This trip has given me everlasting memories. We all started off as strangers, acquaintances, but we all ended up as a family. Our journey together through the airports, the food, the heat, the unfamiliar and even sickness brought us all closer than just classmates. I will forever be grateful for Lanhui laoshi for giving us this opportunity and being our fierce leader through China and class. I won’t forget RJ’s awkwardness, Hui’s incredible sweetness, Lee’s openness and acceptance, Pierce’s helpfulness and grace, Sarah’s positive attitude, Nathanial’s poise and timidness, and lastly, our General Timothy. These memories and China will remain imprinted on my heart. May we all strive to be better people, better friends, better students. I hope we all keep in touch and I thank NIU for giving us all the opportunity to strive for a better education. 再见！
这次旅行给了我永恒的回忆。 我们都是陌生人，熟人，但我们最终都是一个家庭。 我们一起度过机场，食物，热量，陌生甚至疾病，让我们比同学更亲密。 我将永远感激兰辉老师给我们这个机会，成为我们在中国和阶级的凶悍领袖。 我不会忘记RJ的尴尬，Hui的令人难以置信的甜蜜，Lee的开放和接受，Pierce的乐于助人和优雅，Sarah的积极态度，Nathanial的谦逊和胆怯，最后是我们的Timothy将军。 这些回忆和中国将留在我心中。 愿我们都努力成为更好的人，更好的朋友，更好的学生。 我希望我们都保持联系，我感谢NIU给了我们所有机会，争取更好的教育。 再见！
On our last day in China, our teacher brought us to her sisters house. Her sister is a certified tea artist and she taught us how to properly serve tea and prepare it! She showed us how to soak the tea and how many seconds it took to properly soak tea leaves to get the right aroma and flavor. Mine ended up being a gentle tea, sweet, not bitter, just right. We also had our farewell dinner at her house where she invited a chef to cook for us. We had an assortment of delicious dishes and this trip could not have ended any better than it did!
Unfortunately, on this day, I was severely sick. I was not able to go out and enjoy the activities of the day. I nursed myself back to health in my hotel room while my friends all went out and enjoyed one of our last days in Beijing! They told me all about it when they got back! They also took a lot of pictures for me which I was grateful for. Their first stop was the Summer Palace. It was a place where the Emperor’s family, or any royal within the family, went for summer vacation. Hence the name, the Summer Palace. It was a large area of land with a lake in the center of it all! Then night came around and they went to Laoshe Tea House where they saw people perform Peking Opera and tea ceremonies! I really wished I could have been there to fully enjoy the experience but I am glad my friends were able to enjoy it for me as well!
Today, we went to multiple places! The first stop was Tiananmen Square. Inside this square is where Mao Zi Dong was buried. His mausoleum is where we went too. The security was tight. No one was allowed in without specific instructions and rightfully so. The moment we stepped into the mausoleum everyone was silent. We were not allowed to take any pictures or have any bags or liquids inside. There was a lot of soldiers standing guard of Mao’s body. They still have him preserved very well and we all took off our hats and sunglasses out of respect. Our next stop was the Forbidden City. This place was huge! It took us nearly two hours to go through the entire city, but this was the place where the emperor and empress would live, along with all of the emperor’s other wives and concubines. It was a very beautiful city to see!
On this historic day, we all climbed The Great Wall. This historic, one of the seven wonders of world, Wall is over 20,000 kilometers long. It is dated back over 2,000 years. My friends and I on this study abroad trip climbed it. The moment we stepped off the cable car and onto the Wall, my eyes instantly swelled with tears. I was on history. I was touching years of people’s hard work and devotion. I clutched my water bottle to my chest and took in one of the most gorgeous views in the world. I will never forget this day because we also got to see panda’s! These fluffy animals are so adorable! We were very lucky to see them that day because they usually only move when they are hungry! This day they were starving! We got to witness them eat all their bamboo! It was a day of brand new experiences with friends I will never forget!
We arrived in Beijing today!! We didn’t do much today except for travel for the third time on a high speed train. Our last train ride in China, it is bitter sweet to say that. We got to our hotel around three o’clock. We went exploring in the streets near our hotel and found a little plaza where there was a group of people doing the tango! It was such a nice evening we sat and watched for awhile. But then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool for two hours, ate dinner as a family, and now we relax until the Great Wall tomorrow!! We are ready for it!!
On our last day in Taigu, we started off the morning with a walk to Mencius’s Mother’s park. It was only a twenty minute walk from the campus. We learned that the journey of Mencius was that she traveled three times for her son to get a better education. Then we had our certificate ceremony presented by the students and staff of Prospect college. It was bitter sweet to be awarded for our efforts in China, but to also say goodbye to all the new friends we made here. I will miss them all dearly and I hope see them all again soon, whether it be in America or China or another country. At the end of the night, we had our farewell dinner with the president of the university. When we got back to campus it was one of the last days of Dragon Boat Festival here in China, so our new friends took us to the river and we lit some lanterns and set them off into the sky with our prayers, dreams, and wishes to come true!
Today was our last day of classes at Taigu. It is bitter sweet but we made some memories! Our first class was Chinese painting. A wise teacher came and taught us how to move the brush against the paper, what the differences are between western painting and Chinese painting, and how there are two sides to the paper we used (one side was smooth, the other rough, we use the smooth side to paint). Then we were off to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms class. Here we learned about the history of the Three Kingdoms and their leaders: Liu Bie, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Cao Cao. All leaders in their own right and comrades in arms when needed. To close our night off, the teachers hosted an English Corner for us and the students. It was a time for all of us to work on the languages we were working on while having fun as well!
We had three classes today. Every class we went to had so much historical background that we are being filled with knowledge! Our first class was about acupuncture and Chinese philosophy. Our teacher showed us where our meridians were and where three pressure points were located. Our next class was on calligraphy. This time we learned how calligraphy was made and how to write in different styles of calligraphy. Our last class of the day was on one of the most ancient instruments in China, the guchin. It is a seven stringed instrument that is plucked with your fingers. We learned about the historical background and the teacher gave us a performance and taught us how to play the guchin! I really want to learn to play it professionally!
Marisol's China Blog 