The Great Wall

THE Great Wall of China. I was there. What a great way to top the study abroad experience. I feel like I've done it all now.

In the pictures do you see the green pants?! Well it was a double-dare from my older sister. She sent me a box with the pants and a note saying that I have to wear the pants and take pictures. lol So why not go above-and-beyond and wear them on The Great Wall?! I hope I'm never to old to complete double-dog-dares.

Alex, Heidi, Elizabeth and I (all Lingnan students) went out to dinner at this REALLY good restaurant that Heidi's parents suggested we go to. They also paid for the feast=double great. The food consisted of lamb kabab, lemon chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood, and bread. Then they brought all sorts of performs from kungfu demonstrations to hip-hop dance. The night ended with a dance party. Elizabeth summed it up perfectly, "You know in movies sometimess everyone breaks into a musical or dance at the same time?! I can't believe that actually happens in real life too."

Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Once we found our hostel (it was a relief after walking around an hour+ with our bags) we showered and met up with my friend Jessica Li's cousin for Beijing's finest, PeKing duck. Wow. It was SO good!


The following day I cruised around the city and toured the Forbidden City (which btw goes on and on and on...)
and Tiananmen Square. AHH words can't describe how it felt to 'walk the walk' where the 1989 protestors stood. Chills just thinking about it! As much as I hate admitting this, I couldn't stop thinking, "I can't wait to show these pictures and tell these stories to my class." DANG IT! I try so hard to dodge being a teacher (change major, refuse to buy teachery clothes,...) but sometimes I just can't help it!

Beijing...oh Beijing.

Going into China's capital I had the preconceived notion that, "Oh Beijing will be soooo much like Hong Kong because *flick hair* like they're like both big cities in China." Umm no.

Sometimes I wonder about myself. DUH BECKY being under British rule for 90+ years changes a LOT of things. For starters, they drive on the right side of the road, have religious freedom, and the food is much spicier (yes!).

But I also noticed other little things that were much different then Hong Kong like seeing trash on the ground or (gasp!) homeless people sleeping in the subway station. What is this?! Can it be, a normal mega-metropolitan city?! (Ok you won't get these notions till you've lived in Utopia (aka Hong Kong) where you find no trash on the ground and it's a rare site to see homeless people anywhere.

Arrival:
My flight landed in Beijing about 3pm and after getting my very last travel passport stamp for this semesters study abroad experience (sad face), checked out my bags, and headed for the doors, I suddenly heard out of no where, "Becky!" God?! "Becky!" I look around and then see Alex and Heidi waiting for me. LOL Their flight arrived at 10ish and the 'took one for the team' and waited on me so I wouldn't get lost. Thank goodness they did because Heidi, a Mandarin speaker, was able to get us around the city with ease. We caught bus #2 and had a map of our hostel that was "Just a six minute walk from The Tien. Square". Riiiight The 6 minutes turned into an hour hunt.

First night:
Ok there are some things you just shouldn't do traveling on your own. One of them is staying in a dorm room in a hostel by yourself. Usually it's a safe and fun bet to save money. As Michelle Carrier says, "The shadier the hostel the better the stories."
Anyways, so I think I'm staying in a 8 person dorm room with bunk beds. I was shocked to walk into a room with three beds and two of them taken up by men (28+ year olds). It gets better. "So how did you two meet?" "The internet." "Well what brought you to Asia?" "The beautiful girls."
ugh. WHY??? I thought I saw the last of you creepy Western men.
Dear Asia,
I promise we do have solid men somewhere.
But mom don't worry because if I really didn't feel safe I would have spent the extra $4 bucks to get a double room by myself.

Other random things: I wish I spoke the language. It's much harder to get around and (obviously) communicate with locals. Also, people weren't kidding about the spitting problem. yuck. Construction is everywhere and they're pumped for the Olympics.

Minute update

Ugh I hate when I slack on blogging. Where do I begin on updating you on the last 2 weeks?!
Here is the 4-1-1 in a second: I finished my exams. I headed to Beijing. I packed up my room and headed on a jet plane. I'm back in the USA.

Exam Time -huh-

9:30am I had my very first final examination and was shocked to walk into the test area filled with 150+ chairs with assigned seats. “Please put your student ID in the right corner of your desk and place your personal items under your desk.” Whoa they’re serious. “It’s 9:30 you may now begin.” Oh great, the ACT all over again.

Surprisingly Exam 1, England History, went pretty well. We’ve already established that I’m a nerd so I have no shame in telling you that I enjoyed answering the final essay. I went to town on the sucker! Henry VII, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Charles I & II ain't got nothin’ on me. Shooooot.

I actually finished the exam one hour before the time was up which is huge in Becky Lovell world because I’m usually one of the last ones out due to my dad drilling me to double check my tests when I was younger.

I left the exam room thinking, you know I actually enjoyed this class and I learned a lot.
I wish I could have said the same for Exam #2 of the day, History of Islamic Society, at 6:30. I was doomed from the beginning, poor studying, and lack of concern, had me in. But I was also frustrated over the exam questions, especially the final essay worth 51% of the grade. Riddle me this: How has the West changed its viewpoint on Islam since World War I. (Ok those weren’t the exact words, yada yada, but it was something very close) It angered me because:
1. How can you answer that sort of 'since World War I' question in 5-7 paragraphs?
2. How can you generalize the “West” and “Islam” in such broad terms?

I left the exam room nearly shaking in anger. Relax Becky. About to explode, I took out my frustration on the school’s swimming pool till it closed.

Exam numero 3 is manana then I'm heading off to have a farewell dinner with the gals I went to Thailand with.

Rummikub

This past weekend I went to the KIBC youth retreat. The original plan was to go camping outside but due to the rain we rerouted plans and ended up camping out in the church. Bring on the board games ladies and gentlemen! When I opened up the games cabinet and saw the game Rummikub I screamed SWEET! You've gotta be a Tate (my mom's side of the family) to understand this excitement because my Great Grandmother is a Rummikub fanatic and every time we get together we play rounds of really competitive Rummikub.

But playing with the teens made me realize just how competitive I was. I said things like, “Oh no you can’t go down with a wild.” “Actually do you mind color coding that please?” “Well once you draw you can’t play it.” These are legit rules but they DIDN’T CARE AT ALL! lol I wasn’t used to this let’s just play for fun mindset.

I was so competitive and strict on the rules that by the end of the night no one wanted to play with me. Ouch.