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Caucasian 6 foot 4 inches Rhode Islander going to studying in China his Fall semester Junior year of college. Full of anxiety and excitement, follow me through this personal adventure! Contact me: enorman@bryant.edu

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Random Thoughts at a Stop Light

 I was on my bike waiting for a light to change the other day when my mind started thinking. This in and of itself is nothing new, my mind tends to get the better of me from time to time but this process of thoughts hit me harder than I could have expected. What feels like months in a new country has actually only been one, plus a few weeks. Yet, I know the streets around my campus and even the subway system better than I know my way around back home. Sitting waiting for the walk light to flash it's neon green hue I catch a waif of the faint scent of cigarette, something I have grown to expect and take hand in hand with China; a smell, while not exactly pleasant, will always return my thoughts to memories from this experience. As I wait the lights of the open air rotary begin to flicker on, then the ones above Wal-Mart, then one by one the rest of 五角场 (Wu Jiao Chang), the local shopping plaza. My time here is limited, and yet there is still so much to explore, so much to experience, so much to.....the light turns green and the street corners jolt to life. These thoughts will be put on hold to another day, time to bike home.
五角场 in the daytime, I'll take a more neon filled one and edit this post with it later

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Beijing Photo Dump

Just a random collection of photos from Beijing
 

China Froyo
Outside the Forbidden City



Yao Ming, looking large on the subway ad







Me, Juan, and Tuan, the Bryant Beijing students








10 Yuan will get you a lot of street meat










Celebrity status on the great wall








Temple of Heaven, no idea why the picture looks like this





The end of Golden Week



Me, Tuan, Jason, and Jake just posing
Me on the Great Wall
As I lay in bed this rainy Monday, the morning slowly drifting into afternoon, I feel now is an appropriate time to reflect on the events of something I had no prior knowledge of before coming to China, Golden Week. Golden week is the first week of October that is dubbed a national holiday, where for the most part, the people of China have no work, no classes, and no worries. The same applies to us international students as well. A group of 8 students in the IES program (myself, Jason, Melissa, Tuan, Juan, Yee, Liz, and Drew) decided to spend the week being tourists and take the high speed train up to Beijing. Easily, hands down, one of the best choices we could have made. Our vacation included everything we could have hoped for, a visit to The Great Wall, The Temple of Heaven, the Olympic Village, The Forbidden City, a Buddhist temple overlooking the Forbidden City, even the Beijing Zoo on a rather relaxed day. Coming back to Shanghai, seeing these spots on advertisements and being able to think, I've seen that is a great feeling. We truly had the Beijing experience, especially being a part of Chinese rush hour on the trains and subways. In a way I'm glad to say I was a part of the mob of people that you often see in funny videos of YouTube, the ones of people being pushed into trains and such. At that moment I felt less like a tourist or foreigner and just a person heading home. Regardless though, Golden Week, Beijing, this whole week has been amazing. If I can make one suggestion to anyone reading this blog, it is to go outside your comfort zone. I started to get comfortable in Shanghai in my room, I decided to push that boundary. I traveled to a new area, stayed in a hostel (a surprisingly pleasant experience) in a room with 8 people I've known for about a month. I left with great friends, great pictures, and memories and experiences that I would not be able to find anywhere else. I never though it could happen to me, but it has, so I know it can happen to anyone.
Jake and the Forbidden City
The night market gets a little crowded
Want to eat a bug? The night market is for you!
Our head chef Melissa, and Tuan's head
Our last meal at Beijing, delicious
Giant panda having a nap at the zoo
Jason, Tuan, and Juan braving the deep fried scorpion



Jake is quite the traveler, The Great Wall, The Temple of Heaven, and The Bird's Nest!


The bullet train called so for good reason