Vacation/Break in Hainan, Sanya

April 1st was the start of an amazing Tomb Sweeping break on the island of Sanya. The exact location is near the South China Sea by Taiwan. The weather was in the mid 80’s all week and humid! Everyone knows how much I love humidity! The island had clear blue skies and clean sea air. I was in heaven!

The hotel my friend and I stayed in was booked for a steal! $250 for six nights at a five star hotel seemed impossible, but dreams do come true. Our hotel included a private beach, pool, hammocks, breakfast, etc. The room itself had a balcony view of palm trees. As for the hotel workers, my friend and I always kept them entertained by using our body language to go places and ordering room service.

The people in Sanya were relatively nice and friendly. Only a tiny percentage of people spoke English, so I improved my Chinese because my friend’s Chinese was really poor. The taxi drivers were by far the coolest people I met on vacation because we would get lost most of the time. So all of us would make conversation in the cab. Visiting lower Sanya was the first time I experienced angry stares. The area in itself was filled with negative energy, so we decided never to go back down there. But ultimately the natives were very nice.

Nice taxi drivers show us a great time in Upper Sanya

During the vacation, I only wanted to relax, rest, and recharge my batteries because I was so busy in Beijing. So all I did was eat, sleep, exercise, go to the beach, and study by the pool. But during the weekend, I spent my nights exploring Hainan night life.

Food in Hainan was quite a hassle trying to find. The hotel supplied us with a map, but even that wasn’t helpful. My friend and I got lost so much! One evening we got lost at ten pm and the only nearby restaurant open was at the Sheraton hotel. I ordered a Chicago styled hot-dog ($14) and got hit on by old Norwegian steamboat racers. But once we got use to transportation, we ate out comfortably. Sanya has the freshest seafood I've ever eaten!

The most relaxing part of the trip was my friend’s birthday. I was cool with the hotel manager, so I asked him to prepare a birthday cake and send it to the room. He happily put in the request and afterwards helped me study Chinese. An hour later, a couple hotel staff came to our room and sang the Chinese happy birthday song. For the rest of the night, my friend and I ordered room service and watched movies on tv. It was such a chill night.

Lexi's birthday cake with whipped frosting, dragon fruit, apples, cantaloupe, and kiwi

My vacation came to an end after six days and I was ready to part ways with Sanya. Once we arrived at the airport at 9am, the flight was delayed twice. We finally took off at 10:50pm! In between the time, we checked back into our hotel and slept. After a medical emergency, two passengers getting sick, and experiencing the worst turbulence of my life, we landed in Beijing at 2:15am. I did not get back to my dorm until 4am because the line to get a taxi was really long. But a week of relaxation made me smile through the nightmare. 

Despite the torture coming back to Beijing, I am extremely grateful that I had the chance to spend my break in Hainan. Chilling on the beach and doing everything I wanted (which was absolutely nothing) helped me recharge my batteries. Midterms bring it on!

Shanghai Excursion

Let’s start from the beginning. My program and about 50 other ICB students accompanied us to Shanghai for a couple days. I made a few friends on the bus to the train station and we all were really rushed to make our train on time. When we got on the train, there were 6 bunks per sleeper cabin. The train ride was 15 hours to Shanghai and back. That’s more than my flight to Beijing! But it was fun because all I did was eat and bond with my fellow ICB students. I passed out in my bed and I only had 8 more hours on the train. 

Finally we arrived in Shanghai! My first impressions of Shanghai were that it was very green in terms of preserving their nature and it’s way more modern than Beijing. The food was alright tasting, but my stomach hated it. The weather was pretty and rainy, but not like the kind of rain that feels dirty in cities...the rain was cleaner. 

View of Shanghai

Modern Italian corner

Talking about modern, I never thought I'd live to see a Rolls-Royce which is my dream car. I just had to take a picture!

Just about to go into the China Art Museum

We traveled to the Pearl Tower to see all of Shanghai which was amazing. 

Waiting in line for the tower elevator

View from the pearl tower

After the Pearl tower tour

Generously giving a helping hand after a long trip to the tower

Shanghai nightlife~~ I met up with a mutual friend who lived in the city and he showed my friends and I one of the hottest clubs in Shanghai. M2 was packed, but not surprising for a Saturday night. That night I partied with some of my Chinese friends and made it back to the hotel before 1. Going to bed at 2, I needed to wake up at 8 for the next trip.

Also, we traveled to a water town outside of the city. That was an experience in itself because I did not have an umbrella. So I was umbrella hopping the entire time. The natives were humble and there were a lot of traditional clothes, artwork, and historical artifacts.

Enough said!~

Bumming some rain shelter from Jamaal

After being stuck in traffic for two hours going to the train station, the program treated us to KFC and we caught our train. The eating, drinking, and bonding continued, however, our teacher decided to have class so we could sleep in the next day. He gave us an assignment to talk with our ICB classmates about aspects of Chinese culture and report back. Once we completed class, I hung out with other students on the train. I actually went to sleep at a decent time but~~~~

On the slow train back to Beijing

There was an elder Chinese man in the bunk next to me and he snored SO loudly! I can usually drown it out with my iPod, but it was dead. My roommate let me use hers but J-pop couldn’t put me to sleep. So I only got three hours of sleep. I didn’t fall asleep until the elder man woke up to start his day (7:00am). 

I loved Shanghai and I was honestly a little disappointed to be back in Beijing, but I had a wonderful experience and made a ton of Chinese friends along the way. 

Straight A's...A Race to a Longevity of Academic Excellence

I definitely understand school much better overseas! This is my best semester so far because I feel like I can actually apply curriculum. I participate everyday, do readings, give the best presentations, and my teachers love me! In addition, the classroom environment has gotten much more interactive and I'm making friends with my Chinese classmates! Everything is looking up. It's a shame that it took going abroad to make me try harder in school, but this successful semester is pushing me to keep these good habits :)

The Night I Ate a Scorpion

The Beijinger is now my best friend. I get updated on all the cool things happening in Beijing from cooking class to art exhibits. But what really struck my interest were the Jazz lounges. A lounge called Temple was having a latin jazz/bossa nova night and it was free to attend. Even though it was a little out of the way, I was really looking forward to going with my roommate and our friends. In this town (forgot the name), there were many small shops with traditional Chinese clothes, dresses, toys, and anything else you can think of. When I say anything, I even mean the “strange” things. On the side of the street, we went to a street food vendor selling fried scorpion, locus, and silkworm. I told myself before leaving that I would NOT eat a scorpion. Well~~

It was actually pretty good after the fact. My other friends had silkworm and I just had to refuse. Gathering up the courage to eat a scorpions  was thrilling and exciting, however, I needed to get the salty taste out of my mouth! To Temple we go!

The latin jazz band surprised me and my other Chinese friends who have never heard of the genre before. It was a little rocky at first with technical difficulties, but the performance turned out well. My roommate and I even got out of our chairs to dance for a while! Overall, it was an exciting night and next time I’ll bring more friends.

The Chinese Version of Reggae

Area called Hohai

It’s quite...different. My friends from the program went out to a reggae lounge to listen to some live music. I was really looking forward to it! After three weekends of hard partying, I decided to slow down and take it easy. Lounges are perfect for relaxing because it isn’t an aggressive environment. 

 The reggae lounge band performed spanish guitar, middle eastern, and a total of two Bob Marley songs that night. I thought the combination was unusual, however I still enjoyed the music. The location of the lounge had similar shops as the location of the Temple Lounge, but no scorpions.

That was the best chill Friday night I’ve ever had in Beijing. I was home before 1am. I’m so proud!

Icey's Birthday Party

My friend from International College of Beijing (ICB) had a birthday party yesterday and it was so much food...I mean FUN! Me and nine other people headed to her parents house and the commute wasn’t too bad. Probably an hour and a half. Icey’s parents were incredibly welcoming to having a bunch of American’s in their home. It was fascinating being in a traditional Chinese house for the first time. Oriental and traditional art everywhere, real animal fur on chairs, etc. Her house was quite comfy. 

Birthday girl Icey

As you can see here, the food was DELICIOUS! We toasted and grubbed away! All of us had to take a 30 minute break to digest for the second round of food. Ahhh...I miss home cooking and it was nice to be surrounded by a family. My program family and Icey’s parents.

I just thought that couch looked fierce

The infamous Chinese hard liquor (stay away!!) 

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Nightlife for Three Weekends in a Row: My Experience

The first three weekends of my trip were spent enjoying the nightlife of Beijing: drinking (safely), going dancing, meeting new people, and living it up. However, after adapting to the city, I limited myself dramatically. No regrets. To be honest it just got really old after partying for three weekends in a row. 

Over by the university area, there is a region of Beijing called Wudaouko (Home to the Foreigners). There are numerous bars and three main clubs: Global, Club Wu, and Propaganda. 

So MANY Americans! I’d rather be around natives than Americans in a nightlife setting any time. Yes, I do run into some cool ones from time to time, but 80% I encounter the ones who are incredibly embarrassing and create a bad image for foreigners. Plus, I came to China to immerse myself, so I get frustrated sometimes. However, I get over it and don’t let it spoil my night.

After being tired of Wudaouko, my friends decided to have a fun girls night out in a further part of the city. I looked up a really popular club called Mix and its the only hip-hop music playing club in the city (as far as I know). So that day I went to the mall with my girls to buy a new dress and get our nails done. We were dolled up and ready! 

The cab dropped us off at one of the most luxurious clubs I’ve ever been to. So I thought, there’s no way this club is free even though a friend told us it was. However since all my girls were dressed to impress (ourselves!), we all got in for free. The drinks were expensive and the beer I ordered was expired! We were so disappointed by the prices, but we decided to stay. A couple of minutes later, a man came up to my friend and brought us all to VIP. The music was right, we all had great company with some Chinese people, and it was an amazing time. I even practiced my Chinese!

Great club, luxurious atmosphere, fun company, bumpin music, and awesome shooters. Now that was an amazing night!

Note: Beijing is a relatively safe place to drink because the alcohol is extremely watered down. I call that a plus!

Bottom-line, Beijing nightlife can be adventurous, thrilling, and even disappointing at times. However, unforgettable memories are made every time and that’s what makes my study abroad experience wonderful.