After a week of sporadic rain showers and intense cramming for my midterms, I’ve reached the second break from classes during my time here. I entered the nine-day long holiday without a concrete plan, only knowing I wanted to explore the bustling Beijing that existed outside of the quiet community I live in.

For me, break started immediately after I spoke the last word of my oral exam, leaving all stress behind in that classroom, nothing but a sigh of relief following me out of the door. I found my friends in a hallway of our classroom building, all relaxing after finishing their exams. We waited there as our teachers prepared to leave with us to go to Chinese Table. Together, we ventured into the crisp autumn air, laughing and chatting behind scarves and jackets zipped up high.

This week, our Chinese Table was a little different. Our groups are often pre-arranged and never change, meaning that I eat with my other 300-level classmates, as well as the two other 400-level students. We usually reserve a table at a restaurant and go eat there with our teachers. However, this week we were all mixed up: I ate with some 260-level students and our program director. This was interesting not only because I got to talk with friends I don’t see much on a daily basis but we also ordered different dishes that I’ve never had before (our regular groups tends to stick to the same array of dishes each time, since they’re all our favorites).

An extra surprise to this week’s Chinese Table was the celebration of three teachers’ birthdays: Lin Laoshi, Zhou Laoshi, and Zhang Laoshi (who had to leave early to catch a train). For every teacher or student birthday, CET goes and buys a delicious cake. Since we had three birthdays to celebrate, we had two especially large cakes—one chocolate and one fruit.

After Chinese Table, I went back to my room and accidentally took a nap. When I woke up, a friend and I hung out and grabbed some late-night snacks from the convenience store. We didn’t make any plans for the next day, so when I woke to a text from another friend inviting everyone to go to a shopping mall not too far from campus, I figured why not. I had some things I needed as well as some things I wanted to start buying as gifts for friends and family back home.

The subway ride there was extremely crowded; as is to be expected for a Saturday afternoon. The weather was a little chilly and the pollution was a little bad, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this truly metropolitan area of western Beijing.

 None of us had eaten yet, so the first thing on our list was grabbing some lunch. Most of the sit-down restaurants had long waits, so we went into a Japanese tonkatsu ramen noodle shop called Hakata Ikkousha. Upon walking into the restaurant, you’re greeted by a collective shout from the  workers, a common practice in Asian countries, then you’re seated at Japanese-style ramen shop seats—every person sitting shoulder to shoulder. We were given a menu with a multitude of choices, but the basic ramen bowl comes with, of course, hand pulled noodles, black fungus, spring onion, cha-shu meat, all in a rich Tonkatsu broth. There is an assortment of additions at your seat that you can add to your noodles; you can even mince your own garlic. The noodles were delicious, and it was a refreshing change from all the Chinese food I’ve been eating!

From there, we set out into the mall to do some shopping. This mall, Grand Pacific Mall, just one component to the larger Xidan Commercial Street, has a total of eight floors (it’s huge!). Due to limited space in my luggage, I needed to buy clothes more suitable for the cooling weather. As many of you probably know, though, it’s not so easy to find larger-sized clothes here. I looked in a few stores, and to no avail found anything that (1) was my style, (2) actually fit, and (3) was affordable. However, we all met back up in H&M (which is really popular here!) and immediately I found clothes I liked, that suited my needs, and they fit perfectly! They were also having a sale, which was just an added bonus.

I also looked for a new pair of shoes in the mall but didn’t find any that really stood out to me. After around six hours of shopping, we left. The congested train ride and long walk back to campus gave way to rumbling stomachs, so we planned to meet up in my room and order takeout. We got two greasy pizzas accompanied with large cups of milk tea (it’s break, why not go all out?). We chatted and played Uno over our dinner but eventually called it a night so that we could sleep off the day. I was able to video call with all of my family (even Jynx!) before I went to bed, so I was content.

On Saturday night, we had made plans to go to the Beijing Pizza Festival the next day (one can never have too much pizza). Not really knowing much about what it was, a group of us set out around noon to a suburb of central Beijing known as Wangjing. The festival was held at Galaxy SOHO, a mega complex with beautiful, modern architecture.

We were met by a sea of foreigners donning white cloth togas. We were all surprised by the sheer number of foreigners at the festival, but it felt comforting, nonetheless. There was loud, live music and countless food and drink vendors lining the perimeter of the venue. There were so many choices it was hard to make just one; from hundreds of different pizza-styled foods to other greasy, fried food, I was in Western food heaven.

My friends and I walked around for a while, snacking, chatting, and enjoying the atmosphere. But when I saw a familiar face, I couldn’t help but freak out!

The familiar face was a popular Youtuber and Instagram personality whose content I’ve been watching for a while. His name is Kwadwo (pronounced Quay-jo) and he’s been living in Beijing and learning Chinese for a while. He takes to the Internet to teach other learners of Chinese how to interact with day-to-day people and have daily conversations. His content was immensely helpful in the months leading up to me coming to China, as well as the first few weeks I spent here (they don’t teach you in class how to tell the cashier you don’t want the receipt).

Meeting him was the highlight of my day, maybe even the highlight of my week! He was very friendly and continued to chat with me throughout the festival every time we ran into each other. My friends who weren’t familiar with his content even made friends with him! (I was even featured on his Instagram story!) If you’re interested in watching any of his content, his Youtube channel is Elementary Chinese and his Instagram handle is @elementarychinese.

It was a wonderful day full of bellyaches from great food and full-body laughter. We all got some interesting looks on our way back to campus—I’ll admit it, we were an interesting looking group of foreigners. I hope the strangers on the subway got a good laugh out of it, too. We reconvened later that night to grab some snacks at the store and watch TV together. It was a relaxing conclusion to a fun-filled day.

We originally planned to go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City on Monday, but it turns out they’re closed on Mondays. So instead, over breakfast at the campus café, we spontaneously decided to go wander a famous hutong in Beijing. For those who don’t know, hutongs are long, stretching alleys that began to be built during the Yuan Dynasty in mid-1200s China. These neighborhoods are now protected historical areas of Beijing that attract a lot of travelers, not only because of their rich culture but also because many of them have been turned into shopping districts. Some of them remain as residential districts with small shops, restuarants, or museums, but one in particular, Nanluoguxiang, is filled with popular brands and countless street food stores.

After climbing onto the subway train, we got caught up in conversation and missed our stop for Nanluoguxiang. Thankfully, the subway system is so efficient here that we just hopped off at the next stop and figured we would take the opposite train back to the Nanluoguxiang stop. However, one of my friends suggested we get Mexican food for dinner. There was a well-rated restaurant near the stop we got off on accident, located in the depths of another hutong opposite Lama Temple.

We ventured through this small, narrow hutong, eyes catching on the quaint, small businesses lining the street. Once we reached the restaurant (which just so happened to be at the very end of the hutong), we were told by the workers that they wouldn’t re-open until 5 P.M. Our hungry stomachs led us back to the front of the hutong where we saw a small cupcake shop. I ordered a raspberry and mocha one!

We stopped in the shops on the way back on our way to the restaurant and just enjoyed the scenery (count how many Pikachus you can find from here on out!).

Once the restaurant opened, we were immediately seated (no one else was there). There was reggaeton music playing. The reviews praised this restaurant as the most authentic Mexican food to be found in Beijing. Their food was good—the service was good and fast, but it wasn’t that authentic. The beans were the best part, but that might just be because I’ve missed beans the most since coming to China (they’re few and far between here).

The portions were extremely small, so after our meal we were already planning our next one. Even though the sun had already fully set, it was still relatively early, and we still had energy. We decided to hop back onto the subway and take it to Nanluoguxiang, this time for real.

Only one transfer and a couple stops later and we reached the crowded hutong. One of the first stores had an open viewing window where you could watch workers make jewelry by hand. I stopped in other stores for things I needed (and didn’t need, read: the great saleswoman at Shanghai Lady who talked me into buying more than I wanted). That being said, I’m still really happy with all the purchases I made. I found some really good gifts there, and I really like how the Shanghai Lady products work, actually!

We stopped for snacks, of course, too. In a place like Nanluoguxiang, it’s sort of custom to stop and buy a lot of snacks and just share them among the group. We ate steak on a stick, Peking duck burritos, milk tea, and White Rabbit ice cream.

We only made it about a quarter of the way through the hutong before we called it quits. On our way back out, we watched a short performance of what I believe is a girl playing the xun flute, a ceramic flute native to China. The store only sold these flutes. It was a beautiful end to the night.

Today, my friends and I made a plan to stay on campus for the day to catch up on things like homework, emails, and even TV shows. I made sure to make time to write this blog, since it is a little late! However, I hope you all enjoy this blog and all of the pictures I took. This has been one of the best weeks by far since I got here! I hope seeing/reading things like this may encourage more people to consider traveling to China or Beijing.

Blue skies and warm weather have persevered during my break, which just makes this week all the better. Tomorrow, I’ll be waking before dawn to go visit the Great Wall with a friend and her parents. I’m really excited! I’ll be sure to share pictures from it in my next blog.