July. 3
After the touristy portion of the trip in Beijing, we headed to our urban homestay in the city of Chengde. The four hour train ride was uneventful but I was captivated by the beautiful scenery around me. I wrote about in a creative writing journal I had with me: The green hills roll like waves on the open sea. Mountains rise up and pierce the blue sky; needles made of red and grey stone. Buildings litter the foothills like pebbles: some new, some old, some broken, some smooth.
July. 6
Rett Hooper and his host family lived in the same apartment building as mine. One night, instead of walking around with the group, Rett's host father invited us to go to a performance. As a thespian at MBA, my mind was blown. I've seen Blue Man Group, Wicked, and The Lion King but this performance easily topped them all. I had no problem understanding the storyline despite a language barrier and the fact that most of the show was comprised of dancing.
July. 7
One of my favorite landmarks from the the trip was the Little Potala Palace in Chengde. A smaller version of the Potala Palace in Tibet, the Buddhist inspired architecture was breathtaking as well as the view from the mountain it was nestled in. Prayer flags acted like multi-colored tiles on a translucent roof.
July . 10
The Great Wall was...well...great. You can hear about the size of this structure but words cannot accurately describe the view of the real thing. The most interesting fact for me was hearing that the builders often used sticky rice and mud as makeshift cement.
July. 18
Early in our rural homestay, we visited the local kindergarten. At first, the children were uninterested in us but once I broke out the tennis balls I had for juggling...let's just say we became more interesting. Some kids played with the tennis balls, others tried to chase John around.
July. 19
THE BASKETBALL GAME. Although last year the American team tied the Chinese team in the the annual game, an ugly "0" still stood in the American win column. With the help of two Chinese students, the American team blew out the home team from Buyangzhuang village (Shandong Province) 73-59 after a very physical street ball game. The underdogs pulled out a win and we will officially go down in history as the first team to win one for the red, white, and blue.
July. 21
Mt. Tai is a sacred mountain in China. To hike to the the top of said mountain, one must climb up over 650 steps just to reach one of the higher temples. Reaching the top became a test of wills; those who fell behind got left behind. Unfortunately, a presumably gorgeous view was blocked by dense fog. It was certainly a worthwhile hike to make, though.
July. 26
We spent the last few days of the trip in Shanghai. Unlike Beijing, Shanghai maintains a cleanliness uncommon in large cities. To say that Shanghai dwarfs Nashville is a major understatement; apartment complexes were taller than the Batman building. The city was very modern and interesting. The view of the skyline at night was breathtaking.
The Food
Rett, Michelle, and I formed a team called F3x (The Foreign Food Fighters). Our mission was simple, find and devour every strange food we came across. The list is not for the faint of heart:
Brain (Duck, Fish, Chicken)
Fish Heart
Eye (Chicken, Fish)
Pig's Ear
Cow Stomach Lining
Silk Worm Larvae
Corn Candy
Jellyfish (shown below)
and more...
The group was the best part of this trip. I have made friends that will last a lifetime and I will never forget the experiences we had together.
Click Here for the video I compiled for my trip
Special Thanks:
This trip would not have happened without the support I received. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Wilson family for their generous grant. I will never forget how lucky I am to have received such an opportunity. I would also like to thank all of the MBA faculty members for the hard work they put in to help organize the students and prepare us for the trip. I can't wait to go to back to China to learn even more about an extremely interesting country.
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