I am quite relieved it’s Friday. I’ve been preparing non-stop for my first Chinese exam and I think it went pretty well.  I stayed up very late last night studying and woke up early to review a bit more.  After the exam, I celebrated by taking a 2.5 hour nap!

My roommate, a friend, and I decided to spend the afternoon in Xidan. I am falling in love with China’s subway system.  It’s very easy to navigate even when you have to transfer 3 times.  Xidan is close to Tienanmen Square and has many American and Chinese shops.  My friend Erica pointed out that the more expensive stores trying to target foreigners will use non-Asian models in their advertisements while stores aimed at the everyday Beijinger will mainly use Asian models.

We first explored a very, very large mall.  I was amazed at how familiar most of the stores were. From Starbucks to H&M, they had everything!

3-4 levels of brightly lit stores with music blaring out their doors was exciting and overwhelming! However, to me, this is not China.  This is China being influenced by Westerners and their interests.  The same clothes I saw in H&M in Philly I saw in China.  Even after converting Yuan to USD, the prices were almost identical.  Although I enjoyed window shopping, we soon crossed the street and entered a Chinese shopping mall.

Both shopping centers look similar but this one was definitely aimed at marketing to Beijingers.  All the brands were new to me and I had fun just looking around.  The jewelry was bright and colorful, the clothes were cute, and the shoes had a little traditional style to them.  I ended up in a little convenience shop purchasing a much needed coffee mug and water bottle.  Unfortunately, the water bottle I bought in Qianmen formed rust on the inside.  That’s what I get for buying a very inexpensive metal water bottle.  At least I saw the rust before I drank out of it!

Tomorrow we are taking a trip to the Forbidden City and visiting Jingshan Park. Be on the look out for more pictures!