Traveling to China was an experience in itself. As I entered the airport terminal the flight attendant announced that the passengers would soon begin to board. First class. Business class. Premium economy and then there I was, my seat number had been called. I then grabbed my carry on, along with my passport in hand and prepared for a journey that would change me for the rest of my life. I didn’t know what to think of the 17 hr. journey, however I did come prepared with countless movies downloaded on my Ipad as well as an awesome playlist that would keep me grounded as I flew through the skies. 10 hrs of sleep (more or less), 2 movies, and a 2hr playlist later there I was, in Hong Kong. It was not my final destination but rather the first of two stops I had before I would reach Hangzhou. As I landed in Hong Kong a huge sigh of relief came over me as the hard part was now over. I had another 2 ½ hr flight from Hong Kong to Shang Hai but that seemed minuscule compared to the 14 ½ flight that I had dealt with previously.
Everything had gone well, the hardest part of the trip was now over and I was that much closer to Hangzhou. That is, until an error occurred with my groups tickets. Unfortunately we were booked on two separate flights, half of us had a connecting flight as soon as we landed in Hong Kong to board a plane to Shanghai. The other half however, was booked for a flight to Shanghai the next day. Essentially, we were all stuck in this foreign country where English was not the first language and had to figure out what to make of this situation. We had two choices: work with the airline company and try to stay together or we separated and hoped for the best. We chose to stay together and as we did our stay in Hong Kong got longer. We were put up in a hotel, courtesy of the airline company, and that following morning we would all depart from Hong Kong to Shanghai.
Although calling our teacher, calling our travel agency, conversing with the airline company and panicking in our spare time only allowed us to have 4 hrs of sleep, in an actual bed, we knew this trip would be worth it. So, the following morning we arose from our beds, and headed back to the airport we had only been 4hrs previously. Again with tickets and passports in hand, I walked into the now, Hong Kong terminal and awaited for my departure. That is, until the plane got delayed for another hour but nonetheless we made it to Shanghai. From there it would only be a three hour drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou, our final destination but who could have known that a 3hr drive would quickly turn into 6hrs. due to rush hour traffic. By then everyone was both mentally and physically exhausted but there we were, finally standing in front of Zhejiang university, A place we would call home for the next four months and it had been so worth the wait. 2 days later, Chicago–>Hangzhou ETA 48hrs.
First a brief introduction. Not that it matters, as a majority of readers will likely be my parents, but we will proceed regardless.
I’m Kenneth Bouman. 4th-year (9th-semester) mechanical engineering major from Cincinnati, Ohio. Though I’ve crossed borders into Germany a total of five times, this is really only my second time here. I arrived with (most of) the rest of the group on 27 August, but unlike (most of) the rest of them, I’ll be staying for a full year.
The program I’m enrolled in is called Valparaiso International Engineering Program, or VIEP. If you’re enrolled at VU, they’ve bragged (and rightly so) about it in their ads, and you should totally know what it is. However, since even some of my engineering classmates still don’t know a thing about the program (or inexplicably haven’t heard about it) despite walking past several prominent posters that explain the big points, I’ll fill everybody in. VIEP takes engineering curriculum and adds foreign language. It also adds a year to your study plan, but considering that this year is split between studying abroad and an overseas internship, this extra year is easily worthwhile. There are impressive statistics that accompany the program, but you can look those up yourself if you’re really that interested.
We’ve been busy enough that I haven’t found time to properly formulate coherent thoughts that can give a blog entry a good flow. Instead, I’ll talk about several things that I’ve noticed.
Euros are incredibly well-designed. You can sort through different denominations of Kleingeld (change) and Scheins (bills) by touch alone, and the size of everything is more indicative of its worth than the US equivalents. All of our bills are the same size, while larger Scheins have greater value. Simple. You can read more about the coins if you’re really interested, but I’m just going to share one fact that I find interesting: the front of the coin (the “Common Side”) shows the denomination and some map-like image of Europe, but the reverse (the “National Side”) will be different depending on the country in which it was minted. This is a cool way for the countries to maintain some semblance of a self identity while still associating with the much larger entity of the European Union. The Scheins also have a bunch of security features which I find fascinating, but these don’t need to be discussed here or now.
The bills are different sizes, which among other things, facilitates transactions for people with visual impairments.
Infrastructure seems to be developed far beyond that which I’m used to from back home. Recycling is the big one in particular, but much more on that later. Or maybe not, come to think of it. Infrastructure, though interesting to me, is most certainly not interesting to many people.
City planning seems to be more relaxed. Houses don’t necessarily have places to park cars next to them. Some had stair climbs to get from the houses to the road, and these houses may or may not be accessible by car or have a road going to them. (Google Earth helped me confirm this). This may not be true everywhere, but it certainly seems to be the case in Reutlingen.
There are quite a few playgrounds around. Seems like a great place to be a kid. These playgrounds even look to be far more exciting than their US counterparts, though this could be my fresh optimism talking. We’ll see if this is still the case in a few weeks or months.
When walking from Stadtmitte (city center) toward the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) – a 300-meter (3 block) distance – there are a minimum of 5 mobile phone stores. This seems like kind of a lot for a country that I didn’t really imagine as very consumer-centric.
You know how “there’s a Starbucks or a Walmart on every corner” in the US? It seems as though the German analogue might be a Kebob place on every corner. The closest one to our dorms, Campus Kebap, is about a block away.
Smoking seems fairly prevalent, but I could be biased by the fact that my room is situated immediately next to the two-seat smoking balcony for my floor. You get carded at grocery stores if you look like you’re under 18, much as one does in the US with alcohol. Interestingly enough, alcohol doesn’t have nearly the same taboo factor here as it does in the US. It’s perfectly acceptable to be seen in public with open containers of it, and none of us have needed (or likely will need) identification to purchase it.
My group is great. As usual, more on them later. For now, here are their names in alphabetical order: Aaron, Adam, Brittany, Jessica, Jordan, Kellie, Kelsey, Kenneth, Lauren, Nick, Mackenzie, Maria, Micah, Reid, Ryan, and Teddy. We’re spread pretty evenly across three apartments for international students. My experience of meeting more english-speaking non-germans in the dorm echoes what I’ve heard from the rest of the Valpo cohort. Carter Hanson, our director, lives with his wife Michelle and daughters Sophie and Elsa in a nearby apartment building. Classes are all in one room (but at different times, fortunately), which is about a 10-minute walk from the dorms. It takes about 20 minutes to walk into town, but the bus can get you there in less time.
By the way, the ‘eu’ in “Reutlingen” makes an “oy” sound, and rhymes with “boy” or “Freud”. If you’ve been pronouncing Freud incorrectly this whole time, now’s a great time to fix that.
As you may guess from these disjointed observations, they’ve been keeping us very busy. We’ve had two cursory days of classes so far, and are already preparing for a group trip to Berlin beginning tomorrow morning. Though there has been time to relax – to climb a nearby mountain and spend an afternoon at the pool, among other things of course – the whirlwind of stimuli has left room for barely anything else. I would hope that before too long, everybody will be able to settle into something of a routine, but in the meantime, we are a bunch of fulfilled yet busy travelers.
I am excited to say that I am officially on my way to Australia! Today did not start as smooth as I had hoped but I cannot really complain since I am having this great opportunity of studying abroad. Basically what happened in a quick nutshell is that my visa did not match my passport. The airline and the embassy tried to help but could only help me to a certain extent. I found a way to fix my visa and well that was solved luckily. Unfortunately I missed my flight from South Bend to Chicago but fortunately my parents were both able to drive me to Chicago and say our goodbyes there. As I currently sit on this flight to San Francisco I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to not only have this opportunity but the support from my parents and family. I cannot wait to share my experience with you and I look forward to spending the next few days in Sydney.
The bus terminal at the Madrid airport, one of my first impressions of Spain
I am here at my home for the next 4 months, España. The act of coming here by myself sounds slightly terrifying, but it actually could not have gone smoother. The trip was long, but, call me crazy, relaxing in a sense. I think when you are left in an airport or in a plane for a certain amount of hours, there is nothing left to do but use those moments to take a break. I left my home in Bay City, Michigan around 9:00am on Friday, August 28. My parents and I were at the Detroit airport around 12:30 (after a stop for breakfast) and a few minutes later I was saying goodbye. Then I took a flight to Atlanta and around 7:00pm I was on the 8 hour flight to Madrid. On this flight, I sat next to a student from Ohio who is spending this semester in Madrid. Before I left for this trip, I was told by veteran solo travelers that I’ll meet people easier when traveling alone. I was pretty surprised at how quickly that happened for me. I enjoyed her company just being reminded that there are a lot of people like myself not only studying in Spain, but studying across the globe. After landing at 9:45am local time and getting my luggage, I had a few hours to kill before boarding the bus to Zaragoza which was spent people watching. Once aboard the three and a half hour ride to Zaragoza, I took in the Spanish countryside in between moments of sleep. I noticed a few things during the bus ride. 1. Mountains for days. No, they are not the huge ones in Colorado or Alaska, but they are mountains nonetheless (especially for a flatland girl like myself). 2. The countryside looks pretty dry (at least where I was). I did not see much green grass at all 3. The heat. The inside of the bus showed the temperature, but of course, in Celsius and I am not super familiar with Celsius. I saw 35° and thought, “Oh, that can’t be too bad.” Then I got out my phone and used the converter and saw that 35°C is about 95°F. Definitely warmer than when I left The Mitten State.
The view from the bus ride
I arrived at the bus stop around 5pm local time which was 11am Eastern Time where I was greeted by my gracious host mom. Much to my surprise, I was not that tired even though I had only gotten a few hours of (not so great) sleep on the plane and bus. My host mom and I took a bus to her neighborhood and then walked to her apartment (during which I was wondering why I had packed so much) where I ate some food and took a much needed shower. That night, we went to some stores near her apartment and walked around the city. It was then when I got my first view of the famous Cathedral in Zaragoza. La Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is known throughout the world and is a truly fantastic sight. We turned down the road to the Cathedral and a musician was playing Ave Maria on the violin. The music, people, and Cathedral all together resembled a dream.
The musician with the Cathedral at the end of the road
La Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar
La Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar
Since then, I have gone inside the Cathedral briefly and have seen only a portion of the beauty that this Cathedral holds. I’m looking forward to going back often. My host mom showed me around some other famous sights of Zaragoza, and I tried to take it all in. I was also struck by how Europe, in some cases, is just like the movies. Yes, I have only been here for a few days, but the mopeds are everywhere. It’s so picturesque when I see them coming down the cobblestone road with a gorgeous old building in the background.
As far as first impressions go, this one was pretty wonderful. My journey here went very well and my first few days have been great. I’m looking forward to an adventure-filled semester here in Spain!
The day we arrived, Thursday, August 27th, was a very tiring one during our meeting with Professor Hansen in his family’s apartment. Regardless of being exhausted all managed to put on a smiling face for our group picture!
One day after arriving (most of our jet-lag gone by this point), we took a tour of the city of Reutlingen, which will be our home for the next slightly over 3 ½ months. Although much of the city is newer than many other German cities, the cathedral luckily survived the bombings and fire during the last few centuries. This photo was taken on a later night with the moon in the background; the photo alone can’t show how picturesque it was!
Also during that tour of Reutlingen, we went through the world’s narrowest street, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
The tour of Tübingen, Germany was arguably more beautiful than that of Reutlingen, between the cathedral, river, castle, and flowers scattered throughout the city.
Earlier today we started off early (9am, so very early for college students) with a hike to the top of a “mountain” visible from our dorm rooms. The views from the top were spectacular, and we all cannot wait for the leaves to start changing color in the fall to go up there again!
This post was written by Tom Abbott, studying in China this summer.
For the last stretch of the trip, we took the high speed train from Hangzhou to Beijing. The bullet train was really something to actually see in person. We traveled at about 300 km/h, which had us arriving in Beijing about 5 hours later. The ride was really smooth!
Our first stop after arriving in Beijing was to see the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is actually much more than just a temple. It is surrounded by a huge park and other great monuments. There were tons of people relaxing and playing games with others in the park and temple area. The temple itself was quite large and serves as a great spot for wedding pictures (three couples were there at the time we were).
View looking up at part of the Great Wall
Looking down.
The next day was the Great Wall. Often times you will hear people say that they have “walked” the Great Wall.
View looking up
This can be deceiving, however, because the part of the wall we visited was located in a very hilly area and I would call it more of hiking or climbing the Great Wall instead of walking it. The views from the wall were spectacular and it was a warm day with very clear skies. The part of the wall we went to was about an hour from our hotel in the downtown area and we spent at least 2 hours climbing the wall.
The Birdsnest, 2008 Olympics
For the time we were in Beijing the skies were actually really clear and the air did not feel like it was extremely polluted, as many people assume. Actually, the skies in Beijing were the clearest that I saw in all of my time in China.
Building inside the Forbidden City
The last day of activities was spent at the Forbidden City. The shear size of the Forbidden City was unbelievable! We walked through the whole thing and it took us close to two and a half hours. There is something like 8000 different rooms in the city and we got to see the political buildings as well as the halls for celebration. The Forbidden City served as the living quarters of many emperors but now it has been turned into a museum.
Me sitting on a royal chair
Beijing was one of the coolest cities for me in China because there is so much history, yet it is also quite modern. It was a mix of all the other cities we saw all out into one. The night life in Beijing was also quite superb as well. There were numerous night markets and food markets that Valpo students checked out and found to be satisfying.
Writing this final blog after having already landed and arrived home, there are definitely some last things I would like to say about China. First, although it feels great to be home, I already miss China and the people I met there and the things I saw even though I have not yet been home for one full day! I am already thinking about when I could go back again.
The thing I will miss most will be how affordable everything was, especially food and transportation. I ate a good sized breakfast every morning for less than $2 and took a cab home from work everyday which normally came to about $1 when split three ways. I always felt safe in China as well. I think this feeling was shared by all of the students there, even with the ones that were not able to converse with the people of China.
Tienanmen Square
This experience has been one that I will definitely never forget and it has shaped me in so many different ways, as well as given me the opportunity to meet and get to know some great people. I am forever grateful for Valparaiso University for offering this trip and for all of those who have helped me to make going to China for a month possible!
This post was written by Tom Abbot, studying in China this summer.
View from the outside of the Lingyin Temple
Being raised a Catholic, I knew little to nothing about Buddhism until I learned about the religion’s beginnings and basic principles in world history my sophomore year of high school. However, I knew from studying Chinese that Buddhism is a major religion in China, with many temples all across the country and millions of devote members. It was my hope when I decided to travel to China for the summer program that I would be able to experience Chinese Buddhism first hand, and that is exactly what our group did when we visited the Buddhist Academy of Hangzhou.
It was evident from the moment
Inside a classroom at the Buddhist Academy
we stepped onto the grounds of the academy, and even before that, how different the lives of the monks that live there really are. Even before we arrived at the academy, we visited the Lingyin Temple and the surrounding area and it was interesting to see how different it was from anything I had ever seen. We observed carvings in the rock and ponds with fish and turtles that created a very peaceful environment, even with the temple being such a large tourist attraction nowadays. Once we had left the temple, we proceeded to have lunch at a local eatery that was on the way to the academy. Even at this restaurant, which I don’t believe was actually on the grounds of the temple, the food was vegetarian, which I was quite surprised by. This just goes to show how dedicated the people in this area are towards their religious beliefs.
View of one side of the campus
When we arrived at the Buddhist Academy, we were greeted by one of the head monks along with maybe 10 students of the academy. They were all extremely friendly and eager to practice their English language skills. I was really surprised at how young they were! Most of the girls seemed like they were 14 to 16 years old. We were given a very nice tour of the campus, which was absolutely beautiful, and then led to a room for meditation. The meditation was very relaxing. The monks helped us to properly position ourselves to partake in meditation and we sat in silence for about 15 minutes. The meditation was unlike anything I have ever done before! It was actually a lot harder than one would think. First, to be able to cross your legs and sit as they do can be quite uncomfortable even for a short time. Second, it is also difficult to keep your mind from wondering. Overall, the meditation was a great experience that really opened my eyes to the power that total relaxation can have on the body and mind.
Next we proceeded to have dinner. The meal is very structured
Inside the Buddhist Academy
and done in a very specific manner. I was thoroughly impressed with the fashion the meal was carried out in and the overall taste of the food. For a vegetarian meal, the food was very good and diverse, as well as being filling. I only had one serving of everything and when I was finished I was actually pretty full. The monks make sure to give an amount of food that you can finish so nothing is wasted. It was also interesting how fast the monks eat their food and the servers came around to give seconds. I was not even half way done with my food by the time they came around again, so I could not get more even if I wanted to!
Valpo students with the monks of the academy
When the time had come for the two groups to part ways, many pictures were taken and Wechat IDs were exchanged so that we could keep in contact with the monks of the academy. It surprised me that most, or maybe even all of the monks had smartphones. I’m not sure why, but I have always been under the impression that monks do not possess such objects having to do with technology because it may become a distraction from their focus. The life of a monk is so different from that of a normal westerner’s that it is hard to comprehend. From their outfits, to the strict schedule of their daily life, and the constant focus that must be maintained, it is hard to imagine myself being able to take on the life of a monk. However, after visiting the academy in Hangzhou, I feel as though I have a much deeper understanding of the like of a monk and also a much higher level of respect for what they do. Getting to spend the afternoon with a group of Buddhist monks is definitely one of the most unforgettable things I will ever be able to do in my lifetime.
This blog post was written by Tom Abbott, studying abroad in China for the summer.
Shanghai buildings lit up at night
For our second weekend in China, we traveled to Shanghai as a group on Saturday, spent the night, and returned to Hangzhou on Sunday. We took a small bus that we booked through our travel agent. The driving in China is really quite hilarious. The drivers are all so impatient and taxi and bus drivers are always honking. This trip was no different, as our bus driver probably honked anywhere from 150 to 200 times throughout the 3 hour journey. Also, when on the road in the city anything goes. I have seen people drive on the wrong side of the road to make a turn and even drive right at oncoming traffic! It’s a lot different from driving in the states, even in big cities like Chicago.
Shanghai actually reminded me a lot of Chicago, which is where I am from. There is the big city part with all the tall buildings, the skyline on the water, and all of the expensive shops on the street. We walked Nanjing Road, which is similar to Michigan Ave. with regard to the expensive shops. Later that night, we walked around the town and back to the downtown area to see the city lit up at night. The city is very majestic and it looks awesome with lights on all the buildings.
The next day we visited a famous Buddhist temple and saw the
Statue from the Shanghai Museum
largest jade Buddha in the world! My favorite part of the trip was seeing the skyline and especially the Pearl Tower. Shanghai is definitely a westernized city, with restaurants like McDonalds and Starbucks appearing on the street quite frequently. However, it is still a very Chinese city. It does not take much at all to find an authentic Chinese restaurant on the street to eat at. I would recommend having a plan of what to go and see and do when you arrive in Shanghai because it is easy to get lost and not know what to do in this massive city.
Inside of a temple in Shanghai
We stayed in the Swan Hotel, which was very nice and western. However, for being such a bustling city it was quite difficult to get wifi in the hotel and out on the street, which surprised me. I also noticed that the prices in Shanghai for food and souvenirs were much higher than in Hangzhou, which is similar to prices in the U.S. increasing in big cities. Shanghai was very fun and offered a different picture of China than seen in Hangzhou. I would most definitely want to go back and see more of the city!
ded on my Ipad as well as an awesome playlist that would keep me grounded as I flew through the skies. 10 hrs of sleep (more or less), 2 movies, and a 2hr playlist later there I was, in Hong Kong. It was not my final destination but rather the first of two stops I had before I would reach Hangzhou. As I landed in Hong Kong a huge sigh of relief came over me as the hard part was now over. I had another 2 ½ hr flight from Hong Kong to Shang Hai but that seemed minuscule compared to the 14 ½ flight that I had dealt with previously.
