Today was my last day in Beijing, and I was battling a lot of different emotions as I left our dorms and headed to the airport. A part of me missed my family, my dog, and the familiar smell of cheeseburgers. However, a part of me recalled all of the hard times and the amazing memories that this country has given me. I began to feel a rush of emotions as I hugged Emma, our beloved friend from the University of Pennsylvania, the same girl who dyed her hair blue and bravely ate live scorpions. I felt the same rush when I bought my last mango ice cream from the convenience store that we went to every single day, and as I was packing my luggage, every object reminded me of a specific memory, whether it was bargaining at one of the markets or buying something from a street vendor. It was an unforgettable eight weeks, and I’ve been so fortunate to have this experience, to meet some of the most amazing people, and to have a more authentic perspective of China.

Before going to the airport, one of my instructors, Hu Laoshi, treated me to a pizza dinner and to coffee right after. As we were eating, I asked him why he chose to be a teacher, and his response left me feeling inspired. He told me that he chose to teach because he learned as much from his students as they learned from him. Exchanging different opinions and perspectives with his students, who came from all walks of life, inspired him to become a better teacher. I related to his response because I strongly believe that building perspectives around authentic and immersive experiences lead us to become more empathetic and aware as students. I’ve corrected a lot of preconceived notions that I had upon coming to China, and I feel as if I am leaving this country with a motivation to continue gaining these authentic experiences and learning more about the world.

I have a week to rest before I continue my Chinese studies at Notre Dame, but being in China has transformed the way I learn and retain the language. I am interested in seeing how this change exactly goes about once I start class. For example, speaking with local residents really heightened my sense of how colloquial Chinese is spoken, and I am finally more comfortable with presenting speeches and engaging in basic conversations. This was such a rewarding experience, and I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity to not only learn about a unique country, but also learn more about myself in the process.

Peking University has been gracious enough to host the NDiB (Notre Dame in Beijing) students in its international student dorm complex, known as PKU Global Village.  In my opinion, the accommodations were very nice (even better than some Notre Dame dorms) and it was very convenient to walk from the dorms to our classroom building.  I took the first picture from a pedestrian overpass that connects Global Village to the main campus.  And, as you can see, the skies are sometimes blue!  The Global Village includes a few convenience stores, some restaurants, and even an underground gym.

Fengshui fountain

Busy work-station

Seven weeks flew by so quickly and it feels like I arrived at Beijing International Airport just yesterday. The last weekend led my friends and I feeling bittersweet, but we made the most out of it. We had already gone to a lot of places, so we decided to fill our weekend activities with things we haven’t done yet like visiting the Temple of Heaven, Wangfujing Snack Street, Old Summer Palace, and the Capitol Museum.

My friend, JJ, had one last mission in Beijing and that was to eat a scorpion, so we took the trek to Wangfujing Snack Street and was pleasantly surprised to find squirming scorpions lined up on a stick. I could barely look at it without cringing inside, so I was so amazed when Emma bravely got a stick of scorpions, took out its tail, and grabbed a pair of chopsticks. Her last words were, “When in China, do what the Chinese do.” JJ followed after Emma, but as he was about to eat the scorpions, a bunch of Chinese people crowded around him in awe and took pictures. It wasn’t the first time JJ had a bunch of people take pictures of him, but it was an interesting sight to see a crowd cheering him on as he was fulfilling his last mission.

I had not visited the Old Summer Palace, so on Sunday, I decided to go around 6 p.m. My other classmates told me that it was just a big park and was not worth going to, so I had very little expectations. However, when I arrived and saw the willow trees dip down into a reflective lake with giant Water Lilies crowding its surface, I was in awe of the beauty around me. The best part was the sunset, and for the first time in Beijing, I forgot that there was air pollution and just watched the splashes of orange paint the sky over the lake.

I definitely think this last weekend summed up my experiences in China so well. I had the opportunity to do (and watch) crazy things, explore the most known and unknown places in Beijing, and find beauty in the most unexpected places. It is a bittersweet feeling knowing that I only have a couple of days left; I am ready to return home and to Notre Dame but I also wish I had one more weekend in China to learn and explore.

After coming back from Xi’An, everything is back to the regular routine again.  Class is pretty manageable, and I’m still finding time to do other activities in the city and visit the places I want to go.  Recently I took a trip to two very famous markets; the Pearl Market and the Silk Market.  These are unlike anywhere I have ever been in the U.S.  Infamous for their fake name brand goods, it would be completely ridiculous to go to one of these places without bargaining.  The initial price that someone there will ask for is generally several times what they are willing to settle for.  I actually really enjoy going to these places, not just because of the cheap prices that one is able to get. Although I was able to get a good amount of gifts for family members here, what I really enjoy is talking to the people there.  I will often at the same time as bargaining talk to the workers about everything from where they come from to which country tends to have the most annoying bargainers.  It is actually an excellent way to practice Chinese.  Sometimes I feel as though my greatest progress in terms of language comes after going to a place like this and just talking to people.  The people who work at places like this are also always thrilled to see a foreigner taking an interest in learning Chinese. I can’t believe that I’ve already been here over a month.  The feeling is somewhere between a mix between I’ve been here forever, and I got here yesterday.

Marking the halfway point of our time in China, we took a weekend trip as a class to the city of Xi’An.  Everything was very interesting, even the train ride over there was something to remember.  Lasting about 11 hours, I was in a relatively small room with 4 beds and 6 people.  Although it wasn’t the most comfortable night’s sleep, I was able to make friends with some young kids and their parents.

In Xi’An, we of course visited the city’s most famous attraction, the Terracotta Soldiers. The Terracotta Army was built according to the command of Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Built in the 3rd century BC, it remains one of the most greatest wonders of China. It was awe-inspiring to see the lines of thousands of soldiers, each with a unique face, each with its own uniform and weapon. One could only imagine the countless hours of expert work taken to create such a detailed display. The feeling of amazement was tinted by sadness for the incredible mistreatment of those who worked on the soldiers, all of whom were killed afterwords in order to maintain secrecy.

Among the other things we did was a bike trip along the city wall and attend a performance of a classic Chinese poem and piece of history, “The Song of Eternal Regret.”  Everything was very enjoyable and was a good way to split up the time in Beijing.  Afterwards, I am ready to continue studying.

My time in China has come finally come to an end. With only less than three days left till I fly back to the states, I realize how time has flown by this summer in China.

Last Friday night, we had a celebration to mark the end of this program. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it that much but during it and afterwards I realized it was a good time and seeing the slideshow of everywhere we went in China was a good way to show everyone the amount of memories we actually made here. At the event, basically all the students did a performance that was anywhere from hula dancing to performing an impromptu skit of our class where everyone played a different person. We even got out of doing some homework by performing.

During my last real weekend in Beijing I was also able to go to some not so touristy places. One of my teachers recommended to me that I go and visit some hu tongs, which are tight alleys that depict what life was primarily like in traditional Beijing. My teacher even gave me some specific ones to visit. The first thing I did, though, on Saturday was visit the Temple of Heaven, a famous temple in Beijing where ancient Chinese went to pray to heaven for good harvest. This attraction was basically a giant park with various buildings used by the Chinese and is one of the most famous sites in Beijing. After this, though, we still had a lot of time left in the day so we ventured to some of these hu tongs. The place we went to on Saturday was 前门大街，which translates to front gate street. This makes sense since this place is located at where the front gate of the Beijing city wall used to be before it was torn down. It is also right in front of Tiananmen Square. The primary roads of this area are basically big shopping centers with various shops and restaurants. They also call these hu tongs but its not until you walk deeper into the area that you run into the real hu tongs. It is not uncommon in these places to see every man without a shirt on and people playing Chinese Chess on the street.

A section of 前门大街

A group of people playing Chinese chess near a hu tong, ironically because that was one of the topics we had just studied in class

On Sunday, we went to a similar place called 南锣鼓巷 but had some more modern stores and restaurants. I think these paces were definitely worth seeing because they were sites Chinese people actually go to and there wasn’t tourists everywhere I looked.

As I look back on my time in China, I am glad I came and hopefully I can come back again, next time with my Chinese language skills even higher.