Surprises

I learned a ton not only from the tours, but also from seeing the country first hand. Some things cannot be learned from a textbook, and few things I did not surprised me about China. I expected the big Chinese cities to be much more developed. From readings and news articles I thought Beijing never slept and that skyscrapers were the new norm. However, I never felt this way until we got to our last city of Hong Kong.

Technically this is also not part of China, but more to come on that later. While Beijing and even Guangzhou did have a lot of tall buildings, it was more subdued. I still never felt crowded or overwhelmed by all the tall buildings. The cities also seemed more spread out. Things were not packed together like I had imagined.

I am guessing this is because China is still very much a developing country. From reading news articles I think I had expected more progress. Nonetheless, the cities are littered with construction sites and cranes.

A crane perched high in Beijing. 

At first the zoning of the cities, for lack of a better word, also confused me. Old slums seemed to be right next to a brand new office building. The newer buildings could also be found all around the city, rather than just in a downtown district. I am guessing this is because China continues to build and develop. Hong Kong’s development started years earlier than the rest of China’s, and I wonder if someday Beijing will be comparable.

View of Hong Kong from the hotel window. 

View from the drive just outside of Beijing. 

Another view from the drive outside of Beijing. There is a lot of contrast in China. 

Similar to the skyscrapers, I also expected to see more people and feel crowded on the sidewalks. For the most part this was not the case. Don’t get me wrong-there were definitely a lot of people! However, I felt like I could have been in any big city and not necessarily one in the most populated country. It was more apparent, though, during drives through the country. Normally a country side is sparsely populated with large, open spaces. Perhaps western China is different, but I always saw people, houses, and towns throughout our rural drives. There never seemed to be a break. It was always unclear when we had officially left the city. China definitely has a lot of people. Their population of 1.3 billion is more significant after seeing it.

Besides crowds and skyscrapers, I also expected a lot of pollution. Walking off the plane in Beijing was a little disappointing because that first breathe of fresh air never came. In fact, it kind of smelled.

Very first view of China! (You kind of had to be there…)

However, one can always get used to the smells. When it’s not raining, Beijing even has clear skies. Pollution is still a big problem, though. We saw many locals wearing masks, although this is also to prevent the spread of disease after the SARS outbreak in 2002.

Chinese woman in the Forbidden City. 

There was no escaping the fumes or pollutants. That fresh, clean air was always missing, even on our visits to the rural farms. Landing at the Sioux Falls airport, the clean South Dakota air never felt so good! China was a great experience, but I am always glad to be back. Hopefully you all can get a feel for my trip through these next few posts. 

Jet Lagged

Going to China and adjusting to the 13 or so hour time difference was easy. I think the adrenaline kept me going.

Coming back is a different story. It is exhausting! Yesterday we left Hong Kong around 7 am, took a 14ish hour flight over the North Pole, sat around during our 7 hour layover in the Detroit airport, then caught our final flight home to Sioux Falls. The 14 hour flight went by faster than I thought. I wrote some blog posts and watched a lot of movies, which helped the time go by. Sitting in the airport, though, time seemed to just drag on. No offense to Detroit, but your airport is not very entertaining! Even the people watching kind of sucks. 

I had no problem falling asleep last night, but staying asleep was a different story. 3 am here feels like the middle of the afternoon in China, so I kept waking up at weird times. Getting out of bed was quite the ordeal, too. Eventually I crawled out of bed around noon, but only because I bribed myself with coffee and cereal. During the two weeks in China I did not drink very much caffeine, so the two cups of coffee this morning definately did the trick!! Now I am wired and blogging. 

Hello Again!

Long time no see!

A little over a year ago I set out to study abroad in Morocco. Before then I had never left the country, but I was thrilled at the opportunity to travel off the beaten path. Now I’ve just returned from a different adventure.

China.

That’s right: China! This was a more short term adventure, though. It was only two weeks compared to my semester in Morocco. I’ve never traveled like this before other than when I was moving. Therefore packing for this trip was so surreal because I had so much room to spare! My checked bag weighed in at 29 lbs. What a lightweight! I was confused and kept feeling like I was forgetting a lot of things. I could actually lift my suitcase myself and didn’t have to ask my brother for help! He was happy about that I’m sure.

Talk of spring break usually involves beaches, alcohol, and the usual destinations like Cancun or Florida. I really threw people for a curve ball when I would reply, “Well, I ‘m going to China.” There were a lot of priceless expressions, my roommate included! (Sorry we couldn’t do Vegas, Ang.)

This trip to China was part of class within the College of Ag and Bio Sciences at South Dakota State University. Although my majors of Political Science and Global Studies are within a different college, this trip still focuses on a lot of relevant issues. In addition, I grew up on a hog farm and have an agricultural background. I interned with an ag coalition group this past summer and would love to work with international agriculture issues in the future.

As a precaution, I need to make a disclaimer. This was a class trip, but this blog is strictly my opinions, thoughts, and experiences. In no way does the content represent SDSU, the College of Ag, or any other of my classmates. Just me, myself, and I. We do, however, have a group blog that we all contributed to. Check it out at: http://sdsuchinaagtravel.blogspot.com/ 

Anyway, now that that is taken care of, back to China! The trip was both educational and touristy. We toured many places in China, farms, businesses, and an ag college in Beijing. Before taking off, we had a weekly night class in order to prepare for the trip. We heard a variety of speakers with connections to China, including doing business there and seeking alternative medical treatments. One was even a regular customer at the restaurant where I work. Small world! He and his wife lived in China for a couple years for his job. We had a lot of great conversations, and they shared a lot of advice.

In addition to hearing speakers, we also practiced using chopsticks and were required to write a research paper. My assigned topic was on China’s law and justice system. In a nutshell, you better not misbehave in China! There is little transparency, a lack of human rights, and punishments are harsh. Recently people involved in food scandal have been executed. China is still the leading executioner in the world. 

Luckily we did not have any problems while we were there….other than that time we got kicked out of the meat market by the police…but more about that to come! It was a great trip and we sure learned a lot. My goal is to share a little bit of it with you through this blog. I hope you enjoy it!

Counting Down

It’s so hard to believe, but I only have two days left in Morocco. Two!! This semester has flown by, to say the least. 

Although I’m sad to be leaving, I’m also glad to be going home. I have no regrets about leaving because I accomplished everything I wanted to while I was here. I traveled everywhere I wanted to, volunteered, got to know local Moroccans, and started learning a new language. There’s nothing that I wish I had done differently. 

Just like when anything else ends, one has to say goodbye. One of my ISA classmates is leaving today already, and we all said goodbye last night. The people I met throughout this trip- my roommates, my classmates, professors, Moroccan friends, and the people in my apartment- made my experience what it was. I can’t imagine it without them! 

This final week in Morocco has been busy with meetings, finals, and last minute shopping in the medina. I’m off to take an Arabic final today, and tomorrow a few of us were invited to couscous at my professor’s house. I’m glad I’ve been so busy because that means there’s less time to over analyze everything that’s happened these last few months. There were definately some really hard days, but they are outweighed by the many great experiences. I’m really going to miss Morocco!