A Final Post from Beijing

When I started the blog, I told myself that I would be vigilant and post nearly everyday. However, as many of you have noticed, that has not happened. Late in this semester the work load increased heavily and the exciting trips to exotic locals and tourists spots in Beijing all but disappeared. But, I am back for one last post.

I’ll start with the few exciting events that I failed to mention in my hiatus from the blog. The first trip to mention is a weekend in Xi’an. The program in charge of my classes organized this trip, so all of the students and their roommates came along. The transportation to Xi’an consisted of a 12 hour overnight train ride, which was insane because our car was filled with college students. We arrived in Xi’an on Saturday morning, and then started a city wide scavenger hunt. We had to follow directions and find certain things in the city in order to receive our envelope with further directions. It was a pretty fun and exciting way to see the city. The next morning we headed to see the famous terracotta soldiers of Xi’an. However, when we arrived, our program leader told us that we had four hours to see the soldiers. I think two hours would have sufficed. So, most of the day was spent wondering around the giant airplane hangers full of soldier statues. It was really interesting, but after 10 minutes, they all looked the same. Overall, the trip was very fun, and it was definitely a bonding experience for all of the students and their roommates.

The next event occurred two days ago, and that of course, was our graduation from the Chinese program here at CNU! We were required to dress formally and meet downstairs. A bus brought us to the Marriot hotel (the same hotel that we went to for our orientation dinner after arriving in Beijing) for a huge lunch. Then all of the class levels were required to perform a skit. My teacher had chosen Sakhi and I to be in charge of our class’s skit. As a class, we decided to say what we were going to miss about Beijing, and what we were excited to do when they returned home (in Chinese of course). All the skits were pretty funny, and the ceremony ended with the distribution of diplomas and hundreds of group photos.

Over the last two days, people have started heading home or heading to other destinations to travel. So, the mood around the dorm has been a little bit sad. However, most of the students will be traveling on the same flight as me, which stops over in Tokyo for a night, which should be a fun experience if I can get into the city. Currently, I am watching my roommate pack up all of his belongs, and preparing to go on a final shopping trip to blow the remainder of my Yuan. I am really going to miss living in Beijing, but I am also ready to get home to see all of the people that I love (and the food that I love too). Thank you all for reading my blog, and I hope I haven’t bored anyone to tears along the way.

Here is my travel info for the next two days:

Dec. 18:
Leave CNU at 5:00 AM to head to airport
Leave Beijing at 8:25 AM to Tokyo/Narita
Arrive Tokyo/Narita at 12:40 PM
Hopefully take a train into Tokyo
Dec. 19:
Leave Tokyo/Narita for New York 12:00 noon (12 AM est)
Arrive New York at 10:30 AM est
Leave New York for New Orleans at 2:45 PM
Arrive New Orleans at 5:05 PM
Mom picking me up at the Airport, followed by one hour ride home.

As always, there are plenty of pictures online. The most recent are from graduation. I will see all of you soon - Scott