One Week Already Gone

Hey guys! First off I want to give a quick apology for not posting for a while. There was some difficultly with setting up the internet here and then there was difficultly getting onto blogger. Anyways, week one in China has already came and left! I feel like I have been in China for almost a month, because this pass week was so busy and packed with fun. When I first arrived in China, it still didn't hit me that I was actually in China. This was my first time ever leaving the United States and I was really worried that I would get scared and want to crawl to a corner and just hide. I was in the exact opposite! Standing outside the terminal and seeing the different people, cars, language, and even air was nothing but exciting for me. I love experiencing new things and I can't be more thankful that I took advantage of this opportunity. After landing at the airport in Beijing, we drove about two hours in a van to Tianjin. It was incredible to look out the window during this drive and seeing the different stores, restaurants, apartments and the way the Chinese people live. I noticed during that drive and throughout the week that there really aren't any houses, or at least I haven't seen any. The Chinese live in high rise apartments which don't look very large. I never knew that living in an house was as much of an advantage as it is. When I think about it, I couldn't imagine living without a living room, dining room, individual bedroom, or fully loaded kitchen. I'm so grateful that I have those things back at home, because when it comes down to it, those things aren't necessities after all, they are just advantages I'm lucky enough to have.

The food here is FANTASTIC! I could probably start a blog on nothing but the food in China. I'm in heaven and I honestly thought I would be losing weight while in China, but at the rate I'm going I'm doing the exact opposite. :-P My first meal in China, was at a small local restaurant near the TUC-FIU campus. We were all starving by dinner time! We had so much variety from dumplings to chicken to pork to beef to vegetables. Some dishes are spicy, some are salty, and some are sweet. All in all the balance of textures and taste satisfies all of my taste buds. The first dinner was very memorable, especially since we all got to share it together as a family. After all, we are one big family since we are living and traveling together for 4 months. Not only is the food different from America, but also the way they eat. Obviously for one, our utensils for the next 4 months are chopsticks. I'm not the best at eating with them (especially when it comes to eating corn), but I'm slowly getting better and as long as the food eventually makes it from the plate to my mouth I'm happy. :-) Almost everywhere we go to eat, we don't order an individual dish for each of us. The portions are huge here, so sharing is the best method here. At most places we sit around a large round table that has a spinning round glass, lazy susan-type-thing, in the middle. As dishes come we just spin to eat a little bit of everything. When we are not out to eat, we eat at a canteen that is one the first floor of our campus. Fortunately they have a menu with both English and Chinese on it so we know what we are ordering. The challenging part is try to communicate with the kitchen staff to order since they know little to none English. My plan is that by the end of this trip I will know how to order in Chinese! The best dishes I have had to far, is a spicy chicken dish with chilies and peanuts which I guess is called Kung Pao chicken, any dish with eggplant, and there is a spicy stir-fried string green beans dish. Talking about food is making me hungry!

This past weekend was our first weekend traveling outside of Tianjin together! We chose Beijing since there is so much to do there and since it is nearby. Our Chinese friend Paul decided to come with us, which was a blast! I love hanging out with the Chinese students, they could talk to you for hours and they are so much fun. To get to Beijing we took a high-speed bullet train. The train got us from Tianjin to Beijing in exactly thirty minutes. It went as fast at 293 km/h, which is around 180 mph. We stayed at a hostel in Beijing called Happy Chopsticks. This was my first time staying in a hostel and it was a great experience. We met so many people from around the world just traveling. Beijing has so much to do that it's near impossible to do it all in one weekend. For this weekend though we went to the Summer Palace which is huge park that is spiritual for many, since it contains ancient statues of Buddhas and temples. The down part of the Summer Palace was that my friend and I got lost trying to get out! We all agreed to meet at the entrance at 5, and since the park was so enormous at around 3:30 we decided to start heading there. Well, we had no map, we can't read Chinese, and signs saying "exit" don't exist! It took us over an hour to exit the park, and just when we thought we could be relieved we realized that there is more than one exit! We had no way of getting to where everyone else was, and we don't have cell phones so we can't exactly communicate to one another. It was fine though, because we had fun getting lost and we got to figure things out on our own. We found the subway station, figured out which subways to take, and switched subway lines, and got to the hostel. We didn't get back to the hostel until 8:30 at night, but I enjoyed being lost. It was a challenge and there were many obstacles, but we overcame each and every one of them. On Sunday we went to the Great Wall of China! The section of the wall we went to was called Mutianyu. It was about an hour and a half drive to get there. The view was spectacular! There aren't enough words to describe the Great Wall. The Mutianyu Great Wall had a section of the wall that had not been restored. The steps went from being 6 inches high to 18 inches high in a matter of one step. It was amazing and exhausting. We hiked up the great wall for about 3 hours. I got to see and experience something that very few people get to do. I will be recommending the Great Wall to everyone! Getting to the top was a self accomplishment. It's physically exhausting, but if you have the mental strength than you can do it. I enjoyed every minute of being on top and I plan on going to a different part of the wall before I leave China.

Beijing was overall a very successful and fun-filled weekend, along with the whole past week of being in Tianjin. I am having the time of my life! I enjoy every minute here and I almost don't want to ever leave. I have yet to even miss home. I'm enjoying being here so much that it's kind of scaring me that I don't miss home. This experience can only get better from here and I look forward to each morning, afternoon, and night. The self discovery I'm finding here in China is unexplainable, but it is happening. I'm going to go back to America with a completely different outlook on life. Everyone has at least one life changing experience, whether it be a life threatening one or a thrilling one. China is my life changing moment and I am loving every moment of it! I wish everyone could experience what I'm going through. I will be blogging more now throughout the week so check in often!

P.S. Don't forget you can email me if you have any questions at all! My email is krysta [dot] dibenedetto [at] gmail [dot] com.


Tags: FIU Chaplin School of Hospitality
FIU - TUC
Beijing
Summer Palace
Great Wall of China