It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. This is due in part to both the fact that I find I have less and less time as the end of this semester approaches, as well as feeling I have nothing worthy of writing about. No time for weekend outings, the closest I ever got to “going out” being to my classroom building at the edge of campus where I would hole myself up for hours finishing assignments. While much hasn’t changed in the past few weeks, I am setting aside time this week to sit down and write this. We are in the midst of finals week, no longer studying new topics and all of our classes only devoted to 复习fuxi, reviewing. Thus far, I’ve successfully finished our elective newspaper class, studied every grammar structure and vocabulary word we’ve learned in the past six weeks, written a 1500-character essay, and begun preparing for the last few days of this program.

On Wednesday of this week (tomorrow!), all students will have a day off from classes to devote our time to studying. On Thursday, we’ll test for about three hours, completing our written portion of our exam. On Friday, we will complete our spoken exam, consisting of me reciting the 1500-character essay I wrote. On Friday afternoon, our program will commence with a graduation ceremony at the Crowne Plaza. There, we will receive our certificate of completion, I will give a speech alongside one of my classmates as a representative for our class, and our language pledge will finally be lifted, meaning we will be able to freely speak English with one another at this point, the first time since we all arrived here.

Preparations for the next semester are also underway. For those who don’t know, due to the trimester system of my school, I am required to complete a small four-week program at the same school under the same company in order to meet a two-term equivalent of my school. As of right now, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding what this program will look like for me; we don’t have roommate assignments, don’t know what level of Chinese we will be placed in, and thus don’t know who our teachers will exactly be. Of course, there is also a great amount of familiarity for all of us, too. While this “JanTerm” program, as it is called, is much more intensive than the program I’m currently in, we are, to a certain extent, already adjusted to life in Beijing, being a CET student, and following a 24/7 language pledge. I hope that the eight of us students can help other students acclimate to the program, since they’ll only be here for a total of for weeks.

After this program finishes, we will have a two-week long break before the orientation for JanTerm begins. We have been paired with one another as roommates in our current dorm that we’re living in. During that time, my friends and I have plans to see more of the city and finally relax. The second week of our break, two friends and I will be riding the high-speed train (高铁 gao tie, in Chinese) to Shanghai to travel for five days. We will also be celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas there; we even bought tickets to go to Disneyland Shanghai on Christmas Day! Keep an eye out for that blog and pictures! J

I’m really looking forward to the break because it’s just that: a break. I feel like it’s much needed, considering I sleep poorly every night and often fall asleep in class. Some days, class feels repetitive and endless, this program successfully having sucked all the fun out of learning Chinese. I hope to use that time to see more places, take more pictures, write more blogs, and play the video games I’ve been itching to spend hours playing all semester. I hope to spend nights in with friends, chatting and sipping on milk tea, or something of the like. And once JanTerm starts, I am planning on making the most of every day, making new relationships, hunkering down on my studies, trying new food, and counting down the days until my feet land back on sweet U.S. soil.

As I already said, I spend most of my weekends in, sitting round a table with some of my classmates, our homework haphazardly scattered around, our backs stiff and sore from sitting in hard wooden chairs for hours on end. However, this past weekend, realizing it’d been too long since I’d been off campus, I made the decision to go out and have some fun. As we’re reaching the end of the program, the reality that most of my classmates will return home or go on to study elsewhere settles sour on my tongue. So, to make most of what time we have left, we decided to go out this past weekend to finally visit one of Beijing’s most acclaimed sights: the Forbidden City.

But before I get to that, it all starts with last Friday. As opposed to having our usual Friday class (a weekly test, oral exam, and Chinese Table), all classes were given a rest, instead making Friday one of our language practicum days, meaning that we leave campus to enrich our language and cultural knowledge. Some classes went together to museums and bookstores, but my class specifically traveled to Beijing’s Confucius Temple (孔子庙 Kongzi Miao), since we had previously learned about Confucius when we studied Chinese history for a week. We set out at 8:40 from our classroom, hopping on the Six Line towards the Five Line. The station brought us out directly to the street that Beijing’s famed Lama Temple sits on.

But first, we had to make one important stop—breakfast! Did you know KFC in China has breakfast? They offer Chinese breakfast staples like 油条you tiao (deep-fried dough) and 粥 zhou (porridge), but they also have Chinese takes on American breakfast, like breakfast sandwiches and breakfast plates. We stopped here to buy warm drinks and 油条 you tiao to keep warm. That morning, it was nearly freezing! The temple is almost entirely outside, so we tried our hardest to stay warm while we were walking around and taking pictures of the temple and pagodas.

One of my favorite parts of the temple was going into a room where ceremonies and rituals for Confucius used to be held. There, tucked away in a small corner of the room were two ceramic animal figures. On top of and all around the statues were 1 Renminbi bills, offerings given from people who visited. My teacher said that many people will often go to the Confucius Temple and leave a dollar or two for good luck before a big change in their life, like a move or graduation. Seeing this gave me a special feeling that I can’t really put into words.

Being at the temple on a cold Friday morning meant that we had full freedom to roam as we pleased, no one else there but a group of middle school students and some lone wanderers taking photos and enjoying the serenity. It was still and quiet and felt as though I was far away from the rest of civilization, the bustle and boom of the city just beyond the temple’s boundaries. The only sound to be heard in the vicinity was the flock of birds that chirped and scuttled through the courtyards. It made for perfect pictures, no need to really rush when trying to take the perfect shot.

We still had Chinese Table on Friday, but it was kept a secret. My classmates and I had ruled out what kind of food we were eating though, since we had previously discussed with our teachers how much we all missed Mexican food. A few stops on the subway and a ten-minute walk later and we were approaching a metropolitan SOHO area of Beijing, Sanlitun. At this point, we all were certain that we were at least going to eat some sort of Western food, considering how “international” this part of the city was. As we approached a small restaurant, our suspicions were confirmed, an orange sign glaring “Q Mex.”

Since this was our last Chinese Table for the semester, we were all given more money to spend at this lunch (each one of us was given 90 kuai, meaning that we had a total of 720 kuai to split amongst the eight of us; that’s just over 100 USD!). Unsurprisingly, it was easy for us to spend every dollar (our total was 719 kuai!), seeing as Western restaurants, especially those in areas like Sanlitun, are quite pricey. But most importantly, we all got to have some of our favorite Tex-Mex dishes that we’ve been missing so much: fajitas, tacos, quesadillas, chips and dip, and yes, I had a bean burrito!

Another reason that Friday was so laid back for us was because that night we would be putting on the annual “China Night” celebration. China Night is a culmination of our program, a chance for students to show their language improvements while also having a lot of fun. Each class was instructed to do a performance of sorts, like a skit or a game that used the grammar and vocabulary we’ve learned. After struggling to find an idea for a long period of time, my classmates and I finally decided on the idea of a video that conveyed the gaps in cultural and historical knowledge between the U.S. and China. In order to show this, we asked our classmates questions about China and asked our teachers questions about the U.S. Sometimes we even did the opposite, trying to see if Americans really knew anything about American history and if Chinese people really knew anything about Chinese history—the consensus was that Chinese people definitely spend a lot more time learning and reciting these sorts of facts! However, when we asked our classmates which state was the first to become an official state in the U.S., no one answered correctly! Do you know the answer? Read to the end of my blog to see! 😉

One of my classmates is very talented at video recording and editing, so he did most of that. The end product ended up turning out great! I had a great time at China Night despite being a little nervous about our own performance. The teachers and office workers all had their own performances too, and even some of the CET roommates participated and sang songs. There were plenty of snacks, and a friend and I even went to the store beforehand to buy yogurt drinks and other snacks. All in all, it was a really enjoyable night. Afterwards, we all returned to our dorm, some people going out to celebrate a classmate’s birthday, while my friends and I decided to hang out in our dorm’s private activity room, decked with comfy chairs and couches that we lounged on as we ate takeout fried rice and chatted.

Saturday was a slow day, consisting solely of homework, since we had Sunday plans. On Sunday, I went to the store to buy a small breakfast (a large yogurt drink and convenience store sushi—sounds gross, I know, but trust me on this one!). It was tasty, but not filling enough to keep me sated as we trekked through the Forbidden City.

It was another cold day, probably not the best day for walking through the complex. The air pollution was also quite bad that day, especially in the city center, right where we were located. However, that didn’t mean that we didn’t have a nice time—we did! We took fun pictures and enjoyed the beautiful architecture. It’s exciting to say that I’ve been, but I could have never anticipated what it was really like: expansive, slightly underwhelming, and even a little crowded for a cold Sunday afternoon.

The Forbidden City closes at 4:30 p.m., and they herd you out of the complex like cattle, forcing you out onto an unknown street, a nearly twenty-minute walk from the closest subway station. It was wet and smoggy as we walked back, our sore feet aching from already walking an unanticipated mile within the Forbidden City. We didn’t see the entire thing, of course, but there isn’t much to be seen, quite honestly. Nonetheless, I got some great pictures.

I really enjoyed being able to have this one last outing into the city with the great friends I’ve made on this program. It’ll be sad when they all return home this weekend, but I’ll forever cherish the memories we’ve made thus far. I truly hope that we can meet again and make more!

What was the first state of the United States? The answer: Delaware! Thanks for reading 🙂