This One Time When my Flight was Delayed...

The last week in Beijing crept up on us after the May Day holiday (which I spent alternately doing school visits for my research project and watching movies with friends in the lounge) and then hit us with full force as we realized that all of our final papers and exams were due in a span of five short days. My finals week in China was hands-down the most stressful finals week I have ever had, mostly due to the massive amount of papers I was assigned to write, but I managed to survive with no permanent damage (excepting a little sleep deprivation) and with just enough energy to enjoy my last few days abroad.

The Beijing Center hosted a Closing Ceremony to commemorate our experience in China towards the end of finals week, and so I took a break from paper writing to dress up a little and basically stuff my face with free food. It was actually a really nice opportunity to gather collectively with everyone from the Beijing Center before everyone started leaving on various flights over the next few days.

(Why am I so tall?)

All the Chinese roommates!

 Finals week came to a close, and after a night of camping on the Great Wall, our group of American students and our Chinese friends and roommates all went out together to dually celebrate a friend's birthday and our last time together in Beijing. We went to an archery place, and tried our skills shooting arrows at targets, and once that got old, we went out to get drinks at this rooftop restaurant/bar nearby.

 

Anyone know how to say "cheese!" in Chinese?

 Our flight was the next afternoon. My roommate made us pancakes for breakfast and we sat on my overstuffed suitcase chatting and marveling at how fast the semester had flown by. The Chinese roommates loaded us onto the bus after many hugs and goodbyes, and we were on our way to the airport and back to America. Or so we thought.

My roommate's pancakes!

We had plenty of time at the airport to get through security, eat lunch, and find our flight, and after spending a few hours at the airport, we finally boarded our plane and prepared for what we knew would be a long flight. I was with eight other friends who were on the same flight as me, and we all had seats near each other. We settled into our seats and waited...and waited...and waited. At least an hour passed with our plane just sitting in the runway going nowhere. It was about at this point that we began to suspect that something was wrong. Finally, a flight attendant informed us what was going on via the intercom. "I'm very happy to announce-" the heavily accented voice paused for a moment before amending his statement: "I'm very sorry to announce that we will not be taking off today" (cue the exclamations of surprise and complaint). Our flight was going to be delayed for a whole day due to electrical problems on the plane.

I had just spent the last five months in China and I was really looking forward to going home. Add that to the fact that I was still pretty sleep deprived from a crazy last week, I was tired of dragging my luggage all over creation, and I really had no idea where I was going to end up for the next 24 hours, and this should have been a really distressing situation for me. But, perhaps because five months in China really had taught me a lot about learning to take things as they come (and to be prepared for the random, weird situations that will inevitably occur), I wasn't really that upset. I was also incredibly grateful to be traveling with friends and not on my own. The one last (unexpected) night in China was just a continuation of the crazy, unusual, spontaneous situations that I had been experiencing over the past semester. In a way, it was just the kind of plot twist that I should have expected.

The airline took care of us and set us up at a five-star hotel near the airport. They shuttled us there on a bus, and we were checked in and fed a late dinner. I was actually a little excited to have a fancy hotel room all to myself. I of course acted extremely sophisticated (okay, okay I may have jumped on the bed...) but mostly I just ended up passing out after a long day of cavorting around the airport.

My fancy hotel room (prior to the bed-jumping)

I woke up in time for breakfast the next morning (because fancy hotel breakfast is one of the best things ever) and we were checked out and loaded onto the bus with all our luggage (and maybe some contraband peanuts from the mini-bar). Everyone cheered when our plane lifted off the ground that afternoon. With one last unexpected China adventure behind us, we were finally headed home.

Jenny's Guide to Touring the Great Wall

I am finally back home in good ol' Illinois. After a small adjustment period in which I

became reaquainted with the wonders of speedy internet, fast food drive-thrus, and forks, and had to remind myself that everyone around me did, in fact, speak the English language, I believe I am now back to normal life in America. But I haven't forgotten about my adventures, and I thought I'd finish up this record of my time abroad, just so it will finally be complete!

So going from where I left off...
I visited the Great Wall of China twice while I was abroad. The first time I went with the Chinese roommates via a campus run event, so transportation, tickets, and everything was already taken care of and basically our only concern was exploring. We visited Mu Tian Yu, a portion of the Wall that has been pretty extensively restored and is pretty touristy as a result.

How to describe the Great Wall? Well besides the eye-rolling remark that it was 'pretty great,' I have to say that walking the Great Wall and taking in the incredible views felt like one of the most characteristically "Chinese" moments I had while in China. This is probably because the Great Wall is basically the classic symbol of China, but it really is an exciting experience to go and see something so romanticized for the first time in person and see how your impressions of it compare. The Great Wall was a lot like I expected it to be, except for the fact that there are a lot more stairs than the pictures would make you believe! And not just like little steps, but odd, uneven steps that occasionally got so steep that we were all but climbing up them! We spent a few hours exploring the nooks and crannies of the Great Wall and appreciating the views, and then headed back down to catch the bus.

 

Stairs...so we meet again.

I'll be honest, I was feeling pretty cool at this point.

The second time I visited the Great Wall was a bit more eventful. The very last weekend before we were scheduled to leave China, four friends and I planned to go camping on the Great Wall. This last weekend came trailing in after an exhausting finals week, but we were adamant about making the most of our last few days, so literally an hour after I sent in my last final, we hurriedly stuffed our backpacks, made a quick run to 7-11 to stock up on snacks, and headed out of the city to the Great Wall.

Now, technically being on the wall after dark is illegal, but of all the thousands miles of wall, there are places which are relatively easy to gain access to at night. Our destination was an unrestored part of wall (what is known as the "wild wall"), which was basically completely open and unpatrolled. Getting there was a process; We took the subway, then a bus, then a taxi, which dropped us off at the base of the wall. Given our late start (thanks to finals) by the time we got there it was about nine o'clock at night.

In summary: We were in a remote part of China. It was the middle of the night. There wasn't a lot of civilization around. It was dark. We did not pack flashlights. None of us had any idea where we were really going.

And so, given the circumstances, we did what any intelligent group of college students would do: we decided to climb the Great Wall of China in the middle of the night. In case you're still not fully impressed by our judgement making skills, allow me to describe what climbing the Great Wall is like in the dark. Picture picking your way slowly up and along stony, uneven remnants of a pathway in the middle of the dark, with only the dim disply of your phone keeping you from tripping on numerous hidden tree roots and rocks. Add that to the fact that, in the dark, we really didn't know whether or not we were even headed to the right part of the wall, and it really seems like a miracle we're not still stumbling around lost in the wilderness of China.

But we made it. After what was probably two hours picking our way slowly up around crumbling ruins, scattered stones, thorny plants, and low-hanging tree branches (none of which we could really see, mind you), we came to a long stretch of the actual wall, where a few solid guard towers were still standing. We picked the best one, and it quickly became our home for the night.

And so we were successful. We hung out all night in the dying light of our cell phones, passing around the Chinese Oreos and Ritz crackers and marveling at the strange events that brought us not simply to the Great Wall, but to China itself. We were up around five am to witness a stunning sunrise. Afterwards, we explored a little more in the daylight and then, covered in ancient Great Wall dust, made our way back home. The downward trek was much easier in the daytime than it was at night!

In retrospect, our Great Wall trip may not have been the most well planned camping trip ever conceptualized, but it certainly made for a great adventure, and something I will always be glad I experienced.

Sight-seeing

Finals week! I will officially be leaving China in just seven days! I have so much work to do, but I'm also hoping to squeeze in a little more fun before I go. I think I have managed to visit the majority of the major sites in Beijing over the semester. Here are some of the places I've been:

1. Tiananmen Square
I've been to Tiananmen Square several times this semester since it's pretty easy to get to from campus. It's always swarmed with tourists. My history class took a field trip there one afternoon and climbed to the top of the gate.

2. The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty (1420), so the architecture looks very similar to the Temple of Heaven which is also from that time period. It was the home of the imperial palace: the emperor, his household, and court officials were the only ones allowed to live inside. The rest of the population were forbidden from stepping inside, or even viewing the city by thirty feet walls surrounding the entire thing. There are apparently over 900 buildings inside the walls, so it really is like its own little city.

 

3. The Hutongs

I also explored the hutongs, which are traditional Chinese neighborhoods made up maze-like alleys of siheyuan, historical courtyard residences. Some areas are very touristy, but others are more isolated and really feel like old-China.

4. The 2008 Olympic Stadium

The old Olympic Stadium is a pretty cool place to see. It's so futuristic looking, and a lot cleaner than most of China! Hosting the Olympics was such a big deal for China back in 2008, and they still use the stadium as a kind of display of their accomplishments. It's also the only place in all of China that I've seen a public water fountain (though I definitely don't trust it enough to drink from it)!

The "Bird's Nest"

5. The Summer Palace
The Summer Palace served as a summer resort for an empress of the Qing dynasty. We took a trip there with the Chinese roommates one Saturday afternoon. After we hiked around the park, we rented pedal boats and paddled around the lake!

Up next: Great Wall pictures!

Biking in Beijing

I can think of few things that would be more terrifying than driving in China. The sheer number of vehicles combined with the fact that no one seems to follow any traffic laws makes for a hazardous combination. I have witnessed some very interesting traffic maneuvers from the backseat of a taxi, clutching onto friends anxiously as the driver crosses over six lanes of traffic or moves into the oncoming lane in order to swerve around traffic jams, all the while looking bored and nonchalantly smoking a cigarette. All drivers have an automatic reflex that causes them to honk their horns at regular intervals, and all drivers are also subsequently deaf to the sound of other people honking their horns. If you can drive in Beijing, then you can drive fearlessly in any other city in the world, albeit as the most hated driver on the road.

One step down from driving in Beijing is biking in Beijing. Seeing all the inconveniences of driving in the city, many people opt to ride bikes, mopeds, and any number of other odd little motorized vehicles that are small enough to allow them to drive in the bike lanes. The traffic laws for these are just as nonexistent as for cars, or so I found when I made the auspicious decision to go biking on the weekend with my roommate and some friends.

Perhaps I should have been better prepared, given that I almost get run over by some little motorbike or rickshaw on a daily basis, but for some reason when my roommate asked if I wanted to bike to Lake Hohai, I was picturing peaceful bike trails, not the chaotic bike lanes adjacent to eight lanes of Beijing traffic.

We left for our excursion around ten in the morning, renting bikes from the campus, and ventured out into the streets. Luckily we traveled in a pack, so it was easier to avoid crazy traffic, but I still had plenty of moments where I wished for my own obnoxious horn to honk incessantly at other bikers.

Our biking gang

We stopped about halfway to the lake at a hutong where the Chinese roommates told us we could find some really good food. "We'll meet at the other end of the street in a half hour," they told us. Great idea, except that the minute we started down the alleyway, everyone and their Chinese mother seemed to be crowding their way in as well. Making your way through a crowd of people literally packed shoulder to shoulder is one thing, doing this with a bike is quite another. I kept tripping over my own pedals and getting stuck trying to maneuver my bike around the crowd. At one point, it literally seemed like all of China was packed into this one little alleyway. It took us an hour to get from one end of the street to the other, at which point all I wanted to do was get on my bike and ride out of there! These are the kinds of experiences you learn to expect in China.

When we finally got to the lake, it was beautiful; Clear and blue, and fringed with willow trees. It was one of China's rarer good-weather days so of course there were large crowds there, too. We spent some time enjoying the views, ate lunch at a restaurant along the lake, and worked our way through more crowds to walk along the lake before heading back. It was around five pm by the time we returned, so we had spent around seven hours on our biking excursion, at least two or three of which had been spent fighting crowds. An exhausting day by all accounts!

Roomies at Hohai!