NEWS & EVENTS

This Winter Break, I decided not to return home to the States. I believed that leaving China would not only disrupt my progress in Chinese, but returning home to my loved ones, would make leaving again for the second time that much more difficult. Instead, I used my break to travel within China and Beijing. In Beijing I explored the mystical Llama Temple 雍和宫(YongHeGong), the historical Tiannamen Square 天安东门(TianAnDongMen) and the infamous Forbidden City故宫(GuGong), again for the second time.

In China there is a national Holiday called the Golden Week (国庆节). It is a week long period and the most traveled time in China. Native Chinese either return to their home towns if they are away, travel out of the country, or enjoy a week of solace. I decided to travel out of China. Coming to China was my first time leaving the United States so I was super excited to expand my horizons. Coincidentally, this semester I have 10 Fairfield friends studying abroad in Europe, 7 of them in Italy. Because I am studying in China for two semesters and will not be returning home for Christmas, I decided to visit my friends in Florence, Italy.

The answer to everyone’s question: how was China?

The perfect answer is a 20 second elevator speech. It must break all barriers and sum up the experience in more than just “it was great” but it cannot wind on for too long so that people lose interest. The perfect answer provides more insight into China, but doesn’t seem to unreal that many think China is untouchable. The perfect answer … doesn’t exist.

I am studying abroad through The Beijing Center (TBC). TBC is housed on the campus of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). According to local Chinese students, UIBE is ranked about 4 or 5 of the top 10 Universities in China. The university provides schooling for about 20,000 students, not including undergraduate and PhD students. This was a massive change for me, seeing that Fairfield only has 5,000 undergraduates. Although larger in student population, the campus is smaller.

Thanksgiving, regardless of whether you’re back in the States or not, is still a time to appreciate all the wonderful things that surround you in life. I haven’t really missed home too much until this holiday when all my friends and family were together and I was halfway across the world, but in reality, it just made me appreciate them even more. We got to have a Thanksgiving potluck here at TBC, where we got to all bring in dishes and eat some turkey and mac and cheese and pie … yum.

My friends and I really have a knack for planning trips less than 24 hours before we want to leave. But hey, they sometime seem to all workout. This weekend, we decided to visit Qingdao, a city on the coast of China, and located in the Shandong province.

This weekend me and my friend, Victoria, decided to hit up a couple spots in Beijing on our to-do list! We first visited the Lama Temple where we saw beautiful architecture and so much culture. Although we’ve visited many temples now, this one stood out because we saw many Chinese people praying and lighting incense which is something we hadn’t really seen at any other temples.

The photo you see on the top was taken during the very beginning of our tenure at TBC. Everyone from our group came from different backgrounds, upbringings, and lifestyles. I am happy to say that I have established at least some sort of relationship with every single person. That brings me to the photo on the bottom. It was taken at Lina’s birthday party, one of my closest friends, here in China and back in Chicago. It is crazy to think of all of the memories we created from the first to our present pictures here in China.

Again, TBC staff has given us an amazing opportunity to gain cultural awareness through weekend activities. For this opportunity I was able to attend my first ever cooking class at a place called The Hutong. The cutest little gem inside the huge maze of old Beijing. I went with Sebastian, a fellow TBC student to make a special soup dumpling that is popular to eat in southern China.