On the Plane

你好！ (Hello in Chinese)

I'm about 9 hours into the flight to Beijing. This is really a long flight but I've been keeping busy with movies & a nap. Everyone from UConn in my study abroad group is really nice, so I'm looking forward to having a good time once we get settled in Beijing. I'm sitting next to a guy who goes to school in the US but is from the Beijing area and he gave me some tips about getting around, where to go, & how to type the Chinese characters on my iPad. I feel really lucky to have received so much advice from friends & family (thank you Joy, Elizabeth, & my Dad's friend from Sanofi especially!) So far everything has been uneventful. I'm looking forward to the rest of my trip & I'll be in touch. 再见。(Good bye in Chinese.)

Week 1

你好! My first week in Beijing has gone well. I really like the city and culture, it has been really eye-opening. My goal was to blog everyday, but I need wifi which has been surprisingly hard to find. I did so much in the first week and I already have many stories! I started classes in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which is actually just referred to as Chinese Medicine in China since it is still practiced and many modern techniques have been adopted, thus it is not considered traditional or primitive. My Mandarin class has also started and I enjoy it more than TCM. I have a really good teacher and I generally love languages. Mandarin Chinese is a beautiful language to speak because of the different tones, I find it very musical. The characters are beautiful to write as well. I have a Chinese name now, 天, or Tian. I picked it because like Celeste, it is the Chinese word for heaven or sky.

Last week my group and also had trips to the Summer Palace and just yesterday I visited the Forbidden City. Both were spectacular! The architecture, color, beauty, history, and size was amazing. They reminded me of Versailles in France, only they had their own personality, and of course the style was Chinese, not European.

Today I climbed the Fragrant Mountain, which was beautiful as well. It was nice to escape the city on a beautiful and sunny Sunday. It actually turned out to be a strenuous hike and my new hiking boots definitely proved their value. Interestingly though, the mountain hiking trails were not trails at all, they were stone stairs! There were multiple, man-made paths of stairs to climb the mountain. (Dad- all those races up the stairs came in handy for me today!) I climbed the mountain with my professor, Dr. Burgess, who is also a runner, and I had a really good time with her. I also witnessed some women who were actually climbing the stairs in high heels!

Next week my group will be heading to Haitatu Mountain to collect medical herbs in the field! I miss my friends and family and I look forward to sharing more stories soon!

天