Unexpected & Beautiful: Chengdu

This past weekend was a long travel weekend, so we had Friday off of classes.  On Thursday night, I flew with two of my friends to the city of Chengdu (成都) in the Sichuan Province of western China.  We originally decided to go there because it is the only place in the world where you …

I Have Never Been So Cold…

I know this is a long one, but last weekend I went on my first travel weekend out of Beijing!  15 other students from my program and I went up North to the city of Harbin, which is closer to the Russian border than to Beijing!  We took an all night train Friday night and …

A Day in the Life

8:00- Wake up, eat Chinese breakfast. This usually consists of zhou or rice porridge, a hard boiled egg, and usually something else. Sometimes I have dumplings for breakfast, I never know until I walk into the kitchen! 8:30- catch the bus to school. The time of my commute changes drastically depending on the amount of …

Happy New Year!

Chungjie Sunday was the Chinese New Year, or since China now follows the Roman calendar, Spring Festival (Chunjie). Chunjie in China is like the American holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s all rolled into one. Life in Beijing stops as the migrant labor force (about half the population) returns home to other provinces. We …