Author: Tiffany Luehrs

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center

Today my Valpo cohort and I visited Hefang Street (河坊街 – hefang jie).  Hefang street is a bustling avenue filled with vendors selling local snacks, silk shops, tea houses, traditional Chinese pharmacies and restaurants.

A snapshot of Hefang Street, Tiffany Luehrs

Various historical and cultural aspects of the area have been maintained and are still intact such as the drum tower and even an original section of a road used during the Song Dynasty.  Throughout the street stood various statues of Buddha such as a very memorable red statue that emphasized the curved features of the Buddha and a large bronze Buddha with many small figures of children climbing on him.  I learned that the large belly symbolizes prosperity, the reclining pose represents spiritual contentment, and the children around him signifies many descendants.  While there is an evident historical and cultural feel to the street, you can still find McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Dairy Queen scattered about and more modern stores as well.

After roaming around the shops and vendors, we stopped at a café

Glutinous rice balls and mango, Tiffany Luehrs

that specialized in mango dishes and drinks. I ordered glutinous rice balls with fresh mango, and it was the absolute, best mango dish I have ever tasted! The juxtaposition of the warm glutinous rice and the cool, sweet mango was mouth watering.  I wish I could remember the name of the café but it completely escapes me.  Next time I go, I will definitely write it down and let you know so you can try it as well if you ever find yourself at Hefang Street.  I know I’ll be back for some more mango!

Author: Tiffany Luers

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center 

Hangzhou, Tiffany Luers

Upon our arrival in China, G20 was just around the corner.  G20 is a meeting of 20 leaders from the world’s largest economies to discuss international finance and monetary policies, and this year it is being hosted in the very city that my study abroad semester is taking place – Hangzhou!  While it is very exciting that G20 is happening in my new home, we needed to get away.  Why?  Because everything shut down for G20.  Okay, maybe not everything, but some of my favorite street food places, coffee shops with free VPN’s (virtual private network), and the pancake place by the international dorm were all boarded up and deserted as if they had never been there.  Buses stopped running earlier. Stores and restaurants had shorter hours.  The city was cleaner and the streets quieter than I remembered, and the security around the university and West Lake was tighter than ever.  This was not the restless and ever-bustling city of Hangzhou that I had experienced last summer when I was on the Valpo Study Abroad 5-week summer program.  Yet, G20 gave us the perfect excuse to explore other parts of China for the next ten days while Hangzhou was on lock down.  The first stop was Beijing!

Hangzhou, Tiffany Luers

During the three days we spent in Beijing we visited the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and of course, the Great Wall.  Walking around the tourist sites, our group received a lot of attention.  As Chinese people walked passed us, their eyes widened and they would say “外国人” (wai guo ren) meaning “foreigner”, and many of them took photos of us.  Some were very friendly and asked us for photos, while others tried to be sneaky and take photos without us noticing even though their “selfie” was most definitely not fooling anyone.  Having grown up abroad and mostly in Asia, I am accustomed to having people take photos of me, or

Hangzhou, Tiffany Luers

touch my skin, or even ask if they can cut off some of my blond hair.  It really doesn’t bother me too much and I understand their intrigue.  While yes, it can be uncomfortable at times, laughing it off can be the best thing to do in those situations and I know that this is just the beginning of the photos and curious looks for the 10-day trip let alone a semester here! Now whenever I encounter one of my photographers I use it as an opportunity to practice my Chinese and strike up a conversation with them.

With my newfound paparazzi, I’ll have to start working on my poses!

-Tiffany

Author: Maia Moore

Program: Hangzhou, China

Old World Architecture, Matt Smok

August 25th.

237th day of the year.

A date 117 days away.

The day I arrive in China.

My 20th birthday.

To say that I’m experiencing a feeling somewhere between excitement and nervousness would be an understatement. Honestly, I’m not even sure what I’m feeling right now. I don’t think the realization that I will be spending a semester on the other side of the world has hit me just yet. I’m still in the “calm before the storm” phase. The storm probably won’t hit until August 24th, when I’m in O’Hare airport trying to convince my mom not to board the plane with me.

Oddly enough, we’re arriving in Hangzhou on my 20th birthday. While I don’t relish the idea of spending the day on a 13 hour flight, at least I can look back and say that I was doing something completely different for my birthday, Last year, all I did was attend class and eat pizza from the cafe. However, this will be the first birthday I spend without my family and friends. This is also the birthday that I officially leave my “teenage” years behind. Although this birthday will be an emotional and significant one, I’ve been planning to study abroad for a long time and won’t turn back now.

I suppose my path for study abroad began long ago. I’ve always loved traveling and so has my family. My dad has been to over 30 different countries. Whenever he returned home from his travels, with him, he would bring a gift and a story. Dining in India, exploring the Outback of Australia, joining an impromptu street band in Spain, these are just some of the enchanting stories he would tell.  I would listen vehemently, imagining myself in his place. At the end of his tales, he would always say to me, “One day, you will have your own stories to tell.” So it seems that the time has come for me to create my own stories. I don’t know how this particular story will end, but  I look forward to writing it.

-Maia

There are really no words that can express how I feel about studying abroad.

It is truly an experience like no other.

I was essentially taken out of my comfort zone, placed in a new environment and was allowed to flourish.

I have met so many people, and blessed with so many opportunities to travel to places I could
have only dreamed about.

My semester at Zhejiang University, has truly been an experience.

It, in a nutshell, taught me many things about myself.

I was able to meet and talk with people from around the globe, literally, and in that I could understand how everyone’s cultures are not only different but also the commonalities we all share as human beings.

Although
this time was short, I have made good friends that I will stay in contact with, long after I leave China.

I did not have the opportunity to go to every place I wanted to, but the experiences and the people I met there will no doubt be apart of me for the rest of my life.

Thank You China

During Thanksgiving weekend, my group and I was able to visit Shanghai. A city I had not seen since 2010, when I first came to China, Shanghai was a place that I was excited to see. Like a long awaited reunion, when our train from HangZhou arrived in the ShangHai terminal, I was anxious to see what had changed and what had remained the same.

Rest assured, everything was exactly how I had remembered, if not better. A city on a scale of that comparable to New York, Shanghai is a place that never fails to amaze me. With so much history that surrounds the city, it is easy to get lost and find yourself in the English concession, walk into the financial center or even find yourself at the top of the Bund, one of the largest skyscrapers in the world.

Our time in Shang Hai was extremely short but in those three days we were able to do and see so much. What I loved about Shanghai is how unique everyone and everything is. It is a city full of young motivated people trying to make a name for themselves with westerners there doing all types of work from working in industries to teaching children English. Shang Hai is a big city that has anything and everything a person could ever want or need regardless of why they are there and it was assuring to know that as long as you had a subway card and $.50 you could go anywhere and everywhere in the city and trust me, we did.

Thanksgiving was definitely different this year. Usually around this time, I would be on my way back to Valpo after spending the holiday with my family and quickly preparing for finals and more importantly winter break. This year, however was completely different. Mostly due to the fact that I was 3,000+ miles away from everything that I was used to. This year I could not help prepare Thanksgiving dinner with my grandmother nor was I able to eat sweet potato pie or watch the annual Thanksgiving day parade and football game.

It was bittersweet to be able to spend Thanksgiving in China because although I am blessed to have the opportunity to spend my Thanksgiving in here, at the same time, during this season one starts to miss their family. But I guess you can say I still had the chance to spend Thanksgiving with my family, well my new one.

My group members and I have been together for  over 3 months now and during that time we have definitely formed a bond. We all had our good days and our bad days, but  it is safe to say that we have not only survived China but can call it home at least until next week, when we go back to the states. Along with this holiday I am grateful to have spent it this year with: Ryan, Sadie, Logan, Nick, Simon and Prof Xia. Thank You all for being with me during this journey it is almost over but I am glad to have spent it with you all.