The day has come!

ByHaley Sorenson | May 15, 2012 | 2012 Trip | No comments

My bags are packed ready to go… leeeeaving onnn a jet plane.

But seriously, I can’t believe it’s here! I’ve been waiting all semester for this and I can’t wait to see what China holds for all of us!

Twas the night before China

ByWilliam Pollan | May 15, 2012 | 2012 Trip | No comments

I honestly can’t believe that we leave for China tomorrow. Time flies! Not the best blogger, but I gave it a shot.

-Will

17 Hours Left

ByRob | May 15, 2012 | 2012 Trip | No comments

This is the first of many messages to come regarding my adventures in China. After two exhausting days of getting everything together, I am finally finished packing and am anxious to get on the plane. I realized today as I was packing how little I know about this country. I am excited to learn about a culture that is sure to be very different from our own.

Everyone has been trying to give me advice. This trip is all that I have talked about for the last three weeks, even though I have spent very little time actually thinking about it. My grandparents and their friends have given me their opinion of China, and PPA recruiters have been quick to share their thoughts as well. Everyone has been excited for me, telling me that this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I finally caved to the pressure and bought my first camera so that I could better document my stories from the trip.

I really don’t know what to expect. It will be a time to try new things and meet many new people. Coming from Austin, I thought that I lived in a big city. However, staying in Houston the past week has made me rethink my definition of “big.” Never have I seen so much traffic and urbanization, and I expect that the number of people in Beijing will be overwhelming. I’m trying to mentally prepare myself right now.

With finals coming to an end and then office visits beginning immediately afterward, it is no wonder that I have been exhausted this week. Fortunately, this long plane ride (13 hours I think) will give me an opportunity to catch up on sleep. A few hours ago, I decided that I will be interning with PwC next spring. It feels good to have that decision made, and the recruiting process completed.

I have spent my last few days enjoying the luxuries of American living. Some time on facebook, watching baseball on tv, and enjoying some good food (Burgers, James Coney Island, Tex-Mex). I started watching a tv series that I got for Christmas called “Band of Brothers,” (WWII) and it has got me feeling very patriotic. I’m going to miss Texas and America.

I was joking with some friends and family that I was going to make a t-shirt that says “CAPITALISM” on it, but some people did not react well to the idea. I guess I’m not supposed to joke about things like that. I am most looking forward to the Great Wall visit and roaming the streets of Beijing. I am on a mission to find myself a nice custom-suit that I hear are extremely cheap. A little worried that my Chinese won’t hold up too well in public though. My one survival class was definitely not enough to prepare me for what lies ahead.

I will close this first entry with an interesting point. People around me always ask why I am going to China. “Why not Spain, Germany, or France? Do I have a special interest in the Asian culture? What is the appeal of a country in which everything – the food, the language, the lifestyle – is foreign to you?”

“How many people do you know that go to China? If I do not go now, I might never go in my entire life. This is a culture that westerners like myself do not fully understand, and cannot be simply explained to you. I could not pass up this kind of opportunity to travel with so many great friends from Texas A&M.”

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Five Days until the 2012 trip begins…

ByDr. David Flint | May 10, 2012 | 2012 Trip | No comments

Ni Howdy!

The Summer 2012 China trip will begin in about five days from when I’m posting this blog entry.  Frankly, the fact that the third set of students is about to head across the world with me to visit China is a little bit suprising.  The first two years went by so very quickly, and now the third year’s trip is here.

Some notable differences for this year’s trip are the following:

Fewer students – this trip will have thirteen students.  We should have a much easier time wandering through China together.  Counting from the back end of the wandering group will be easier for me.  How many can I see… thirteen… all here… good.

New sights to see – we will head to Luoyang and Dengfeng after seeing Xi’an this year.  That means some new natural wonders to explore and a visit to the birthplace of Kung Fu.  Plus, we’ll be on high speed trains more than once on this trip with only one night of a sleeper train on the way to Xi’an.

More free days – the trip is a little longer this year so that we could have more free, unscheduled time in Beijing.  Hmm… how will the students put that extra free time to use?  Perhaps the blog will have some extra stories this year.

Dubai – we are flying through Dubai on Emirates planes this year.  We’ll get to explore Dubai a little bit on the way back.  The travel time is longer, but we get two countries in one trip.  I think at least one of the flights will be on a double-decker A380 plane, too.  People who have experienced Emirates air service tell me it is very good, so perhaps those 15 and 16 hour flights between Houston – Dubai – Houston won’t feel quite as bad as my imagination currently expects.

The 2012 China Blog is open… the learning begins even before we take-off… and so does some of the fun…

Zaijian (see you later),

Prof. Flint

2011 Program Picture Album

Byirodriguez | October 13, 2011 | 2011 Trip | No comments

It’s 2 a.m. in a hostel in Beijing…

ByJakob Rosenberg '12 | June 21, 2011 | 2011 Trip | 1 comment

… and I’m missing China already.

I read everyone else’s posts about what they miss so much about China and it’s true that I’m going to miss everything.

Jakob update! If you didn’t know, I stayed an extra week after our program ended to bum around China a bit and do things I didn’t have time for including visiting the Beijing zoo, attending services at the Beijing Chabad center, and taking a trip to Qingdao to visit my friend, Russell.

The zoo was enormous and filled with awesome animals. I did get the “want” to free all the poor animals that I felt wanted to escape. Luckily, I managed to hold back my animal activist urges to avoid spending some time in a Chinese prison.  Going to services at the synagogue in Beijing was also great! Besides the food being unbelievably delicious, I got to learn a lot about Jewish history in China and I had a great time.

Qingdao was a whole adventure on it’s own.  From trying to get train tickets, to missing my first train, and then finally going on a standing train for the 8 hour ride. Though, I actually only stood for about 5 hours, the other 3 hours were split with about 2 hours on a stool, on a seat for 1 hour, and an hour on the floor in the aisle.  A tip from Jakob, if you really want a crazy experience, by all means buy a standing ticket but if you have the opportunity to buy a seat or a sleeper, take it.  I got probably about one poor hour of sleep and I was incredibly exhausted.  Trying to sleep standing up, on a stool, or in the aisle is really really really really hard.  It was worth it though because Qingdao was amazing with its mountains, beaches, and architecture.  It was colonized by the Germans, and therefore has some outstanding German architecture as well as some really good beer.  I also got to hang out with my friend, Russell, who is on a two and a half month intensive language program, as well as a bunch of other Aggies on the program as well.  It was oodles of fun and thank goodness I managed to get a high speed rail ticket for the trip back.

The hostel I’ve been staying at in Beijing was also a huge part of my trip. I hadn’t stayed in a hostel before and let me tell you it was pretty awesome.  I got to meet a ton of amazing people from literally all over the world (England, Sweden, France, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, India, and other parts of China and the U.S.)  and chat with them about everything from global politics, economics, lifestyles, cultures, personal experiences, and everything in between.  The worst part is after you establish this great friendship you or they have to leave shortly.  Definitely bittersweet.

There’s really no way to sum up how much I’m going to miss you China. It’s been real. Stay sassy and I’ll be back.

I just know it.

Eventful flight home; strikes and riots!

ByCaitlin Saunders | June 19, 2011 | 2011 Trip | No comments

What an eventful flight home. Chloe, Andrew, Sam and I decided to fly separately with Air Canada on the way home. We were caught in a 4 hour delay on the plane; had we flown out maybe just 30 minutes earlier chances are we wouldn’t have been caught up in the storm mother nature decided to throw our way. With only an hour and a half to catch the next flight we knew our fate was decided for the rest of our trip; we would inevitably miss both connecting flights. Once we landed in Vancouver we found out that there was a strike amongst the workers which was why it took so long to get anything done. Fortunately my lovely parents had been working behind the scenes getting my flights figured out and had me scheduled to fly to Calgary to stay with family friends that night and to then fly home the next morning. Also fun fact as I stayed awake all night and watched the news due to my inability to sleep there was a huge riot in Vancouver because their hockey team lost the Stanley cup against the Boston bruins good thing we didn’t stay there.
Now finally home and after two days of catching up on sleep I am finally reconnecting with the world via internet. Arriving back in the states the first thing I ate was my favorite meal; sushi! It was so delicious but I still miss my street meat kabobs. Overall it is great to be home but what makes it even better is my new experience I get to share with my family. Love China and as I told the Chinese customs man I will be back soon enough:)

It Feels Weird Being Home

ByKathryn Blackwell | June 17, 2011 | 2011 Trip | 1 comment

After a month in China, I thought I would be more than ready to come home. It was so sad leaving Beijing though. It had started to feel like my home. I already miss all the places around campus I would always go to to eat and the new Chinese friends that I have made. I went to go eat Mexican food as my first meal being back in America, and it didn’t taste the same to me. Surprisingly I found myself craving Chinese food (I thought I would be sick of it by now but I’m not). I feel weird having all this space around me. I always felt kinda cramped in Beijing. The city was so crowded you never had very much personal space. China was such a wonderful experience! I never could have imagined how much fun it truly would be! I honestly didn’t expect that much, before I left for China, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much about the Chinese culture, and it was wonderful to experience a part of the world that is so much different than America. I fell in love with Beijing and I would love to go back someday.

It’s Shocking

ByRaelynn Copeland | June 17, 2011 | 2011 Trip | 2 comments

So it’s official. I have jet lag. It is the worst stuff ever. My whole family is sleeping and I’m just sitting staring at the ceiling in the dark. Why, oh why, was I soooo tired this evening that I had to go to bed at seven? I slept for a good six hours and woke up only to find that I need to sleep for another five before anyone starts to dream of  waking up. So here I am writing at one in the morning. It is a bit shocking to me how much I actually miss China. Who knew right? When people ask what I will miss or what thing I am glad to have again since I am back in the states, I don’t know what to say. I can’t adequately put my finger on the difference between the U.S. and China. The traffic is different but they still follow road laws, stop at lights, etc. so I end up with the answer that basically they just cut people off; but we even do that here. So how do I describe the difference between such completely opposite places? The toilets are different, it is true they are just holes in the ground, but they have stalls and toilet paper and you flush it when you’re done. If you think about it, we also have to squat on the toilets here and we are essentially going in a hole. Do you see my dilemma?

The conclusion I’ve made is that there are no words to describe to you my feelings about China, about the differences between China and the U.S.A, and about what I miss. I can only say that I miss it. I miss the food, walking everywhere or riding the subway, the traffic believe it or not (its actually quite exhilarating to never know if you are going to hit the car in front of you), the 15 cent ice cream and water and of course the people and friends I have made. The Chinese people are extremely accommodating and hospitable. It is true they have no sense of waiting for your turn and therefore lines are effectively useless (they tend to cut when you wait your turn, so in the end you start doing the same), they like to go native as we have politely and affectionately dubbed the men who pull their shirts up to expose their stomachs and leave them that way; yet when you look like you don’t know where you are going someone will stop and do everything they can to help you. Like the student Yuan, who walked us twenty minutes to find the subway to the zoo when we first arrived. Or there are my friends Li and Caio Biao who graciously would give you whatever you wanted; always offering drinks and a conversation.

But besides the people I think the thing I might miss the most is the way Beijing comes alive. When the sun goes down, it doesn’t go down in the city. The city lights up as store lights are turned on and Christmas lights strung from shop to tree begin to twinkle. People begin to wander out to the streets for dinner and beer with friends. There are street vendors hawking their wares and laughter floats through the air. Random smells waft by to greet your senses and a light flow of traffic adds the perfect background noise when combined with a few random notes of music you might occasionally hear. Although I love being home, I miss you china.

Home, Sweet Home

ByAlli Faris | June 17, 2011 | 2011 Trip | No comments

So I’ve been home technically for an entire day, and I can’t express how much I miss China! I had such a wonderful experience. I am having withdrawals and am already reminiscing about the trip. That place became my home and the people became my family!

Every person came from a different walk of life, had a different personality, and I have no clue if any of us would have become friends if it weren’t for this trip! But it’s so funny that when you’re forced to survive in a foreign country with barely any English speakers, how close everyone got. I got kind of teary-eyed leaving the airport from everyone on the trip. Seriously, y’all made the trip so wonderful! I was thinking about coming back to China to do an internship or teach English; but when I thought about it, it could never measure up to the past trip because of the community I was with! I am so sad that y’all don’t live just down the hallway from me anymore

I want to thank everyone on the trip for making my experience so great! I am so excited to see what the future holds for all of us and I can’t wait until I get to see you again!

Zai Jian