Hey all! I know I have not posted ANYTHING in WEEKS, but that is being rectified via a classmate's computer. I will attempt to go over what's happened, but GUYS IT'S BEEN THREE WEEKS and I don't have a ton of time.
Beijing:
The plane ride from Chicago to Beijing was 13.5 hours. I read "Room" by Emma Donohugh, watched a movie (only one though, my seat was defective and all the stuff on the screen was in shades of pink and green. Really psycadellic movie watching experience, but not so great if you are trying to avoid headaches), and slept. And there was still eight hours left.
It was so fantastic to be in a foreign country. For a first-time-overseas trip, China from America is pretty awesome. SO MUCH is different here, and I am in love with how not-America China is. Yes, there was culture shock, but there was so much that was new and GOOD that it mostly balanced out. In Beijing, we went to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing Dajie (I don't know how that translates) and the Silk Market. Each of those are entierly separate posts that I WILL get to eventually. But my favorite was the Great Wall.
Zhengzhou:
We flew to Zhengzhou. It was a lot smaller than Beijing, and much more rural. We went to the Shaolin Temple the first day, and let me tell you that in my (albeit pitiful) experience, there is no place more beautiful than the Hunan countryside (I am TOTALLY a mountain girl). We also went to the Nightmarket, and visited a Confucian Temple that was REALLY REALLY old. Several thousand years old. Waaaaaay pre-Christianity. We went to the Hunan Museam, which was kind of lost on me, and then left the Zhengzhou kids behind ( :( :( :( :( ) and my group flew to Shanghai.
I REALLY REALLY have to go now, but I'll try to get on later.
