China!

FAQ's since I get a lot of the same questions, a more in depth blog post to come next month about my favorite place/day!

So how did I end up in China for the month of January? My school has a 4-1-4 semester schedule meaning there's an opportunity to take one class over 3 weeks in January, or study abroad for that amount of time on one of our many spectacular trips.

Why did I choose China? My primary major is International & Global Studies which means I need to choose a region of the world to concentrate in and I chose Asia. This course/trip fulfilled a class requirement and meant I got to actually go to Asia. I also wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to get my first taste of Asia with fellow students and professors where I knew I'd be introduced to a good portion of the country through history and culture.

How long was the trip? It was 3 weeks long - from Jan. 3 to Jan. 24.

How long was the flight? It was a grueling 14 hours there and a slightly more bearable 14 hours back. I got to see somewhere in Japan lit up at night under our flight home which was pretty cool! Also we basically time travel on the flights so I barely miss any time on the ground. For example, we took off at 4pm Beijing time and landed at 6pm EST therefore I only missed 2 hours of my Friday. That's crazy!

How many kids were on your trip with you? 29 of us, supposed to be 30 but someone got sick on the flight to Beijing and had to go home.

How many professors did you have? We had 2 professors who taught the course and led the trip. We had another professor and his wife who accompanied us as part of his sabbatical year.

Where did you go in China? We flew into Beijing then went to Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lijiang, and finally Shanghai before flying home.

What was your favorite city? Lijiang hands down. We could see the blue sky, feel the warm sun, and breathe without fear of air pollution! We also did the most outdoor nature activities while we were here which, of course, made me very happy.

How was the Chinese government while you were there security wise? They have policemen directing traffic at almost every big intersection and there are cameras everywhere except bathrooms and bedrooms. Order of society is a high priority for the government and citizens alike and I did nothing illegal so I never felt unsafe.

How was it being there with the coronavirus outbreak? We weren't ever in the province where Wuhan is and when we were in Shanghai, the closest we would be, all activities were optional and we made sure to wear masks and wash our hands constantly. The airport was the most dangerous place we went and we all wore masks the entire time. Some hypochondriacs on the trip were nervous about contracting it but I was pretty confident since we were Americans we were afforded the privilege of the utmost care by our professors and tour guides and if things really did go south the embassy would fly us out of the country.

Was it super crowded? Surprisingly no! Props to China because their urban planning is fantastic. Cities of 33 million were less crowded than NYC because they spread out their cities. They have ring roads that act like ripples in a pond surrounding the city center. High rise apartments are scattered around these ring roads as well as businesses so to live your daily life people don't need to go all over the city. Of course there are sights specifically in the city center but even when we went to these it wasn't as if the whole population was present. The subways would get crowded and traffic was sometimes brutal but that's nothing new to city goers in the U.S.

What was different? What stuck out to you? There are many little things that were different like the food and the social media/technology. It's hard to pick the thing that was most different but I can pick out some surprising things. Their treatment of tourists (specifically Americans) is shocking. I would be minding my own business and notice someone taking a video or picture of me. People would also come up to us and ask to take a picture with us. We were treated as celebrities who were stunningly beautiful and a spectacle. At the Great Wall instead of taking in that wonder they would turn their cameras on us. It was a strange thing to experience and I knew that if I did any of the things they did in the U.S. I would be splashed on the internet and labeled as an ignorant American.

I was also shocked at how little we truly know about China (or at least how little I knew) even though in my International & Global Studies classes we talk about it pretty frequently because it is emerging as the new world superpower. It humbled me and helped me travel the country with an observational approach.

Would you go back? 100% yes. There's still parts of the country I haven't seen and I had such a great time in the places I did go that I would go back just to experience it all again. My visa is good for 10 years so I hope that it gets used at least one more time.

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