last day in China

I asked Mollie if she had anything to say on the blog:
Hmm, I don't know. Words are escaping me, much like my yuan.

Today is our last day in China. However, the sadness is never ending (especially in my stomach). Today we fly to Hawaii. Unfortunately we leave at 5:30 am and in Tokyo we have a 4 hour layover, gross. But then it's Hawaii and warmness and no more work (besides catching up on my journal). The paper and test for Van's class were pretty harsh without him, but I'll pass the class and it's over now. I have learned that I am a pretty damn good bargainer here in China, so take me on your next visit here.

I just found out my rooming assignment for this year. Because I am not a guy and the guys have now filled up upper campus, I was screwed. So I'm in Andreen 213, which if I remember correctly is right next door to my room from last year, but I am with Mollie and at least maybe I will be able to make freshman friends.

Beijing has been fairly laid back besides all of the homework. We went to the zoo and saw adorable pandas, but the rest of the housing for the animals made us sad. But I like Beijing and I am sad to be leaving tomorrow. I guess it's good news for all of you though... I'll be back in Illinois in less than a week.

East Asian term is almost over...

So we just arrived at our last stop in China... Beijing! Reasons I am happy to be in Beijing:

1) One step closer to the things I miss in life like cheese and cranberry juice.
2) No more long bus rides from one city to another.
3) It's the capital city of China!

Reasons I despise being in Beijing right now:

1) Tomorrow we have a test. Tuesday we have a project due. Wednesday we have a paper due. Thursday we have a final. And there will be no reviews (reference down further in the blog for this).
2) This is the LAST place we will visit in Asia.
3) I will feel strange not being with these people every day soon.

Anyway, first and most important piece of news for those who haven't heard... Van had a heart attack. He has stayed back with Ma Laoshi and his family is flying in tonight to be with him. He will not be joining us again and this means that we have lost our history teacher. We don't get little history lessons at important historic sites and we do not get a review for the exam or feedback on our papers (I turned in my rough draft to him just one day too late)... so my grade is kind of screwed. It also means we have lost our art teacher for the time being and will not get feedback on work for our art project. Overall, the situation is lousy for everyone. And pretty terrible for Van in general.

On the plus side, the most exciting thing so far in China (probably) happened today. We climbed the great wall! And I mean climbed too... we walked it, we jogged it, and we climbed it. It was pretty intense. Most of us went the way that has more of the original wall (has not been repaired for walking tourists yet) so it wasn't just strenuous stone steps the entire way. The wall is amazing though.

Also, pictures on my camera may be working from the great wall on... we'll see. I might have figured out how to avoid it deleting them on me. Of course, it is relatively late to help me much at this point.

We have done lots of great things lately like the Summer Palace in Chengde and the countryside in Yan'an, but the constant/daily bus rides have taken their toll on me. And work is catching up too quickly. I'm just hoping I'll have enough free time in Beijing. I want to go to the zoo (to see pandas... xiong mao), see some Beijing Opera, and do some shopping.

Honolulu is soon though, and I think we will all be ready to relax. I plan to sleep a lot and maybe read something good as well (no more articles about tropical soils in the guidebook). But I do not want to go home. Sorry guys.

moving through China quickly

Hey everyone! So the reasons we haven't written on this for a while is because internet is harder to come by and we have a lot less free time. Plus, just so you know, we can't see the actual blog (which means we can't read your comments) because it is a restricted site here in communist China. Anyway we're spending our day here in Yan'an right now and tomorrow we head back to Xi'an. I think all we have left is Luoyang, Chengde, and Beijing before we head off to Hawaii.

Mostly every place has been great and we got to hang out with Cori and Nick in Wuhan. Time, however, is coming to a close and I think I can speak for all of us writing on this blog (except for Mollie, because she doesn't have a class) that the rest of history will be very hectic. It is definitely a really challenging class considering the fact that we have little time to do our homework minus bus rides which make me sick anyway.

I'm kind of sad that we missed the gorgeous part of autumn since we went straight from hot summer to the end of autumn when everything is dead. And my stomach is not agreeing with all of the food here or the copious amounts of caffience, but despite all of the things to complain about here, I do love China.