the last blog from china

Yesterday was our only off day so most of us slept in for the first time in awhile. We did have plans for the evening though. Our whole group went to a kung fu show. It was incredible. It had a plot line but no words or singing were used. There was a screen above the stage that prefaced the scenes but it was all kung fu type of moves to tell the story. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. After that we headed to dinner then went to a karaoke place. Karaoke here is much different than in the U.S. Rather than the whole restaurant/bar watching you do karaoke you rent a room for your group. We were all very tired so it wasn't too exciting but I think if we were more lively it would have been a lot more fun. This morning we went to Procter and Gamble Innovation Center. There was a short presentation about what they do at the center then we got a tour of the building. We got to see some of the tools, instruments, and experiments they use to test there products. We saw them test toothpaste, hand soap, razors, and laundry detergent. We just got back and have the rest of the day to ourselves. We are leaving for the airport at 11:30 tomorrow morning so today will consist of packing and making sure we have everything we need!

Today we headed to the Summer Palace. We toured there for a few hours and took a small boat ride. It was very hot and busy so it could have been better but it was very sunny so that was good! After that we headed to a place called a Hutong. They are alleys that people live in that is the "real Beijing" The people live in small hut type things. Our tour guide explained that there are beams that tell you the class of the family. No beams mean low class, two beams is middle class, and four beams is high class. They do not use odd numbers for feng shui reasons. We got around the Hutong by bicycles with carts on the back that fit two people. We have seen them all over China so it was fun to actually be able to ride in one! For lunch we went to a local families house for lunch. We were all pretty apprehensive about it because the area was very dirty and smelly but it was a delicious lunch. The lady was very kind and made us a feast! Following lunch we went to a drum tower. It was 69 stairs to the top and it was very steep. It was slightly frightening and somewhat tiring but the top was really cool. There were HUGE drums that they frequently have performances at. After that we had a quick tour of a bell tower. Our last stop of the day was a tea house at the bell tower. We were all very tired and wanted to get back but by the end we were so happy we stayed. We had an official tea ceremony and got to try five different teas which were all delicious. We had a ginseng oolong tea, jasmine tea, black tea, black tea mixed with roses, and a rose tea mixed with fifteen types of dried fruit. They were all delicious and it was an awesome experience. We are heading to a Hard Rock Cafe tonight so we feel extra American on the 4th of July! 

Today was a busy but awesome day. We left our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and headed to the Great Wall. It was about an hour away so it wasn't too bad. By the time we got there, parked, and got tickets it was close to 10:45. Our tour guide, Zhong (who we love!), gave us a meeting spot and told us to meet back there at 12:30. Two other girls and I and one of our professors climbed on the side that had less people, but was the harder side. I have no words to describe the Great Wall! I could say phenomenal or captivating but that does not do it justice. I knew it was one of the wonders of the world but I now truly know why. Talk about a tiring climb! It was a mixture of stairs and just stones but it was so steep. There were a couple of spots that were VERY close to a 90 degree angle of stairs. Most of the other sections were probably somewhere around 60 degrees. It took much longer to climb up than it took to go down but the way down was actually a little bit harder! It was very nerve racking looking down and seeing the sharp angles so it was a little scary. It was the experience of a lifetime and I hope I can make another visit someday because it's truly amazing. After that we went out for a group lunch then headed to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. We didn't have a whole lot of time there but it was really fun to see that. The Water Cube was actually a lot smaller than we were expecting. It couldn't have held even a thousand people. There is a section of the Water Cube that is a water park. We have a free day on Tuesday so we might try and go back! We left there and headed to a small dinner then the Peking Opera. I am happy to have experienced it but am also happy knowing that I probably won't see it again. It was more of a skit without props or words because there wasn't really any singing. Some of the stunts they did were awesome though. We finally got back to the hotel at 9:15 and everyone is very tired. Tomorrow we are headed to the Summer Palace! Won't be as long as today so we are looking forward to some rest! 

Monday we left in the morning and headed to Suzhou. It was about an hour and a half south of Shanghai. First we went to a huge garden and had a tour around there. After that we went to a world famous silk factory and saw how silk is made! It was very interesting. We went out for lunch then drove to an industrial park. It is an up and coming area that has some huge plans. They are trying to completely turn around what the city is like and make it much more modern. The next three days we had class in the morning then just hung around our rooms and went out a few times. It wasn't too exciting but we were just getting our things together before we left for Beijing! We left early on Friday morning. We had a little bit of a delay but got here safe and sound. My good friend Maria has a friend that has lived here for a month and is staying here until December so he took us to a few local bars last night! We got up early this morning and went to visit Tienamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. A LOT of awesome sight seeing which was great. We had a traditional Sichuan lunch and a famous Peking duck dinner which was all phenomenal. I can now say that I like duck which I never thought I would say! I am currently not on my computer but will add some pictures tomorrow! We are waking up early and heading to the Great Wall tomorrow! Should be an awesome day. 

Last night was one of my favorite nights out in Shanghai. Four other girls, one boy, one professor and I went out for a late dinner then a few of the girls and I went out to a few other fun looking places. We all had a great time, nobody lost anything, there was no drama, and best of all no creepy men! Only sad part was that it was our last fun night out in Shanghai. Time is flying! Today we left at 1 and went to a park where this is an area called an English corner. Another part of this park there was something very unique going on. Parents make advertisement type things for their children who are old enough to be married to in a way "sell them." They advertise all of the good qualities of their child in hopes of finding a match! There were hundreds of people with these advertisements. It was like nothing I have ever seen! At the English corner Chinese people will come to interact with other people who are also learning English. It was a really fun experience talking with people from China. I saw a kid who looked to be about 6 years old talking to people and people in their 80's. It was so fascinating that they are not being forced to learn English or practice it but they are choosing to for their own personal satisfaction. It was an awesome experience. Our whole group went out to dinner with one of our professors friends and her husband tonight to a traditional Cantonese restaurant. It was the most adventurous I have been with eating so far and I am still alive and well :) Tomorrow we are leaving at 7:30 am for Suzhou which is about a two hour bus ride from Shanghai. We are going to visit a garden and an industrial park. Should be a busy but fun day!

This is us at the meng dynasty tomb place

another place at meng dynasty tomb

The group minus 2 our first meal alone

On Monday we headed to Yuyuan Gardens. We all went to the steamed dumpling restaurant for lunch then had a few hours to explore and shop around. It was a very cute place with a lot of fun shops. We all got back together and went to a tea house for a tea ceremony. It is very famous. Queen Elizabeth has even been there! After that me and five other girls walked around a little bit longer and went out for dinner together. Tuesday morning we had class then had a few hours to ourselves. At 3 we had our last Mandarin class then had tai chi at 4:30. That night we just hung out and had a small dinner together. 

Wednesday the PR students went to lunch with one of our professors friends. She does b to b (business to business) marketing. She used to work with Honeywell but just quit and is staring a new job next week. She told us that she works with factories and helps to sell them protection equipment like hard hats, gloves, protective shoes, etc for the people working in factories that need protective ware for on the job. It was very interesting and a delicious lunch! Two of the PR girls and I walked around Pudong after that then met up with a few other students for dinner. On Thursday the PR students went to visit Unilever. They own Dove, Lipton, Ben and Jerry's and a large number of other businesses. We met another one of our professors friends, Tiger, who does brand management for lipton. He gave us a short tour of the building then did a presentation on advertising and the market in Shanghai. We had tai chi later that afternoon and learned some kung fu. We learned the kind where you dance with a Chinese fan! That night all of the students went out for dinner and some bars in the area. 

Friday was a lazy day. A few of us walked along the main road that our school is on for lunch and a little shopping. Three other students, one of our professors and I left our hotel at 5:30 and walked to a lady's house for dinner. She teaches English here at Shanghai Normal University and invited us over for a common Chinese family dinner. Her husband was working but her daughter was home. Her name was Syndy and her daughters name was Kelly. They taught us how to make dumplings. It is much easier than I thought! We stayed for a few hours then came home and just hung out for the night. Today four other girls and I went to the black market for some shopping! We just got back and are going to start getting ready soon to go out! Tomorrow we are going to an English corner and back to Yuyuan Gardens! 

Greetings from China! Our day being professional was great. First, we toured the Vidal Sassoon Academy, which only took about five minutes. It was very small but it was a very neat place. Very modern. After that the principle of the academy, Mable, talked to us for about a half hour about the academy, their philosophy, how they train their students, how they differ from other salons, etc. Mable was awesome. She was rather young and had a very unique sense of style but she had the right amount of confidence to pull it off but did not come off as conceited or cocky. Then the Director of External Relations of Greater China Proctor and Gamble, Dr. Li Chen, talked to us. She discussed a few different problems in China and how Proctor and Gamble is turning the problems into ways to innovate their products. We were running a little behind because Mable was a little bit late so we had to leave to get to our next place on time. We got back on the bus and headed to a publication company that publishes magazines such as Elle and Marie Claire in China. Li joined us for this part of the day as well. We met with two of the head publishers. They had a small conference room with a powerpoint show about the sales of the magazines and advertising in the magazines and where their magazines fell on the various scales. From there we all headed to lunch. They had a room at a restaurant for our group with the food pre ordered. We split up so there were five of our students at a table along with two of our professors and a publisher and his assistant. The food was interesting to say the least. They served us small cold dishes first that serve as appetizers that everyone shares. That ranged from cucumbers to cow stomach. Needless to say I did not eat much. Next was smaller hot dishes. We all got a type of soup that was pretty good. Everything is served to share and there is a large lazy susan in the middle. There was a variety of foods such as eggplant, chicken, ribs, fried rice, tofu, fish, etc. They really do eat anything here. We had to rush out of there to head to our mandarin class. We only learned a few simple sentences but the chances of us remembering how to actually say them is slim. I have it all written down but my pronunciation will be a little off! After that we came back to our rooms to relax and get ready for the night. All of the students and one professor went to an American restaurant in the French Concession for a late dinner and drinks. Afterwards, my good friend Maria and I wanted to go out but most people went home. We had another girl and a guy along with us. We went out for awhile and when it was finally time for us to go home one of the girls realized her wallet was missing. So after searching for an hour with no luck, we finally headed home. So her phone, debit card, money, and ID is all missing. We didn't get home until very late so we all slept pretty late on Saturday.We woke up and eight of us walked to a little restaurant for a late lunch. We were split up in two tables but everyone at my table had amazing food. My friend Kim and I had a clay pot with rice, beef, bean sprouts, chili, and a fried egg. One girl got fried rice with chicken and mushrooms and the other got udon noodles with beef and vegetables. My table also split dumplings which were amazing. We came back and took naps and got ready and headed out for the night. We went to downtown Shanghai and walked along the main road in the rain for awhile until we decided we wanted to eat. There was nothing quick that looked appetizing so we ended up eating at the same restaurant that we ate at for lunch! Four of us went out afterwards to the same place  we went on Friday night. Luckily nothing was lost or stolen! We met a group of students that go to Grand Valley State University. My friend Jess, who is from Michigan, and one of the guys we met had a few mutual friends too! Small world. Today, eight of us along with one of the professors went to downtown Shanghai again. Five of the students are in the video productions class so they had to shoot film. Two girls and I walked along the main road for a few hours and we just got back! We all have some reading to do for class tomorrow so will probably just relax tonight. We heard that a restaurant in the French Concession has all you can eat tacos tonight so we may check that out! Tomorrow we have class in the morning then are going to head to Yuyuan Gardens. They have internationally known steamed dumplings along with the pearl tower so it should be a fun day!

Yesterday 8 of us took cabs to downtown Shanghai. It was the first time we were all alone with no professors so it was interesting! We found a restaurant that looked good and like we could order by pointing at pictures. We got beef fried rice, pineapple fried rice, and beef with pepper sauce. Everyone left full and happy. After that we headed to a black market and did some serious shopping! The vendors are quite intense but we all had fun and bought a lot! A few people wanted to stay but four of us wanted to head back. We went outside and flagged down a cab who was in the middle lane. He quickly braked and merged over to the lane closest to us but in the process the car two cars behind him didn't brake soon enough and ran into the car directly behind our cab! The driving here is rather scary but that was the first accident we saw...and we caused it! We came back to our rooms and hung out for awhile then headed to a small restaurant for a late dinner. We are headed to the Vidal Sassoon Academy in a few minutes and will also be having lunch with Elle editors! Off for a fun day! 

My time getting to China was hectic to say the least. My final flight from Tokyo was scheduled to arrive in Shanghai at 9:45 p.m. It was about a three-hour flight. The original time of departure was 7:30 but was then delayed to 8:05. We boarded the plane and I was exhausted so I fell asleep within 5 minutes. I didn’t have a clock of any sort on me so I’m not sure how long I slept for but I woke up to the captain telling us that we had to go back to the gate because of problems in the cockpit. I slept most of the flight but we finally landed at 11:40. I went through immigration and got my luggage and went through customs and my public relations professor Juan Meng and her husband Po-Lin were waiting for me. We finally got to our guesthouse at 1 a.m.

 Tuesday was our first day of classes. We all had intercultural communications at 9:30 then I had my public relations class at 11. We had the rest of the day to ourselves so a few girls and I did a little exploring. The main street outside of the university has a lot of little shops and restaurants and a convenient store. We walked down there and all made some solid purchases. Everything is SO cheap it’s awesome! We came back to our rooms around 4 and hung out for a little bit then the whole group headed to the French Concession close to 7. One of the professors went with us but he knows no Mandarin. Juan, the professor from Shanghai, wrote out where to go for our cab drivers. We went to an Irish place called O’Malley’s and all of us ordered pizza. We all found it funny that we are in China, at the French Concession, in an Irish restaurant, eating Italian food! We went to a small bar called the Cancan bar for a few drinks after that. The professor that was with us, Roy, decided it was time to leave after the hostess working there had been hitting on him since we got there because she thought he was David Hasselhoff!

Yesterday we had to get up at 6 a.m. because we were heading into Nanjing for the day. We took a bullet train there which got to about 200 mph. If we were to drive there it would take about 4 hours. When we got there a lady named Wei Peng met us. I am not sure how the professors know her but two students who will be studying at UD starting in July accompanied her! First we went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. It was very interesting to learn about because none of us had heard of it before. Right across the street was the building the silk used to be made for the emperors. We walked through quickly then headed to lunch. We went to a restaurant called Yos Mite. We had a private room for our group of 17. The tables were normal tables we would see in the states but rather than a normal chair it was big cozy chairs and couches! It was really pretty. I had a steam pot rice bowl that had beef and vegetables and a fried egg on top. It was pretty good but there were some chunks of things in there that I wasn’t entirely sure what they were so I didn’t eat all of it. After that we went to a few different tombs of emperors from the Ming Dynasty. One of them had 394 steps to get up to it. Unfortunately, it was closed due to construction and is re-opening on June 20^th. So close! We got up part of the way but just not all the way to the top. A group of Chinese boys about our age wanted to take pictures with us and were really excited that we said yes! A little bit later we saw them again and they insisted on more pictures! Our last stop for the day was the Xiaoling Tomb who was also part of the Ming Dynasty. His actual “tomb” was a whole mountain. He had over 70 wives and they were also buried with him. We got back to the train station at 5:30 but our tickets for the train were not until 7. We didn’t have time to go out for a fun dinner and the closest restaurants were either McDonalds or KFC (KFC has more restaurants in China than anywhere else in the world!). We finally got home a little after 9 and were all exhausted. We all had some reading to do for our classes so just relaxed and called it a night!

I just got back from class and we have the rest of the day to ourselves. We are all about to shower and go wander around and see what we see! 

Well things didn't exactly go as planned. I got to the airport at 5:45 and waited in line to get checked in etc...the line was moving very slowly and we soon learned that my flight to Chicago was cancelled so everyone had to get rebooked. When it was finally my turn, the man told me that I had already been booked...for 5:45 tomorrow morning. Not exactly what I wanted. He found a flight that leaves Indy at 1:21 for Detroit. I am in Detroit for about an hour then hop on a plane to fly to Narita. For those of you who don't know that is in Japan. Not entirely sure how long the flight is so I will have to make some new friends. After I land in Japan, I am there for about two hours and finally get on a plane to Shanghai! Originally I would have gotten to Shanghai at 1:55 tomorrow afternoon but am now arriving at 9:45 pm tomorrow night! So pretty much I have two full days of traveling. Ugh. Add's to the Valventure I suppose. 

Pre China

The hours are counting down until the real Valventures begin. My mom and dad are taking me to the airport dark and early...we will be leaving at 4:45 a.m. My flight is at 6:40 and I will be flying to Chicago. Most of the other students and one of the professors are also flying to Chicago. From there we have a 14.5 hour flight to Shanghai! I am sitting next to one of my good friends on the plane so I figure between us chatting, watching movies, reading, meals, etc the time should pass somewhat quickly. At least I hope so :) 9 hours and 45 minutes until go time!