A couple weeks ago my program and I went on a trip to Yunnan providence. Yunnan is a providence in southwestern China famous for it’s rice terraces, geological formations and ethnic minorities. Yunnan recognizes 28 different Chinese ethnic minorities- the most of any providence in China. The most notable ethnic minority groups in Yunnan are […]
Category Archives: China
My Obsession with Chinese Babies
So I’ve talked about it a few times, but I have a very creepy and unhealthy obsession with Chinese babies and small children. I’ve been trying to figure out why I love Chinese babies so much and I came up with a few reasons: #1: They have really big heads and fat cheeks #2: They’re […]
The Temple of Heaven
A couple weekends ago my classmates and I went to the Temple of Heaven, or Tian Tan. The Temple of Heaven is a beautiful temple complex where the emperor used to go to pray on special holidays. It was built to mark the meeting place between heaven and earth. When we first arrived to Tian […]
Exploring the Hutongs of Beijing
A couple of weeks ago my classmates and I spent a saturday exploring Beijing hutongs. Hutongs are the remnants of the traditional housing of China. They are alleyways with stone courtyard houses and communal bathrooms. The city of Beijing used to be a city made up of hutongs, but for the sake of urban planning, […]
Walmart in China
That next day after a long morning of orientation, we learned drumroll please who was in what Chinese class!!! The first class (100) contained the very beginners and those who had studied for a semester or two: Tiffany, Seijen, Katora, Will and Hannah. The next class contained people who had studied for roughly three semesters […]
Eating Fried Scorpions
On the third day of orientation we had our language placement test. My language placement test was one of the things I was most worried about coming to China. I had barely even looked at Chinese for the last month and a half! What if I was placed into a lower class, then I would […]
Arriving in China
The day I left for China I had to leave my hostel at 7:15 to get to the airport on time. I needed to be at the airport 2 hours before my flight, the bus to the airport takes an hour and a half and I knew it would take me a good 20 minutes […]