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.

A place with unimaginable beauty.

Two words. LiJiang. Who knew a city I had never heard of prior to coming to China, would leave one of the biggest impressions on me during my stay here. This city is encased by a natural beauty that one cannot see while living in the city. 4hrs away by plane, LiJiang was a city that surpassed my imagination. It was a place where the NaXi people (an ethnic Chinese minority) thrived. I was essentially taken to another world where I questioned, whether or not what I was seeing with my eyes was actually real. So wait how did I get here?

In amidst of finding a place to travel to for a short trip, LiJiang was a city that kept coming up, whenever I would ask my Chinese friends of a good destination to go to. My first reaction was, why? What made LiJiang such a special place that I MUST travel to during my stay in China? Well, for one, it has Jade-snow dragon mountain and two, it has Old Town, a place that was older than the discovery of America itself. 

Although my trip to LiJiang was extremely short, I was able to travel to a place that took me out of the city bustle. I was able to see some of the bluest waters in the world and visit a well that people had been using since the early 12th century. During my get-away I was able to reflect and realize that we as humans are just a small part of the every growing and diversifying universe. The beauty I saw in Lijiang was something that I am not able to experience in the states and is something I will never forget.