Happy 2012 everyone! According to the Mayan calendar, the world is going to end in eight months. If that is the case, you, my dear readers, have a lot of ground to cover in the short time you have left.
It's time for you to explore the world. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, you should probably go to China. Why? Because when you were a kid and you dug holes in your backyard, you thought that one day you would reach China. To us, China has always represented the other side of the world.
And now that the world is about to end, you might as well go see what all the fuss is about. Besides, if the Mayans are wrong, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a little Chinese — it will be a very useful skill to have when China becomes the new world superpower.
Coincidently (or not), I just returned from a trip to China. I've only been back in the States for a week, and I can still feel the impression that China left on me . . . or maybe that's just the jet lag, it's hard to tell.
All jokes aside, I was quite impressed by my experience in China, although I only visited two cities and clearly only scratched the surface; I'm sure that many more trips will be needed in order to better understand the enigma that is The People's Republic of China.
This article is about only one of those cities — Beijing, the capital. I will follow up with an article on Hong Kong in my next column.
I traveled to Beijing to visit my boyfriend who is studying abroad for the year at Peaking University taking Chinese classes. My first observation about China that I was able to make was actually not in China at all, but rather in Newark airport in New Jersey. The hundreds of people attempting to board the 13 and a half hour flight to Beijing were, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly Chinese.
This however, was not a normal boarding experience. Instead of waiting at their seats or in an orderly line for their row number to be called to board, all of the Chinese passengers flocked to the entrance of the flight. When my row number was called I had to battle with the masses in order to reach the front of the line. I was extremely put off until I realized that I was about to enter a country of over one billion people and that this was likely to be the norm.
My first day in Beijing was a cold, crisp, invigorating day. As I walked to breakfast, it actually began to snow.
My first stop of the day was at the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As I struggled along, slowly making my way up the uneven steps, I was amazed watching all of the Chinese women around me who were wearing heels.
Unfortunately, the physical exhaustion, combined with the endless people watching and the very slippery steps (no, they don't put sand down when it snows in China) took away from the feelings of awe that I was expecting.
We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. The whole menu was in Chinese, and no one working there spoke very good English, so I just told my boyfriend to order for me. It was quite amusing for me to hear him speaking a language so completely foreign to me, and when the waitress responded back, I was even more impressed (as was she) that he could actually carry on a conversation. The waitress quickly figured out that my boyfriend was skilled with all things Chinese, including chopsticks. She took mine away and brought me a fork. How embarrassing.
The next stop was the Summer Palace, whose name seemed very ironic with the snow falling around me. The site was breathtaking. Imagine a compound made up of many traditional Chinese buildings with beautiful colors, overlooking a lake.
On my second day in Beijing, I visited Tiananmen Square, the site of the 1989 protest where hundreds of people were killed. The Chinese government, and many of its citizens flatly deny that these killings took place. My boyfriend told me that he had asked some of his Chinese teachers about it. One of them said that they had a cousin who was killed, while another said that she didn't know what he was talking about.
Right next to Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City where the emperor used to live. To be frank, I found the summer palace to be much more interesting.
We spent the afternoon walking around the charming old neighborhood where we were staying. Away from all the skyscrapers, this neighborhood was filled with pedestrians and cute little shops. The Chinese love these cute little shops filled with animal hats, animal gloves, animal masks and animal bags, all of which are very "in" right now in Beijing. I did a little shopping in an attempt to fit in.
If you are interested in studying in Beijing, Hopkins vets multiple programs including Associated Colleges in China, CET and CIEE. You should also check out the China STEM program, a new summer programs that includes science, technology, engineering, medicine and Chinese language. And hurry — in case the Mayans are right!
