Visiting the Beijing Aquarium and Zoo was on my bucket list for studying in Beijing.  I always enjoy going to the Baltimore Aquarium so I wanted to see what Beijing’s was like.  Although I was very impressed with the aquarium, I was horrified at their zoo.  More on that later though. The aquarium is located…

I’ve been getting e-mails from my cousin Cindy about a care package in the mail.  It came a little later than expected (probably because of customs) but it made it!  I sat down on my dorm room floor to open the package and it was filled with letters!  I received not only a Thanksgiving card…

Every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset, the guards at Tiananmen Square perform the flag ceremony.  Hundreds of locals come everyday to this 2 minutes and 7 second ceremony.  Why 2 minutes and 7 seconds? That is the time is takes for the sun to completely rise over the horizon. Yesterday evening I…

You know when you go to a zoo or amusement park and they have those wooden pictures with the face cut out.  You can run behind and get a picture of your face on someone or something elses body! Well in Beijing the equivalent is a little different. We found these suspended upon a graffiti…

This year’s Thanksgiving was unlike any before.  To begin, I had class ON Thanksgiving.  Not only class but an exam, essay, and presentation.  I had a very light lunch to ensure that I would have enough room for the feast that the Alliance Program was preparing for us.  They rented out a whole restaurant because…

Direct quote from my professor’s e-mail: Eva, Your article is well written and organized, the font size  is smaller than I expect. It should be 12 point and times new roman prefered. Your grade: A+ Congratulation! Xiaohe —————————————————————————————————– I thought I wrote it in 12 point but whoooooooooo caressssssssss! A+ WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

On Saturday evening, I had the chance to go back stage before a performance of the famous Beijing Opera.  Although this performance was not professional- all the actors were very enthusiastic retirees.  The oldest performer was a 70 year old woman and she sang beautifully! We saw them applying the brightly colored make-up and costumes.…

ICE CREAM! This is my favorite brand of ice cream in China!  I eat it all the time because it’s like 6 ice creams-in-one! Yum, yum! Raspberry filling! COOKIE CRUMBS UP NEXT! All finished!

On Sunday, our program took us into Beijing to visit a four story mall filled with tea.  As you stepped through the glass doors, a wave of fresh aromas greeted you.  We walked through the hundreds of stalls to find a nice salesperson to let us taste some tea. This woman was very kind and…

I ate a starfish! Wangfujing is a small little alley filled with amazingly weird food.  A small group of us adventured there on Saturday to shop and see the strangeness in person.  We turned down the alley and were immediately met with live scorpions on sticks! Their little legs were still moving too! Farther down…