I got to close the doors to the Forbidden City.

I got the rest of my grades back and I did really well in speaking and Comprehensive (damn you listening...). Whoooo, I can definitely notice my speaking and listening (in real life) improving. And writing too. I can communicate like a normal person, instead of a 5 year old!

I also found a new apartment because the lease is up on this one on the 29th (in the middle of the week, strangely enough) and because a) the heating in this apartment is terrible b) there may or may not be cockroaches and mold in parts of this apt c) I found one with a non chinese bathroom!!! d) this is right by a major intersection in Haidian which means it's constantly loud and the only quiet time I have heard so far is from 4-5 am.

*for those that don't know: Chinese bathrooms are basically bathroom with the toilet and the showerhead next to each other without separation, and there tends to be really bad drainage for the shower. I'll take a picture and put it up.

This weekend was pretty amazing. :) Friday I went to this really good South Korean place with my friend Mei Lan and we got cake afterwards at this hidden place. :o I spent Friday night with my friend Christy making food for her class on Saturday morning and we made cupcakes and had a SNL night. Saturday I finally went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I went with my classmate from Allegheny, Luke. We joked around and had fun. The Forbidden City was mainly cleared out which was awesome! Here are some pictures:

After that I ended up getting dinner at this really 好吃 place with Christy and we met up with our friend John and Lush. Lush was pretty crowded so we ended up going to Pyro and just getting a pitcher. Pyro had a throwback playlist of feel good songs, so we were singing and having a good time for most of the night. John then decided that he wanted to go to this club next door, Propaganda for ten minutes. Of course we ended up staying there for longer, but it was possibly the worst dj-ing I have ever heard.

Sunday I went to BICF and then we all grabbed lunch at La Bamba, which has the cheesiest quesadillas in Beijing. It's an okay place but it smells kind of bad. :/ I met up with some friends at Lush and then I went shopping for gifts for friends and family with Mohammed at YaShou market in Sanlitunr.

Overall successful weekend.

It's a small world (世界太巧了！）

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but China is a really really small world. I live in Wudaokou, which is in the University District. While on the street one day near my house, Marin, an Allegheny grad saw me! She sent me a message on fb and we got lunch.

I've been meeting up with a fair amount of Allegheny people over here. Just last night I got dinner with Tiancheng and Shan at hotpot (Tiancheng's favorite - every time we get food, we get hot pot!). This xiabuxiabu was nice in the fact it didn't play the rip off numa numa song. At the xiabu xiabu across the street from my apartment they just changed numa numa to xiabu xiabu. It makes you want to kill someone while you are eating because they play it on loop while you're there for a hour. Tiancheng and Shan were both my housemates at Allegheny (or flat mates, you bloody brits are infiltrating my English!) and we had a grand ol' time. Basically I practiced my Chinese and they practiced their English. They also taught me a bunch of fun (i.e. slang) words and I taught them some from my extensive knowledge of colloquial English.

Phrases I have learned in the past month or so: (a lot, but good ones)
Need to: 需要 （xuyao）（ie 我妈需要发我我的医药）（my mom needs to send me my medicine）
Sleep well：一个好好休息 （or have a good rest）
Really？： 真的吗？ （zhen de ma？）
Turn it up：开小一点儿 （for music or radio － kai xiao yi dianr）
Turn it down：关小一点儿 （guan xiao yi dianr）
Can I try —————— on： 我可以试试件——吗？（wo keyi shi shi jian —— ma？）

I'm at that point where I finally integrated into China (somewhat) and I'm not really missing stuff at home right now. There are some things I miss, but I appreciate the things I'm getting here in China. Well it's more like I miss some things from home, but I'm not letting it ruin what I have here. There are advantages and drawbacks to both.

One of the most important things I've learned here is that don't feel tied down with what you are doing at home. There are so many things you can do in this world. If you are unhappy with what you are doing, change it! I knew I wanted to go to China, and there were many roadblocks in my way, but I made it here. Experience the world, you'll learn a) how small it is and b) your world at home isn't as perfect or bad as you make it out to be.

Much love from China,
Sarah

Open Mic Night at Lush

Sunday nights starting around 9 is open mic night at Lush! It's a great time :o
It's currently a war between the Brits and the Americans.


Look Britain, we've beaten you twice, just throwing it out there!

China you are chaotic and a whirlwind.

Since I've been back it has definitely been a rollercoaster. My chinese housemates moved out, it smells like something died in the wall (ew?), my phone was stolen, I went to the art district, got lost in a bunch of hutong (alley), my internet died, met a bunch of cool people at Lush while using their internet, my internet was still dead, my american phone decided to work about 20% of the time, realized I could get internet on my kindle, figured out the chinese bus system, found the Beijinger and TimeOut Beijing!! (this was a big one), learned how to make authentic dumplings, and got my PHONE RETURNED!!!!!!!!

(Ps you can read about my mongolia trip here)

China has a lot of ups and downs.

Down: My phone was stolen
Up: It was miraculously returned

Down: It can get pretty lonely
Up: A lot of people are feeling it. I met a bunch of new people at an expat (foreigner) hangout.

Down: I can't understand a lot of Chinese
Up: I can still hold conversations and am not the typical American demanding people to speak English.

Down: Chinese people will speak English to me instead of Chinese.
Up: I AM GOING TO PRACTICE MY CHINESE. JUST YOU WATCH ME.

Down: Get called a laowai and people will try to screw me over.
Up: Live it, own it, and haggle them down to below local prices.

Down: Being disconnected from Allegheny, my sorority, and home life.
Up: Being disconnected from Allegheny, my sorority, and home life.

Down: No CHEESE. No BREAD. NO CHEESE! WTF CHINA?!
Up: Dumplings. Fried Montau. Noodles. OM NOM NOM.

Down: Being lonely
Up: Awesome new friends :)

Something I have been thinking about is that for a lot of people it's out of sight, out of mind. China has definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things already. I notice that I have a different work ethic and a different approach to people here. Even though China can be a very me me me society, there is a sense of close-knit community between people. I am thankful everyday for the close friends I have made here and am making here. In America I feel like I have a wider group of "friends", which after going abroad, seem more like a large group of acquaintances with some real friends thrown in.

Allegheny College is all about community, and there is definitely a better sense of community there than many places, but I've been pretty disappointed with Allegheny since being here (and maybe a little bit last semester). It was a constant struggle with Allegheny for me to even go abroad, and my struggle, months later, is still not finished. And the irony of it is that I got into a much better program. Furthermore if you're going abroad the support for students is laughable. Well actually, a better question is "What support system?" There is none. Neither is there really support from my sorority. Which when you think about it, is a lot about support and sisterhood. Sisters helping sisters. Yeah, okay. Maybe 3-5 people out of my entire sorority have sent me an email or a message. Don't get me wrong, I love my sorority and it is very true to a lot of our core values, but going abroad definitely helped me see it in a clearer light.

I think everyone at some point should go abroad and live outside of the United States or at least in an area vastly different from where you are from/grew up. It opens your eyes to many things.

I guess one example of this would be that Americans are all gungho about freedom of speech and net neutrality and freedom. In China, a lot of Chinese people are for some of the regulation of the internet (for things such as porn, nsfw things, pedophiles, etc), but there is some expressions of discontent.

China works toward the new American (Chinese) dream. There are millions of people migrating in China in search for a better life. In America I see so many people content with where they are or feel stuck in one place. It's not easy to get out of that, but go somewhere new. Move, get out, save up a thousand dollars, go somewhere new, teach english or somehow earn money, and soak up some culture. It's worth it.


And end rambling.