2016 is the year of the monkey and London held quite a celebration for this Chinese New Year. People of all ages and backgrounds were in attendance and it was exciting to experience the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. With events being held in Trafalgar Square and nearby China Town there was an abundance of things to see and do, as people rang in the new year.
The Beijing Center takes students on a two-week excursion every semester. In the fall, students travel the route of the Silk Road; in the spring, students travel around the Yunnan Province. Yunnan means “south of the clouds” and its weather is known as being eternal spring. It’s the furthest province south in China, bordering Myanmar and Burma. I’ll be writing about my day to day experiences and perceptions of China for the next two weeks of my excursion travels.
Being in Beijing for the past two weeks has been quite an experience! After getting off our 13-hour flight and getting through customs we hopped on the bus and headed to UIBE (University of International Business and Economics) in Beijing. Since it was dark out, it was hard to make out the details of the city, but it was intriguing to see the night light of Beijing with street vendors and tons of motorcyclists weaving through people and traffic.
The best way to learn about another culture is to walk in its shoes. There is no greater way to understand another culture without submersing yourself fully into its environment. The opportunity to study abroad will be a life changing and benefiting experience, where you will bring back cultural knowledge to help our nation better understand the world.
When you choose to study abroad, you hope that you get to travel so you can make the most of the experience. Early on in the semester, you could already hear of the different travel plans other students were trying to fit into our semester here in Beijing. Xi’an, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Thailand and Korea were just some of the many options we all had to choose from. While on the Silk Road trip a few months back, some of us asked Bill, one of the TBC staff members, what he recommended we do for the National Holiday Break that we were all eagerly anticipating. Quite frankly, he said “Leave China”.
At the beginning of October, China had its National Holiday. This meant that we would have our first semester vacation! A group of friends and I decided that it was time to go to Shanghai and explore this popular metropolitan area. We booked flights and an Airbnb and headed down for a long weekend adventure.
The dreadful “Freshman 15” is back in a new form. Studying abroad is an amazing opportunity for you to immerse yourself in different cultures and gain a whole new perspective. A lot of fun and socializing will be involved which, of course, revolves around food. This means you get to try a variety of exotic and tasty foods; as delicious as they may be, this can also put a toll on your health and old habits.
Craving for Korean food or Korean inspired fashion? You should visit Wudaokou while you are in Beijing! Wudaokou is known as a trendy and energetic atmosphere, since it is a popular student hangout. There is a multitude of multicultural restaurants, trendy cafes, and funky fashion boutiques.
You know that craving for a warm piece of pizza; but you look at your wallet and it says nope, cannot afford western food tonight. Well, I got the solution for you.
I will never remember the real name of this place, but I know I’m in the right place when I see this cute old lady smile at me. Once you go inside, the first thing you will notice is that even though the place is probably smaller than our dorm room it somehow always fits everybody.