J.B. Lund: China

My trip to China was truly a once in a lifetime experience that gave me memories to cherish and stories to to tell for years to come.  I was very excited to depart but a little nervous the day we departed Nashville as I would be thrown into a new family in a different country, and I did not know if everyone would be able to understand me.  My Chinese was rough and I had no idea what the culture would be like, but luckily, I had three classmates there with me who were in the exact same situation.  

Inside the Olympic stadium

The Great Wall

At 798 art district 

Beijing Life

Tiananmen Square

Playing basketball with Beijing Number 4 students

Upon arriving in Beijing, the first thing I noticed was a cloud of smog over the city of Beijing.  We were greeted at the airport by one of our hosts who took us to the school where we were greeted by the rest of our hosts.  After a brief tour of the school we departed and went our separate ways with our respective host families.  I was glad as my host family English for the most part, and my host, Ryan, spoke very good English.  I spent the next few days shadowing Ryan at Beijing Number 4.  His schedule was a lot different than mine at MBA as he took more classes, and had a rotating schedule.  For the most part, the rest of our stay in Biejing was composed of visiting the different sites.  We were able to visit all kinds of places with some of the highlights being the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, multiple parks and gardens, museums, shopping streets, or Hutongs as they are referred to, and the Olympic park.  I think my favorite site, however was the Great Wall, as it was everything I imagined and more.  In between visiting all of these areas, I had a lot of downtime at the school where I was able to make friends and practice Chinese.  I think our favorite activity at the school, however, was playing basketball with the students.  

Shanghai Skyline 

Shanghai Life

After a five hour train ride from Beijing, we arrived in Shanghai and were greeted at the train station by our new hosts.  The difference between Beijing and Shanghai was night and day as Beijing is more cultural and Shanghai has more of a western influence.  Immediately we got to the schedule as we boarded the subway and went to a shopping ally called Tian Zi Fang.  This area was filled with stores waiting to convince me, the American tourist, that their item was best and worth way more than it actually was.  Luckily I knew to negotiate their price down, and my host was very helpful by giving me estimated prices.  That night we were treated to an amazing view of the Shanghai skyline.  The next day we explored the city some more as we went to a museum, went to another shopping area, and visited a Buddhist temple called Cheng Huang.  The next day we went to another city and toured it on bike ride which was quite the experience as biking in China was a lot different than biking in America.  

Food

Peking Roast Duck  

Silk Worm

Most of our meals were served in a family style manner with a larger variety at every meal.  With all of the food served to us, I was never hungry during my stay.  Meals at my host's house were served in a similar style.  My family in Beijing was very kind and considerate as most of my breakfasts there were American with bacon and eggs.  Some of the more interesting foods that we ate included fish heads, chicken feet, chicken heads, and silk worms.  One of my favorite styles of food there was the Si Chuan style as this food was always very spicy.  I think that my favorite meal there, however, was at a hot pot restaurant where you are served raw meat to dip in a boiling pot in front of you.

Thanks

This trip was a life changing experience that fully immersed me into the culture of my language that I am studying at MBA. With this new experience, I feel that I have a much better understanding of Chinese and to, this trip was the only way to gain this knowledge. I am so thankful to the Wilson family for giving this amazing opportunity to experience the Chinese language and culture first hand. I would also like to thank Mrs. Zhang, Mr. Yin, and all of the people that helped coordinate this trip. This experience gave me new insight on the Chinese language that will greatly enhance my learning capabilities.