IPENG Study Abroad Beijing, China Summer 2002

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IPENG Study AbroadBeijing, ChinaSummer 2002

• By Gautam Kumar

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Step 1 14 hour plane ride straight to Beijing!
Definitely a bonding experience though.
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Getting to know eachother in front of our hotel
once we finally reached Beijing. Since the
international dorm was full, we stayed at a hotel
near the campus, which was nice considering we
got our own bathrooms and daily room service.
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First of all, we toured the beautiful Tsinghua
University campus. It was quite a change from the
Illinois cornfields.
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Not bad scenery on our way to class.
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Wait a second that looks like Foellinger. Thats
because the architect who built this Tsinghua
building was a pupil of the architect for
Foellinger.
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Tsinghua has some really nice natural scenery
too.
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Sometimes it looks more like a botanical garden
than a university.
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We had some time to chill in our hotel rooms
before classes started.
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What we did in our free time Hung around in the
hotel
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and pretended to be pop stars.
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A lot of time was spent eating too. We had an
allowance to spend at local restaurants. Hot Pot
is a popular type of meal where everyone shares
from the same pot of food.
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Being in China, we couldnt leave without having
a taste of some more exotic foods like scorpions
and grasshoppers on sticks.
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There were some great markets and places to shop
in Beijing. This is one called Wang Fu Jing. We
all came out of China as much better bargainers.
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The night life is also pretty good in Beijing.
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Of course, we couldnt forget about classes. We
were split up into 3 groups Beginning,
Intermediate, and Advanced based on prior Chinese
knowledge. Whichever class youre in, its a
guarantee that youll improve your Chinese by A
LOT.
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We also had the opportunity to take classes in
Tai Chi and Calligraphy. This is us practicing
Tai Chi with the hotel attendant.
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We were also taken around to see Beijing. This is
a lake at Beijing University. Tsinghua U. and
Beijing U. are said to be like the MIT and
Harvard of China.
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We also were given tours of Tiananmen Square
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and the Forbidden City.
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We also were taken to eat at a Chinese Tea House.
Good food and awesome performances.
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We also saw a traditional Peking Opera about the
Monkey King.
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Another interesting thing you see walking around
Beijing are the traditional Chinese squatters
wait a second
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We also were taken to see the famous Summer
Palace.
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A pretty nice view from the top of the palace.
Its amazing that all this is in a major city
like Beijing.
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This is at the Temple of Heaven also in Beijing.
The program allowed us to see pretty much
everything there is to see in the city.
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Playing dress up at the Summer Palace.
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We also bought front row seats for the famous
Chinese acrobats in Beijing. Its a show which I
think you shouldnt miss if you go to China.
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They did some pretty insane stunts.
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14 people on a bicycle? Who came up with this
stuff? It makes Barnum Bailey seem like a side
show.
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The program also took us for some traveling
outside of Beijing.
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More traveling.
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We visited a lot of Buddhist temples outside of
Beijing.
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Wu Tai Mountain had several Buddhist temples all
in the same town.
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One of them was even made of gold.
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Another temple on Wu Tai Mountain.
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The program also included a visit to the caves in
a town called Datong. There were over 10,000
Buddha statues carved in these caves ranging from
a couple millimeters to over 200 feet tall.
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Of course, no program to China is complete
without a visit to the Great Wall. Unfortunately
it was pretty foggy when we visited
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So we went again on a clearer day to a more
remote part of the wall.
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There were some pretty amazing views.
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We did quite a bit of walking.
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Alright a LOT of walking.
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A group of us also went to Inner Mongolia and
stayed in traditional Mongolian yurts.
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Also we dressed like Genghis himself and went
horseback riding.
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We also participated in some traditional
Mongolian wrestling matches.
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Overall, our trip to China was definitely an
experience we wont soon forget. Few people have
the chance to visit such far off and exotic
places and have so many crazy adventures. Not
only did we have the time of our lives, but we
learned so much about Chinese culture as well. I
can speak for all of us in saying that we had
many a story to tell when we reached the U.S.
again. It was definitely an opportunity none of
us regret taking.