Slowly the days wound down until we found ourselves at our last night in Shanghai. Just one thing about Shanghai, it’s one of the most amazing cities in the world. I’d done a lot of wandering throughout the city and everyday I’d find something amazing. From Nanjing Road to the East Side of the city, to the nightlife  and everything in between, Shanghai was definitely not lacking in beauty and wonders. On our last night there, we had our farewell dinner with many of Xinli’s friends and it was a great time. Afterwards when we got back to the hotel, we decided to go out to the Bund River one last time and take pictures to remember. That’s what we did and it was fantastic. On the walk back to our hotel, I got to ride a moped. I was super hype because it was on my bucket list and I got to check it off my last night. It was like a taxi service but a moped instead of a car. The owner tried to offer us rides but I told him I wanted to actually ride it and eventually he let me. It was truly a night to remember.

Squad

Today we visited Xinli’s hometown. It was a small village named Hongqing that was a couple miles away from Huangshan. It was a good break from all the city life we’d been exposed to for most of the trip. We got there and went to Xinli’s house. There we met his sister and got to look around the place. It was really unique realizing that this was where Xinli grew up. He went from here and ended up as a professor at one of the best universities in the world. We stayed at the house and relaxed for a little bit and then Xinli showed us around his village. We walked all the way to the outskirts of the village where the mountains were and then returned to the village square. There, we got to interact with some of the villagers and children and played games with them. The villagers were extremely nice and welcoming and it was just a wonderful sensation to be able to experience their home. After this, we gathered at the main house where they had cooked us home made dinner. I truly felt blessed that they went through the trouble of making such a big feast for us, people that they had never met before yet they gave us the best they had to offer. We enjoyed the meal and then mingled around a while longer. Finally, it was time for the fireworks show. Chinese fireworks were everything and more than I had ever expected. Honestly, I felt like I was in a scene in a movie. All the fireworks went off with the occasional few that would stray off and come blow up near us, causing much panic and excitement. During the really big fireworks, it started raining and in my opinion it just made the night even better. The fireworks were going off as we ran in the rain back to our bus with mud splashing everywhere. It was just one of those moments where you feel so lively and have to just enjoy it and take it all in. This was a truly unforgettable night and I will always cherish the memory of that night.

Rice paddies

Farm life

Throughout the course of our trip, we traveled a lot. This was to be expected because we visited about 8 different cities. First, and probably the most obvious, were the big tour buses that would carry the 40-something of us throughout the cities where we were staying. In addition to that though, we also flew twice to different parts of the country. Our first flight was from Dalian to Xian and the second one was from Chongqing to Hangzhou. Going on these flights were unique experiences because we got to experience the domestic Chinese airports in the different cities. We also had two 10+ hour train rides. The first of these was from Beijing to Dalian and it was overnight on the soft sleeper trains. This was my first time on a train with beds and it was quite a trip. As the name suggests, it was a very smooth ride and when I went to bed I slept like a baby. Our other train ride however was during the day and it didn’t have enough soft sleepers for our whole group. Because of this, myself and 25 or so other students volunteered to stay in the hard sleepers. Instead of the four enclosed bed compartments that were in the soft sleepers, the hard sleepers had 6 beds and there was no door to close off the beds from the walking aisle. The beds weren’t really hard, it was just a little more crowded. I probably enjoyed this more than the soft sleepers however because all of us were closer together so in a way, we were all forced to be social in each other’s company. It was fun though and we told many stories to pass the time. On top of the very long train rides, we also got to experience the High Speed Rail from Shanghai to Suzhou; this was a cool experience because the train was going about 200 mph but it was so smooth you barely noticed. Then there was probably the best traveling experience we had, which was the cruise we took through the Yangtze River. Going down the river was great, and we learned a lot about the Three Gorges Dam, which is the biggest dam in the world, in the process. Each day we were on the cruise, we had some form of excursion where we would visit the nearby towns and learn the history of where we were. On the second day, our excursion was to get on smaller ferry boats and we sailed through the Wu Gorge and witness its breathtaking beauty. On top of these major travel options, we also did a lot of exploring on our own in the different cities. There were many taxis and I was also able to experience the subway system in Shanghai.

Cruising down the Wu Gorge

Today we visited the China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing. It’s a partner school that we have in China and each school sends a few of their students to the other for internships and other learning opportunities. This was our first visit to a foreign school and no one was really sure of what to expect. When we got there, we went through the formalities of the introductions and so on and then the fun stuff began. They let us wander about the university and talk to the students from the different school. My informal tour guide was a student there whose name was Man Xiaochen. He was a really fun guy and he would say “you know that right” a lot. I loved this part of the trip the most because I feel like I really got to know a foreign student on a personal level and see all the things we had in common. He showed me around the different college campuses that were all in that area and told us about his life and his family. It was truly an eye-opening experience. Here I was at a school halfway across the world, and the story of the students there were almost identical to mine. I feel like this is one of the times where I was most immersed in the culture during my time abroad. After our tour, we went back to their cafeteria where they served us lunch and prior to that I also got to try my hand at Chinese calligraphy.

Abdoul… My copy is on the left

So today, we visited the Great Wall. Prior to this, Xinli kept telling us how difficult it would be to climb it but I don’t think anyone actually understood to the full extent what he was talking about. It’s one of those thing s that you just have to experience for yourself. So we got there and thought it was all fun and games until we got to around the 10th tower, then we started feeling it. If you think you’re fit, I challenge you to climb the Great Wall and you’ll get your answer. It’s not for the faint of heart, just the steps were crazy. One would be 2 inches high and then the next one is 2 feet. After making it to the top, climbing down was a whole other struggle. Going down was probably more difficult that going up because our legs were already sore and trembling. Sometimes it felt like they were about to give out, especially on the really steep steps.

After the Great Wall we got lunch and then went to visit the Bird’s Nest, where much of the events from the Beijing Olympics happened. The concourse was amazing, the whole place was huge. I feel as though China is obsessed with making the biggest things. Me and a couple people climbed all the way to the very top seat to see the full view of the stadium. On the way back to the bus afterwards, we lost Brian!

When you illegally climb up to a tower…

Views from the Bird’s Nest