Thursday, May 10

This morning we had another lesson with Claudia on Modern China. We talked a lot about chairman Mao and his impact on China today. When we went to Tiananmen Square there were hundreds of people waiting to see his body. People still love him today.  We were supposed to go to Hyundai today but Dr. Gao gave us the sad news that the production line was being retooled today. Hopefully, we will be able to go next week.

We decided to try McDonald’s for lunch. We didn’t really know where it was so we asked for directions, and were pointed in the wrong direction. So we asked again and eventually found it. It was packed. We talked to a person from MA about how to order and we could point to a menu on the counter. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, fries, coke, and a flurry. I believe the flurry flavor was flan and oreo. It sure was different than anything I’ve ever had in the US. The meal overall was pretty much what I was expecting except for in China there’s not all white meat for the chicken sandwiches.

After lunch we had a short break and then walked to a karaoke place. It was enormous. There were probably at least a hundred rooms for karaoke. We also got free drinks and I had an orange Gatorade flavored drink. The songs were fun to sing and everyone got into it, especially classics from Brittney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Nsync. Too late to Apologize, I want it that way, toxic, oops I did it again, Hotel California, All-Star, etc. We had 3 microphones to share. Dr. Gao, Vanessa, Ruby, and Vivien even sang some songs in Chinese. One negative thing about karaoke was the lack of air conditioning. It was getting pretty muggy in the room we were in and you could tell everyone was tired by the end.

After karaoke some students and I went with Vanessa on the subway to learn how to use it for our free day. It only costs 2 rmb and is a very efficient way of traveling around Beijing. At the shopping plaza we saw the largest Apple store in the world. Apparently, there were riots there when the iPad 2 came out and there were not enough products for consumers. We were trying to find a restaurant and were going to go to a noodle restaurant but no one was in there. Vanessa suggested we try somewhere else. We ended up at a Vietnamese/ Mexican restaurant. It was a strange combination and I ended up getting a quesadilla. Chinese food has a distinct smell and I wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to eat something familiar. Even though the subway was a cost efficient way of traveling, it wasn’t the fastest. We decided it would be best to take taxis back. We had some illegal taxis offer us rides but Vanessa shooed them away. We needed two taxis and made it back to our hotel in a timely fashion. 

Wednesday, May 9

Day 4 – Today, we went to the Beijing Zoo. We first went to the panda exhibits, which cost extra. There were four pandas in the section, 2 were outside and 2 were inside. The two outside were just relaxing and eating bamboo but the two inside were lounging. The second time we went inside the pandas were in lawn chairs and eating carrots. The one had a carrot that the other one wanted so they started play fighting for it. The one bad thing about the Beijing zoo is the fact that the glass on the animal’s cages is filthy and you can’t take very good pictures. We saw one white tiger. We also saw elephants, hippos, various birds and lemurs. There was also an enormous tiger statue, and there were smaller elephant and dragon statues. While in the zoo I bought a strawberry (I think) icee.  We were only in the zoo for 3 hours so I felt like I would have gone to see more had there been more time. I also would have gone to see the aquarium but it was 140 rmb.

Next we were to a Japanese fast food restaurant for lunch. We had a choice of chicken, beef, or both and I chose both. It was pretty good. I also ordered sprite and got orange soda but that happened to everyone that ordered sprite. The one kid at my table kept dropping his chopsticks on the ground. The food was pretty good and very filling. After, our awesome study abroad office person, Vanessa, bought us all ice cream from DQ. I got an oreo blizzard.

One thing that most of the students noticed in the zoo and all over Beijing was little kids in split bottom pants. The children in China are potty trained very early (around 7 months) and are taught to get their parents attention when they need to go to the bathroom. Then the parents quickly take them to the restroom or pull out a bottle (for the boys) to go to the bathroom. We witnessed this during our lunch meal today and were taken aback by it.

We went to a mall area to do some souvenir shopping and look around. It was 8 floors of merchandise and it was ridiculously packed. There were many shoes and clothes on every floor. You could haggle to get some pretty good deals. Drake, a student who went to China, got a 900 BMW shirt down to 350 but still didn’t buy it. He just wanted to see how low he could get the price. He was shooting for 200. The bargaining is one aspect of Chinese culture that I really like and enjoy getting the lowest price possible.

This evening we went to a college hang out place called Hohai. There were many shops, restaurants, and bars surrounding a lake. It was very picturesque. We went as a group with Dr. Gao and Vanessa for some drinks. I had watermelon juice. Later in the evening several students decided to try scorpions on a stick. I decided not to try them and instead ate some cotton candy. I was thankful we were able to take a bus to and from Hohai and didn’t have to take the taxis just yet. 

Tuesday, May 8

Day 3 – Again, Beijing traffic is horrendous. Yesterday it took us one and a half hours to get to the center of the city from our hotel in the northwest corner of Beijing. We saw people weaving in and out of each other, people disregarding the lines on the street, people disregarding the traffics lights and people constantly honking their horns. Surprisingly we have only seen one accident and it was a man on a bike who had been hit by a car. It looked like he was in a great deal of pain and that his leg was broken. Typically, in America when there is an accident the road around the accident clears. Not in Beijing or in the middle of an intersection. There were still cars, bikes, and people walking around the accident. Fortunately for the victim, there was one man who was either with him or stopped to help him and was holding him on the ground. For part of our drive we passed through a little area where all of the buildings were one story as opposed to sky scrapers. There were stores on the fronts of the buildings and houses back in the alley ways. Once we made it to our destination we experienced the “squatty potties” which weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be.

We had made it to the center of the city. Tiananmen Square is huge. There were a lot of street vendors and we had to say “boo yow” a lot which translates to something like “I don’t want any, go away.” They were trying to sell us hats, toys, maps, and other knick knacks for an over inflated price. Dr. Gao bought a Beijing hat though. We passed the tomb of Chairman Mao and the line to go inside was extremely lengthy.

We went to the Forbidden City which is enormous. There were gates upon gates upon gates to walk through and once we got to the center, we met all of humanity (again). The entire time I kept thinking about the scene in Mulan where she is fighting to save the emperor. On the doors between entrances there were golden knobs that you could touch for good luck and there were many statues throughout the city that could bring luck. I bought a mango popsicle because it was so hot and it was the best popsicle of my life, even though I was shorted 10 rmb. It was delicious.

After we went to lunch at a small little shop in the alleyways and we cooked our own food in boiling chicken broth. This seems to be a common occurrence (to cook your own food) in China. We had fish, mushrooms, greens, different kinds of seafood, beef, lamb. I also tried shark lips which was very interesting. It didn’t taste strange but the squishy texture got me.

On our way back to the hotel our group had decided to stop in a shopping plaza to look for souvenirs. I had found some chopsticks I thought my friend would like so I bought those. There was the main area of shopping and you could also go down an alley to go to another section to find typical Chinese food.  

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called La Bamba and had our first non-Chinese meal. Most of our group ordered chicken quesadillas. I had ordered a sprite and it came with a glass of ice. At this point I wasn’t sure if I could eat the ice or not, so I cooled down my can by putting it into the cup of ice and melting the ice. I kind of made a mess, but at least my drink was cold. For dessert, a few of us decided to go get ice cream at Haagen-Dazs. The ice cream there was really expensive (30 rmb for a single scoop). 

Monday, May 7

Day 2 – Today I woke up at 6:30 Beijing time, and went to breakfast at 7. For breakfast there was a ton of what Americans think of as lunch food, such as noodles, chicken, pork, fried rice, ect. I stuck with the typical American breakfast: toast, juice (kiwi), yogurt(drinkable), and fruit(watermelon).

We had a history lesson with a Tsinghua university student, Claudia, about the history of China. We learned about the different dynasties such as the Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasty. We also learned about modern China and watched a video clip from “Flowers of War.” Claudia’s English was very clear and she kept our attention the entire time.

We traveled to the mall area and ate lunch as a group. Our meal consisted of rice, veggies, chicken feet, pork, chicken, beef, fish, and sesame balls for desert. We also got an orange. In China, fruit signifies the end of the meal. We had coke and sprite to drink again.

After we ate lunch we went to a supermarket to buy water. We couldn’t take any water bottles into the supermarket so we got yelled at in Chinese. That kind of threw us off because we didn’t know what was going on. I had another encounter with the language barrier checking out. All I did was smile and hoped she gave me the right change (she did). I wanted to answer in Spanish (natural instinct).

We went to the Tsinghua University after lunch. It was a very short ride from our hotel. We saw a history of the university with Dr. Gao and a recording. We then walked to a very environmentally friendly building. The building was sealed and there were glass planes on the outside to reflect and refract the light to keep the building cool/warm. There are also CO2 detectors and oxygen dispensers to regulate the air quality. Then we saw a beautiful campus. It was so quiet and there were a lot of trees, pathways, lakes, gazebos, and pagodas. It was a very picturesque area.

The traffic in Beijing is horrendous. Our bus driver had to stop 2 blocks away from the hotel because he couldn’t make it through. I almost got hit by a kid on a scooter when I got off of the bus. Beijing is basically a hardcore frogger game.

Our group decided to go back to the mall to eat dinner. We decided to try a Korean BBQ place without a person who spoke fluent Chinese. It was a disaster… to start. We sat down and ordered coke. One member in our group tried to order beer but accidently ordered an alcohol-free one. We couldn’t communicate with anyone in the restaurant and everyone was staring at us. We tried to look around to other tables to see what they were doing because we had to cook our own meat. After a lot of pointing and showing numbers on our fingers my table ordered a meat tray, some fruit, and dumplings. We cooked out meat and our poor waiter took pity on us and helped us as much as he could. After we ate we paid our bill (Around $50 divided by 4 people) and walked out. We got ice cream popsicle treats after our meal from the restaurant and walked back to the hotel.

Sunday, May 6

The seventeen of us started off our journey aboard the 28X to Pittsburgh International Airport and boarded a really tiny plane to fly to Toronto, Canada. Once aboard this plane we noticed it was very hot and muggy. Then the flight attendant informed us that for our hour long flight the air conditioning was broken and that she was very sorry for the inconvenience. We made it to Toronto in one piece and then waited to board our 777 plane to Beijing. The plane could hold about 600 people and every single seat was filled. Each of us had a personal entertainment system to occupy us for the 13 hour flight. There were movies, tv shows, radio, and a map where you could follow the plane. I watched four different movies including The Help, Sherlock Holmes, Dinosaur, and Spy Kids. We also got 3 different meals/ snacks throughout the flight. For our lunch we had a choice of chicken and potatoes (I had this) or pork and noodles. Along with this we got a corn, carrot, and soy bean salad, a roll, and a brownie. For our snack we had noodles and a turkey sandwich with a mayo/Italian dressing spread and a bran cracker. For breakfast we had eggs and potatoes (I had this) or rice porridge with fruit and a roll. Once we got off of our plane we were in a sea of people.

We had to go through customs and claim our baggage. Once we did this we met up with Professor Gao and the students from Tsinghua University. On our way to the bus I noticed that people in China do not like to form lines and will literally push you if you are in their way. I experienced this waiting for the elevator.  Once outside I noticed that the air quality was much worse in Beijing than Pittsburgh. There were dust particles (we later found out that they were cotton) floating around that you could breathe in and the cars sitting in the airport parking lot were covered with dust.  On our ride to the Xijiao Hotel we experienced the traffic in China and the different driving of the people. The people are not afraid to hit you if you are in their way. I also noticed that there were tall skyscrapers in the middle of residential areas and that all of the bottoms of the trees were painted white. You also couldn’t see the sun very well, due to the air quality, even though it was around 5 pm.

After a 45 minute drive we arrived at our hotel and received our room keys and breakfast tickets. The rooms consist of 2 twin beds, which are rock hard, a chair, a tv (I can’t get mine to turn on), a safe, a normal bathroom, and a desk. The air conditioning in our room is nonexistent so I will be getting used to the heat during my two week stay.

For dinner we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant and there was a surplus of food. There was chicken, pork, fish, and every kind of vegetable you could imagine. All of this food was on a lazy Susan and you just spun it around to pull food onto your plate. I tried a lotus root and it had a sweet taste and a squishy texture.   I also had spicy chicken, a vegetable that was a cousin to asparagus and spinach, rice, broccoli, fried dough, watermelon and a Chinese melon. The fruit had mayonnaise on top because it was a fruit salad, and salads need dressing. All of the food was pretty good and for drinks we had a choice of Coke, Sprite, or Orange juice pop. The coke was not as sweet as the Coke in America because they use real sugar in China, as opposed to America where we use high fructose corn syrup.

After dinner we walked back to our hotel, everyone tried to write their blogs, showered, and went to bed.

Individual Report

International Experience to date:
My international experience to date is minimal. I have traveled to Canada with the University of Pittsburgh Marching Band and to Mexico with my family as part of a cruise vacation but no other countries outside of North America. I haven’t had any opportunities to travel abroad until my freshman year at Pitt.

Why I want to go to China:
I want to travel to China because this is my first opportunity to travel abroad. I like the time frame of Plus 3 because it gives me the opportunity to experience a study abroad program without going away for an entire semester. I would like to sight see in China and experience the culture because I do not know when I will have the opportunity to visit China again.

Main Professional Work Differences:
I think the main professional work differences that I experience will be that the Chinese work force has a higher attention span to their work than the United States work force. I also think that the majority of the workforce will be males. I am not entirely sure how the workforce of China will compare to that of the United States, but I will have a better idea of this after the company visits during our trip.

Main Cultural Differences:
I think the main cultural difference will be the language. Chinese and English languages are completely different. Another cultural difference is eating utensils. The Chinese use chopsticks for every meal. Adjusting to using chopstick as opposed to forks and knives will be an adjustment. The Chinese culture believes in honor and dignity more so than american culture so this will be interesting to see in everyday life.

Political Differences:
I think the main political difference is censorship. Americans have freedom of speech and the government has less control then than the Chinese government. The Chinese government has a single party and this allows for a lot of control over the people such as banning social media websites Facebook and Twitter.

Students in China:
I think the students in China will be very good hosts. I feel like we will get along and be able to share different past experiences and learn about each other’s culture. I would like to get to know about their lives and how their school system works. I also think they will be very hard working.

I will be surprised to find:
I predict that I will be surprised to find all of the cultural differences. I also think I will be surprised to find how difficult it will be to communicate and find my way around due to the fact that I will know minimal Chinese. I also think I will be surprised to see all of the different types of food and dishes I have never tried before. I will also be surprised to be in such a densely populated area.

Major Differences in Living Conditions:
I think the major differences in living conditions will be space and not having the ability to drink the tap water. Another minor difference is the need for different chargers for electronics. I am glad our hotel will have wifi so we can continue to update people back home about our adventures in China. I hope our hotel will be nice and I believe the workers will be good hosts.

Other Information:
I am very excited to travel to China on this Plus 3 trip. I have always wanted to walk on the Great Wall of China. I am also excited to travel to the Beijing Zoo to see my favorite animal, PANDAS!

Hello world!

This will be about my adventure to China.