. I usually eat too many and end up feeling sick! Dinner is either on campus or off, as Beijing definitely has no shortage of good restaurants. I like going out to dinner with a group of friends because we usually pick a variety of different dishes from the menu and share them. At most Chinese restaurants, each person gets a small plate with a pair of chopsticks (called kuazi in Chinese), and the main dishes are brought out for everyone to share. I’ve become accustomed to eating with chopsticks, and I’m beginning to think I prefer them to regular utensils, at least for the food we eat here. It’s been a while since I’ve had food that would require a fork and/or knife. I’ve been exploring different kinds of food since my arrival in China, and have so far eaten chicken covered in ants, bull testicles (guess what – it tastes like chicken!), and chicken stomachs, among other things. I’ve also acquired a taste for tea. Jasmine is my favorite, but so far I also like chrysanthemum. My Chinese friends and I are planning a trip to a teahouse at some point, which should be fun.

Thus far I’ve made a variety of friends who are students at Beida. They’re all really nice, and have helped me immensely with my Chinese. My roommates and I have been meeting with two of them, Phoebe and Crystal, fairly regularly now. Their English is about as good as our Chinese, which is fun because it means our conversations involve a lot of hand motions and picture-drawing. Surprisingly enough, we’ve managed to learn quite a lot from each other. I have a Chinese tutor, and as it turns out, she also speaks some French! She spoke French to me if I didn’t understand the Chinese, which I really didn’t mind, seeing as I spent a good six years of my life learning French. It’s weird to use it in China with someone who barely speaks English!

Many of the students on campus right now are here taking a GRE class that is everyday (even on Saturdays and Sundays!) from 8:30-2:30. They have to take the GREs in English, which must be incredibly difficult. In exchange for helping us with our Chinese, my roommates and I help Phoebe and Crystal with their GRE vocabulary and writing. I can’t even imagine taking the GREs in English as a Chinese student.

Almost all of the Chinese students I’ve met so far have been exceptionally friendly and helpful, and we American students have enjoyed getting to know them! I’ve also had very few problems when off-campus; people here are generally very kind, or they just mind their own business. We do get a lot of stares, which I don’t really mind (cue Carly Simon’s song, “You’re So Vain”). It’s fun to stand apart from the rest of the crowd. At Maryland, I really enjoy being one of the few Mainers on campus, and in China, I like being an American amongst millions of Chinese.

I’ve been keeping a couple of other journals in addition to this blog, one of which is simply a small notebook that I keep with me at all times and in which I jot down random thoughts or observations that I don’t want to forget later. The other is kind of like a diary where I write down more extensive observations and analysis that I probably won’t post until I get back to the US. One of things I’ve done is make a list of some goals I’d like to accomplish while in China. In the same way that going to school in Maryland has allowed me to look at my life in Maine more objectively, one of my goals is to learn to look at my life in the United States more objectively during my time in China. I think that’s one of the most valuable experiences one can have. Another one of my goals is to learn to not fear the rise of China. There are so many times when I tell people in the US that I’m studying Chinese and their response is, “That’s a great idea because they’re going to take over the world someday!” What a gloomy outlook! Yes, it is true that the rise of China is going to be like nothing the world has ever seen before, and I’ll be the first to say that China has a long way to go in terms of human rights, environmental practices, economic liberalization, etc, but I also don’t want to constantly have the impression that the Chinese are just looking to “take over the world.” I hope that when I leave China I can take comfort in the fact that China possesses a great deal of wonderful young people who are extremely bright and who will one day be able change China (and the world!) for the better. I also hope to learn as much about China as I can so that in the future I can help to make sure that the US and China can accommodate each other and resist clashing. This all probably sounds a little idealistic, but young people are supposed to be idealistic and forward-thinking, right?

Jingshan Park, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square

Here's another post that I actually wrote a few days ago but am posting now because of the internet issues we've been having...

January 16, 2007

I haven’t written in a few days, and that’s because we’ve been so busy. We really didn’t have much time to recover from jetlag, because as soon as we all arrived we had a meeting and were doled out orientation schedules. Orientation included a tour of Beida led by several students of the university. Beida is a beautiful campus, with a great deal of distinctly Chinese architecture. I’ll post a few pictures that I’ve taken here, with more to come soon. There is a lake on which people can skate in the winter (something my friends and I are planning to do in the near future), and which has a small island. There are some great paths for walking/running around the lake. So far I’ve run the paths fairly regularly, but my mouth tends to taste like an exhaust pipe when I’m done, so I think I’m going to join the gym. One of the many things I’ve noticed since I’ve been here is the fact that the people work out at the gym or jog around campus in what look like their normal, everyday clothes. There is a multitude of ping-pong tables in the gym here, and I thought it was funny when one of the people at the gym informed us that we would need a special, more expensive membership to use them.

This is Shaoyuan 5, where I'm living:

Here are some pictures from around campus:

The night of orientation we gathered at a campus café to mingle with some Beida students. I always love meeting new people and telling them about myself and also hearing about their lives, so it was altogether a good time. We all participated in a language partner-finding activity in which we wrote down something about ourselves on a slip of paper and placed it in a box with papers from the American students, and the Chinese did the same with their own box. Once all the papers were gathered, we switched boxes and drew slips of paper. It was interesting to compare what the Chinese students had written compared to what we wrote. Most of us had written on our papers whatever first came to mind, so there were some pretty creative ones. I wrote “Boston Red Sox,” while other people wrote things like “James Bond” or “California Dreaming,” to name a few. Needless to say, no two slips were the same. Not so for the Chinese slips, where pretty much everyone listed “studying,” “table tennis”, “jogging,” or some form of “hanging out with friends.” Nevertheless, I met a lot of really nice Beida students whom I admire for putting up with my substandard Chinese skills. I was amazed at how great their English was, especially considering the fact that most of them had never been to an English-speaking country before. When I asked them about it, most said they perfected their English by watching Friends! A lot of them really think that’s how most Americans live. I became fast friends with a girl whose English name is Cherry (I loved hearing the various English names the students had chosen – everything from Bill to Tiffany to Cheryl to Cherry!), and my friends and I already have a shopping date with her on Friday (apparently she is an expert shopper). It was a great night, with the only problem happening about halfway through the evening when a fight broke out between some students (not in our group nor the group of Beida students with whom we were mixing) at a nearby table. It was a brutal fight, with a chair being broken over a guy at one point. It caught us all off guard, especially the Chinese students, who looked like they were about to cry and were quick to insist that fights like that hardly ever happen here.

The next day we went on a whirlwind tour of three of Beijing’s most famous sights: Jingshan Park, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. It was amazing, although if I have the chance I’ll probably go back to each of those places again to explore and give myself a more thorough tour. I’m the type of person who prefers being alone or with a select few others when I tour museums or landmarks – I think it’s because I like to experience things like that on a deeper level, which is hard when you’re surrounded by 30 other American students in China for the first time.

Jingshan Park is awesome. It has a lot of interesting gardens and horticulture, which is probably amazing in the summer. There are also a variety of pavilions and pagodas that dot the hills that make up the park. They are all very intricately decorated, and most of them have scenic views of the nearby Forbidden City and surrounding city of Beijing. Some of the best views of the city are from Jingshan Park. One of the things that struck me the moment I left the airport and drove through Beijing is the multitude of construction projects. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Standing at the Wanchun Pavilion, which is the park’s highest point, I couldn’t even count the number of cranes in the distance, there were so many. I can see how some people don’t recognize the cityscape when they come back after a few years away from the city. There were a lot of Beijing natives strolling around Jingshan Park, and many were taking part in everything from singing groups to aerobic exercises to kazoo choruses. When we entered the park, the kazoo chorus started playing “Jingle Bells,” then “Oh Susanna!” It was really something else. Some of us participated in an aerobics class for a few minutes. The people who ran it were absolutely thrilled that we joined them for a few songs.

Here is the kazoo chorus:

Here's one of the park's pavilions:

Here is a view of the Forbidden City from the Wanchun Pavilion (note the smog):

Lunch was at a little restaurant in one of Beijing’s old sections. It was delicious, although I must admit that I had no idea exactly what some of the food was. I’m sure it was probably better that way, especially after seeing some of the various types of meat hanging outside! One thing that I find kind of funny about Beijing so far is the profusion of tacky Christmas decorations, especially the image of Santa Claus. He even appeared on the front window of the restaurant at which we dined!

The Forbidden City was extremely impressive. It housed 24 emperors and was used through two dynasties for 500 years. It spans 200 acres, and consists mainly of halls, courtyards, and other smaller buildings. All of them are decorated with gold on the outside, and inside were endless amounts of imperial thrones, screens, and various pieces of artwork. It was definitely a “feast for the eyes,” as some like to say.

My favorite stop on the whirlwind tour was Tiananmen Square. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stay very long, but some of my friends and I are planning on going back there sometime at around 5am to see the daily flag-raising ceremony. Apparently it’s a very moving ceremony for most Chinese. Anyway, it was so exciting to finally be in Tiananmen Square. It is a huge square, with a lot to explore. As I exited the Forbidden City and entered the square, I couldn’t help but think back to everything I had read about it, from the millions of young people (Mao’s Red Guard) who flocked to the square to see Mao, who was supposed to take China to heights not seen before, to millions of members of a future generation who descended on the square to issue a call for democracy and then be so brutally silenced. I must admit, it was a little chilling knowing what had taken place there not too long ago. It was interesting (if not a little disheartening) to see absolutely no acknowledgement of the massacre. Most people here, even some of the city’s most educated, still have no idea what really occurred. However, one of our tour guides, a Beida student, had no problem talking about it, and was clearly incensed about what had occurred. He also absolutely despises Mao. We’re not really sure why he has these views, especially when so many of his classmates remain oblivious, but we think it might have something to do with the fact that some of his ancestors were members of the imperial ruling class that existed before the Communists took over, and his family may have suffered during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. At any rate, it was amazing to finally stand in Tiananmen Square, and I can’t wait to go back and explore it further.

It was simply incredible to finally see all of the places I had read so much about. It was fascinating to observe the juxtaposition between the old scenes of Beijing’s past and the contemporary, sky-scraper lined and construction crane-filled skyline beyond. It is like nothing else I have ever seen before.

I’ll post more later. It was fun describing the places I visited around Beijing, but I’m really looking forward to providing you with observations and insights about my daily life so far in Beijing, and what I have discovered while living as an American student in China.

First Day in Beijing

Ok, so here's what I wrote shortly after arriving at Beida. I'll post what I've been up to since then - including pictures - soon.

1/11/2007

So I’ve finally arrived in Beijing. Maybe it’s due to my deliriousness after getting very little sleep from the time I left LA until now, but the fact that I’m in China still hasn’t really set in yet. The fact that I’m in for the time of my life, however, definitely has.

I think I started to go through culture shock on the flight from LA to Beijing. I flew China Air, which is a state-owned company in China, and the Chinese influence is very prevalent. The meals were pretty good, and the flight attendants were very nice. They take their jobs very seriously, which makes sense – applying to be a flight attendant is a rigorous and very competitive process in China, and entails a great deal of opportunity if you’re successful. They also showed us a short video about how their flight attendants are among the best in China, as evidenced by their victory in a national flight attendant competition (at least that’s what I interpreted from the Chinese I could kind of understand and what was going on on the screen). Since we didn’t have our own personal TV screens to select from a variety of direct TV channels and satellite radio, we were limited to Chinese music and talk radio channels and whatever movies/TV shows/Chinese news/random Chinese commercials were shown on the big screen we all shared. I have to say, their selection of movies was quite random. After about an hour of Chinese news we were treated to the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, then the sappy chick-flick John Tucker must Die (which I actually kind of liked – hey, at least I admitted it!), then it was a super long Jackie Chan movie with absolutely no plot line whatsoever but some great fight scenes, and last but not least, Superman. Halfway through Jackie Chan, the movie was stopped and an in-flight stretching clip played. Most of the older Chinese people on the plane took part, and watching them was slightly amusing (though I will say that I probably could have benefited from the stretching after 8 hours in the air). I’d say about half the people on the plane were Chinese nationals, while the other half consisted of foreigners, mainly other Americans (most of whom were in a SmarTour group). The girl sitting next to me was from Hong Kong and the American guy she was with was much older than her and the outfit he was wearing kind of reminded me of Yasser Arafat. All and all, the flight wasn’t bad.

So I'm one of those really cool people who takes pictures of food, but really nothing else...it was a good meal!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I had an overnight flight (we left LAX at around 1am and arrived in Beijing at 5:30am local time), I wasn’t able to admire the land below me during the flight at all. It was kind of strange, however, to see so few lights. When I fly at night in the US, especially on the East Coast, everything is so lit up. I saw the most lights as we approached Beijing.

As with most Americans, I first stepped onto Chinese soil at the airport in Beijing. The first thing I noticed was a significant police presence (police is jingcha in Chinese). They seemed to be everywhere, even in the baggage claim. The baggage claim was extremely hot and stuffy, and it took forever for my bags to finally arrive. I don’t know if this is the same for anyone else, but it seems like my bags are always the last to arrive! Also, I always feel like I’m among the most frazzled travelers. Way back during check-in at LAX I had to take all of my text books (which I had to buy in the US, as they are not readily available in China) out of my luggage so it wouldn’t be too heavy and place them in a giant, China Air plastic luggage bag. It was kind of a hassle carrying it around in addition to my carry-on luggage. Anyway, my bags did finally arrive, and I made it through customs without a problem. Oh, but I can’t forget to mention the Russians/Ukranians. Our flight arrived at around the same time as a flight from Kiev, Ukraine. The Chinese customs officials had opened three lines for Chinese nationals and one line for foreigners, so as you can imagine, there was quite a line for us foreigners. Well, the Russians and the Ukranians kept cutting all of the other foreigners in line! Fortunately, there was a Chinese-American who was able to communicate with the customs officer, who proceeded to get into an argument with a Ukranian man. It was interesting, to say the least. Most of the women on the flight from Kiev were decked out in furs of all kind, were nearly dripping in jewelry, and were caked with make-up and soaked in perfume, while most of the men were outfitted in leather. People-watching suddenly became a lot more interesting.

The first thing I saw as I entered the main terminal was a KFC and a Starbucks – whether you like it or not, there is no escaping the American influence here. I sat next to some very loud Russians in the designated waiting area until a man waving a PKU (Peking University) sign with my name and the name of another student in my program named Chris on it approached me, saying loudly, “you this person?!!”. I don’t think he knew which of the names on the sign was the male name and which was the female name, but to be honest, I can see how it would be difficult for someone who doesn’t know English very well. He helped me with my luggage and told me to wait near Starbucks while he went searching for Chris. While waiting, a young guy working at Starbucks happened to notice my Red Sox hat and asked me if I was from Boston (I told him I was from Maine, and he looked confused, so I just said “north of Boston” and he understood – I think). He said he doesn’t watch baseball, but his favorite team is the Detroit Tigers. I have no idea why – his explanation in Chinese was very fast and a little over my head.
The driver located Chris, and we were finally on our way to PKU (most commonly referred to around here as Beida, which is short for Beijing Daxue, which means Beijing University). The drive was kind of surreal, as I couldn’t believe I was finally in China. We passed tons of buildings under construction, and the driver eagerly pointed out the construction projects for the Olympics in 2008. He seemed very excited about it. It’s hard to go anywhere here without seeing the Beijing Olympics logo or its slogan. It was also interesting to see soldiers in the toll booths – much different than the variety of characters operating tolls in the US.

Moving my luggage into my dorm room was kind of like moving into the dorms at Maryland for the first time, except with much fewer people. I have the same feelings of relief at finally getting somewhat settled, mixed with anxiety and fear as to what lies ahead (but it’s the good kind of fear, if you can imagine). Besides Chris, me, and a couple of other random kids, most of the other students on the program didn’t arrive until the evening, which meant I had plenty of time to figure out international phone cards and local phone cards and ATMs, etc. Anyway, my roommates seem really nice. They both go to Gordon College and happen to know Ellie! What a small world. I have yet to meet everyone on my program, but the ones I have met seem nice. A few are from Massachusetts, so we’ll be reppin’ New England in China. It’s always weird to be thrown into a mix of strangers, but it’ll be fun to make a lot of new friends.

In case you were wondering what our dorms are like, they’re actually pretty nice. We live in the Shao Yuan buildings, which mainly house foreign students in suites. There’s a room with two beds, a room with a single, and a bathroom. It’s hotel-style, so bedding and towels are provided for us, and I guess there are maids. I’ve heard our accommodations are a far cry from those of the Chinese students.

Here are some pictures of my room, post-decorating, and some views from my window:

Wow, I didn’t think I’d write so much! There’s probably a lot more I could write with regards to my first day in China, but it’s getting late, and I should probably go to bed. Tomorrow we’re touring the university and discussing classes and internships. We’re also going to a reception at the Shi Sheng Yuan bar (I think it’s actually more of a café), which should be interesting. We’ll be meeting other Beida students, hopefully finding language partners.

That’s all for now, but I’ll make sure to keep you all posted with more details of my trip! I’ll also take some pictures soon to post here.

PS – I was talking with the director of the Asian Studies program, Dr. Sun, and it turns out he graduated from Colby! He also spent a year teaching there before returning to his native Beijing, and knows the state of Maine pretty well. Again, what a small world!

Internet Issues...

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I'm in Beijing and I've been writing a lot so far, but I haven't been able to post it yet because we still don't have internet access in our dorms. Don't worry though, that should change soon. I'm able to get online briefly to check my email in our program's office at Beida, but it is very slow. This is mostly due to the fact that the fiber optic cables connecting China with the US were damaged during the Taiwan earthquake in December. It should get faster as soon as those are repaired. So far China has been great, and I can't wait to post my observations here so all of you can read about my trip. Keep checking!

P.S. I love all of the comments I have received so far, they're great!

Last day stateside!

Today is my last day in the US! I've been staying with family in California for the past couple of days, which has been a blast. It's strange to think that I'll be in China soon! Hopefully I'll have some good stories to post on here in no time...those of you who know me well probably just groaned at reading that. Anyway, I can't wait to finally set foot in the country I've been studying so much about lately, and to use some of my awesome (did I say awesome? I think I meant to say somewhat dismal...) Chinese language skills! The next time I post here I will be in China!

PS - now anyone can post comments to my blog...I didn't realize it was initially set to just members.