Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Tag: china (page 3 of 3)

Fun in the sun

I’ve just returned to my dorm after a longgg day of traveling. Today, starting from about 11AM, I took three taxis, two ferry rides, one bus ride, one train and one bullet train to get back to sweet Hangzhou, ringing up 9 hours of traveling. “Wait, going back to Hangzhou?” you may ask (or may not, but just play along). Well, these past few days,  Zhejiang University students were fortunate enough to have a week-long break from their harsh days of studying. H-23 quickly took advantage of this break to travel to take a five day vacation to Shanghai/Xiushan Island.

I can confidently say that I absolutely love Shanghai. I think part of it is the fact that it really is a sister city of Chicago- just the feeling of being surrounding by tall buildings and city lights was amazing. However, as much as I love Chicago, Shanghai definitely has one feature that beats Chicago: the Bund. The bund is basically many historical buildings lined up along the river. What makes it special is simply how gorgeous the area is at night time. It really was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen- I don’t know why, but I’ve always been in love with city lights and skylines. At night, the colorful lights from the buildings across the bund reflect off of the water and create an amazing sight. In addition, different boats with bright lights pass by and add even more color to the dark night. Hundreds of people gather in the bund area to view the breathtaking scenery, and I stood with them that night. Honestly, I could have stayed there for hours. Pictures won’t do the sight justice, but it doesn’t hurt to share.

The gorgeous sight at night.

The next night, we went to the Shanghai Acrobatic Show: ERA. I had high expectations walking into the show, and my expectations were definitely exceeded. I won’t spoil it for you because it really is something you should see in person, but I will say that there are just so many moments of pure thrill and awe. There were actually moments when I had to hide my eyes behind my hands because it seemed like they were pushing the “thrill limit”.  However, overall, it was definitely an enjoyable show. No pictures were allowed, so unfortunately I can’t share any with you..but if anything, that should be more encouragement to go see the show! If you are ever in Shanghai, please check it out! You definitely will not regret it.

So after Shanghai, H-23 split up into two mini groups: half of the group headed back to Hangzhou to relax, and another group headed to Xiushan Islands. I, of course, headed to the island for some fun in the sun. It was actually slightly nerve wrecking, as this was our first trip that we were planning completely on our own without depending on our professor. He headed back with the other half of H-23, so the rest of us four planned our own mini-vacation. There were a few bumps in the road- we took a ferry from Shanghai to Daishan island and planned to take another ferry to Xiushan, however we missed the last one, so we had to stay a night on Daishan. And though it wasn’t planned, I’m sure glad it happened. We had some delicious sea food by the water, surrounded by locals enjoying the cool night breeze. The next day, we headed for Xiushan island…and once we arrived to the island, we realized something: people on the island actually speak a different dialect than the standard 普通话 (Putonghua)/Mandarin Chinese that we have been learning. It was slightly difficult communicating with the island natives, but in the end, we got by just fine. Other than that, everything else seemed to be great. Our hotel was beautiful- it really went for the tourist “island feel”, with white and wooden decorated rooms. Little tropical like flowers were scattered as decoration throughout the hotel. And only a few steps away was the beach! Since China’s waters are not exactly the cleanest, we didn’t quite go swimming or anything like that. But we took lots of pictures, admired the beautiful scenery and played around in the sand (I even learned how to skip rocks!).


Valpo and H-23's mark on Xiushan island

Having fun at the beach!

 

The view from our hotel entrance

So this morning marked our last day on the island. We had a delicious meal, enjoying the island’s fresh seafood. Afterwards, we lazed about the beach one last time and enjoyed our last moment of relaxation. And its a good thing we did…because once we left, we didn’t realize just how much time it would take to get back to Hangzhou! All in all, we had a great mini-vacation for our break here in China.

Did you all check out the Mid-Autumn Festival back in VU? In China, people celebrate the occasion by attending festivals and celebrating with friends and family. Unfortunately I didn’t do anything big to celebrate it here, though I did eat a mooncake! Yummy. Anyway, if you didn’t check it out this year, definitely go next year! I always enjoy myself at the event VU holds, enjoying Chinese music and snacks. It’s a good way to become more familiar with the culture as well.

The 9 hours of travel are starting to weigh me down. Time for bed! Talk to you guys soon.

A cup of tea a day keeps the doctor away

Yuck, I know. Who wants to think about being sick and whatnot when you’re studying abroad in a new country? But this is something that I have found really needs to be addressed- as we are a month into our program, and literally everyone in our group is sick.  Most people have a cough, but I have a rather annoying cold that won’t go away. It’s 82 degrees outside today and I walked around with a thick jacket on. Brrr.

I was actually the first one out of our group (from now on addressed as H-23 [the 23rd group to go to Hangzhou]) to get sick, getting a fever only two weeks after we had arrived! In Hangzhou, it rains a lot. It was raining on the day that I went to meet the senior editor of an English-language magazine that I am interning for- and I got caught in the rain while waiting for the bus. And a few hours later, I got a fever. I had a fever for about two days, but on the second day, I only ate fruit and took two vitamins. Throw in lots of sleep, and I was feeling much better the next day.

In the past few years, I did not get sick very often since I got into the habit of watching what I eat and exercising. However since arriving to China, admittedly I have not been eating enough fruit or working out as much as I usually do. I think that has made my body weaker or more vulnerable to any illnesses. The main lesson of today’s post is: no matter where you are, it is still important to take care of your body and your health. Make sure you are getting the proper nutrition. (and if you are planning to travel abroad, bring medicine just in case. I made the mistake of thinking, “Oh I never get sick in the US, so it won’t happen in China either! I’ll just bring some advil, nothing else.” Biiiiig mistake on my part. Now, I am sick again. It’s not as bad as the fever, though it is slightly more painful because I have to use the tissues here in China- ouch. I bought a pack of Hello Kitty tissues because they were Hello Kitty and adorable. But these tissues are deceiving- though they’re cute, they are rough as sandpaper. Where’s kleenex when you need it?

Adorable, but dangerous to your nose

However something that has been really helping with my cold is drinking lots of tea. I went to a tea museum about a week ago and bought premium lychee-black tea, which is delicious! The tea museum was actually one of my favorite things that we have visited so far. At first I was slightly apprehensive: I love tea, but I wasn’t sure just how interesting this museum could possibly be. But it turns out there is a lot of interesting facts they have there! You really get a glimpse of just how important tea is to the Chinese culture. The museum itself was beautiful- it was very modern and spread out over a garden. So you had to walk through the garden to see different exhibits. For example, one of the rooms was filled with different kinds of tea displayed behind hundreds of small windows, and about 6 different phones placed around the room. You pick up a phone, press the number that corresponds with the number on the window of the tea you want to learn about and it will tell you (in English or Chinese, your choice) about that particular kind of tea.

The “phone room”

What kind of tea do you like to drink? This panel explores more into different types of tea and their benefits

Tea is BIG here in China, so for an avid tea drinker like myself, it is paradise to see so many tea shops! And if you haven’t tried tea or think you don’t like it- give it a shot if you ever come to China. There are so many different types of teas here that you might find one that you love. I’ve seen two people in H-23 go from “Tea is gross” to “Give me another cup!”. My personal favorite is 冰绿茶,iced green tea.  It’s delicious, and its great for your health.

On that note, I am off to go refill my tea bottle with some more hot water before I settle down and start studying. Talk to you soon!

The container of lychee-black tea and my tea bottle

There is a strainer in the bottle to prevent you from drinking the tea dregs

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