China Summer 2009

Written by Melanie Cohen

May 29, 2009: Today one of my dreams finally came true. Since my dream of becoming a top athlete doesn’t look too promising, I might as well dream to step on the ground that the best athletes in the world compete on. Yes, today was the day that we visited one of the most beautiful Olympic venues thus far. We sat in the building where Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals and laid on the ground where Usain Bolt was crowned the fastest man in the world.

After eating breakfast at 7:15, we eagerly boarded the bus to head to the Olympic venue. As we approached the Olympic venue, a sense of excitement filled the air of the bus. The first sight of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest were absolutely amazing. I could not believe that I was finally at the Beijing Olympic site. We wasted no time to start our shopping as soon as we departed the bus while waiting for our tickets. The one really neat item that I bought was a key chain that had part of the Water Cube (the left over material used to make the Water Cube) in the key chain. After our quick ten-minute shopping trip, we made our way into the Water Cube. Walking up to the entrance were beautiful glass windows with water flowing down them. The water appeared as if it was flowing right down from the water cube itself. After entering the water cube we walked less than 100 feet to enter the pool area. The first thing that I saw while entering the pool area was the diving well which was enough to take my breath away. Being a swimmer myself, I never felt so excited to smell chlorine than I was today. After taking many pictures of the diving well, I turned to the right where the pool was located. I honestly stared at that pool for a couple of minutes. It is the most beautiful pool I have ever seen. I could not even believe that I was standing in the Water Cube. Words cannot describe how badly I just wanted to stick my finger or toe in the water. After leaving the competition pool, we saw the practice pool, which was another long course (50 meter) pool. Wow, having two long course pools in one facility is unbelievable.

Next, we headed to the Bird’s Nest. Watching the Olympics on television does not give a good perspective on how large the Bird’s Nest actually is. As we walked towards the track, the size of the inside once again took my breath away. We quickly ran down onto the track and got into the track start position and took a picture. It was unbelievable how many people take pictures of us when we pose for our own pictures. There were so many people when we all laid on the ground to spell out HSHP and IC with our bodies. It was such an amazing experience lying on the ground of the Bird’s Nest and just looking up at the sky.

After stepping foot in the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, I now understand why so many records were broken. The atmosphere today was enough to get my adrenaline pumping. I cannot even imagine what the Olympic athletes feel as they enter those venues to compete for a gold medal.

After shopping some more at the Olympic Venue, we headed back for lunch for very nice surprise. We were actually served FRENCH FRIES at lunch. Yes, no more duck bodies, fish heads, shrimp with eyes, just plain french fries. Of course we had to get refills on the french fries because they were gone in the first few minutes of lunch. As lunch ended we had a break before we headed to the Summer Palace. Many of us uploaded all of our Olympic Venue pictures because we still could not believe we actually went there.

At 2:30 pm we headed to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is the summer home of the empress. The Summer Palace was so impressive because it was not only on a beautiful lake, but the buildings were decorated with elaborate paintings. When walking through the covered walkway, we found a picture of the Dean painted on the wall. Who would’ve thought the Dean was that old to be painted on the empress’ pathway! I really enjoyed the summer palace because it was so serene and calm. I would love spending a day out on the lake or out on the dock relaxing. The view from the top of the palace was amazing. We could see almost all of Beijing. It was amazing to be up that high and see the whole city so clearly.

Tomorrow we head to the Forbidden City, the Pearl Market, and the Silk Market. Our bargaining skills will definitely be tested tomorrow!!

Written by Alicia Harper

May 29. We started the day off with breakfast and then went to the Olympic Venues. We visited the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube! The main theme for the Beijing 2008 Olympics was “One World One Dream”. We did some shopping for Olympic gear and then went into the Water Cube. Upon entering the Water Cube we were able to dip our hands in the waterfall surrounding the Water Cube. Inside the Water Cube we looked at the competition pool and the practice pool. In the competition pool we were able to see the diving section and the swim lanes. The Water Cube was an amazing experience.

After the Water Cube we went to the Bird’s Nest. The Bird’s Nest held competitions for track and field events. Once we got into the Bird’s Nest we were able to walk on the covered track. We took multiple pictures on the field such as the group spelling out HSHP and IC with our bodies. I am pretty sure that I can speak for the group and say that we felt honored to be visiting the Olympic Venus.

After the Olympic Venus we came back for lunch and then went to the Summer Palace.  The Summer Palace or Yihe Yuan in Chinese means Garden for Maintaining Health and Harmony. The Summer Palace contains includes gardens, natural landscape, temples and bridges. The Summer Palace is a great place to relax with its gorgeous views. Kunming Lake is located in the Summer Palace and visitors can rent paddleboats to take out on the lake. We had beautiful weather for sight seeing.

After the Summer Palace we returned to Beijing Sport University and played soccer. We had an awesome time until we got kicked off the field because we didn’t have permission to play on that field.

After soccer we ate dinner and then Shona performed her traditional Scottish dances for the group on the front entrance outside of our dorm. Shona did an outstanding job. We had no idea that Shona was so talented.

After the performance we all showered because we were so dirty from soccer and then we walked down to the river/canal with Nick to hangout and play games. It was a great evening to fun filled day.

Written by Michelle Danley

May 28th.  This morning we woke up on the train, eager to finally arrive in Beijing. We packed up our little sleeper car rooms, made sure we had all our bags and headed into the train station to meet up with Gracie and Chwan, our guides for our stay at Beijing Sport University (BSU). We loaded our luggage onto the bus and began our drive to the 5^th ring of the city where BSU is located. The trip wasn’t too long, and we didn’t run into any major traffic. When we arrived at BSU we had time to settle into our rooms, take a shower, and relax before lunch. Lunch was good but the food was much more similar to Chinese food you would get in the United States than what we had been eating previously on our trip.

After lunch we piled back into the bus and headed off to the Great Wall! The drive to the wall took about an hour, and as we got closer we could see remnants of the wall from the bus, and we got even more excited. When we finally arrived we got off the bus and had to walk up the hill a little ways to get to the entrance for the wall. As we walked we had all the vendors along the way asking us to buy different things, but we had to wait till afterwards. Even though it was raining lightly, and there was a fog over the mountains we all couldn’t wait to start climbing the Great Wall! Nick decided that we were going to walk up the harder of the two different paths that we could choose from since it usually had less people. It was a pretty tough climb at times, with one section which felt like almost an 80 degree angle with varying sized steps. Other sections were just very steep inclines. The view was amazing despite the weather. When we finally reached the top/where we had to turn around because the wall was decaying, we were so excited and began taking our group pictures. At the top we also saw some people trying to sell us souvenirs. I didn’t buy anything from them, but some of the other girls were going to, but all of a sudden they packed up their stuff and jumped over the edge of the wall! It turns out they didn’t have a permit to be selling things on the wall and the police were coming. We were all really curious as to what was happening, and peered over the wall after the police went over after them, but we never did find out what ended up happening.  The climb back down was almost as difficult as the climb up because we had to go really slow so we didn’t lose our footing and fall forwards down the steep slopes. At the bottom we took another group photo in front of the monument of calligraphy by Chairman Mao, which translates to “You are not a true man/hero until you have climbed the Great Wall”. We then had a chance to do some shopping, and practice our bargaining skills. Most people found some things to buy and we all got some pretty good deals, so it was a successful first attempt at bargaining, and we couldn’t wait for another chance to go shopping!

When we got back to campus we had dinner and all took a look around the grocery store on campus. We then headed back to the rooms and hung out for the rest of the night. Hongwei and his friend did take on Kelly and Melanie in a late night tennis match. Each pair won a game and they had a good time, and they said the facility was really nice! We all then went to bed tired from our long hike up the Great Wall!

  Alise Zirilli writes

Early this morning we all awoke aboard a train that was taking us to Beijing.  We spent about 12 hours traveling overnight in a train.  We also all got the first class treatment on the train with four soft beds in a room compared to either having to sit in a chair or lying on a very hard bed.  On the bus ride to Beijing Sport University we were introduced to Gracie and Wang Chuan. 

Once we arrived at the university we unpacked, ate lunch and got ready for the Great Wall.  It took us about an hour to arrive at the Great Wall.  The second we stepped off the bus we were surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff.  This was a bit overwhelming because a lot of people have never experienced such aggressiveness with people trying to sell things.  After getting way from all the vendors we began our hike up the Great Wall.  We decided to take the more challenging, but shorter climb up the Great Wall.  We climbed up many stairs and very steep slopes until we reached the end point.  At the end point there was some people selling plaques stating we climbed the Great Wall.  Only Natalie was able to get her’s personalized and paid for before the police came to look for them, because they did not have permits to sell stuff on the Great Wall.  So as the police officer started to walk up the Wall, the illegal vendor climbed over the Great Wall into the woods to hide.  After many pictures we began our descent of the Great Wall.  It was a slow walk down because it had been raining and the ground was slippery.  At the bottom of the Great Wall we were given time to shop and practice our bargaining skills for the first time in China.

When we arrived back at the University we cleaned up a little bit then headed to dinner.   After dinner we all just went back to the dorm and had some down time.  We worked on getting the Internet to turn on and just hung out with one another.  At 10:00pm Hongwei, Kelly, and Mel headed to meet Hongwei’s friend at the tennis court for a friendly match.  Hongwei and his friend beat Kelly and Mel in doubles 6 to 2. Kelly and Melanie say their rackets were worse then the guy’s rackets, but Hongwei insists that all the rackets were bad.  So who should we believe? Even though Kelly and Melanie lost in the doubles match, when Hongwei played Melanie, there was a new winner and that was Melanie. 

Written by Alex Dailey

May 27^th 2009.  Today is our last day in Changzhi, China. We woke up for 7 A.M. and got ready for breakfast. After our quick meal we headed off to visit the castle and mansion of the PM. Yet we ended up getting lost due to construction and made it to the museum quite late, but the extra hours gave us a chance to rest and get prepared for the day ahead. Once we arrived we were faced with this massive and majestic structure.

The castle slash mountain was the home to the PM also known as Chen Tingling. A first rank court official who held power over several offices within the Chinese empire. His majestic and mesmerizing castle is what is left of his vast domain. The Castle itself is breathtaking, high towers, beautiful gardens, and amazing homes are held within the walls of the mansion.  We also were informed that the mansion/castle is home to the first Chinese dictionary, known as the Kangxi Dictionary. The mansion holds rare treasures and books spanning from publication in the Qin Dynasty to the present. We also watched a performance of typical music played within the time period. It was quite beautiful.

After our visit to the museum, we were off to find lunch.  We ended up at another hot pot restaurant. It was quite an experience we were given personal hot pots to place our food in and prepare our meal. The best part of the meal was the noodle makers. They personally made the noodles right in front of your eyes by using throwing and swaying techniques similar to making a pizza but way more interesting. Following dinner we were rushed back onto the bus to head back to the hotel and get ready to get to the train station for our 6:40 departure.  Once we arrived we were quickly ushered into the VIP lounging area where we could sit and relax until the train had arrived.

Finally, the train ride was so interesting. We were all given a tour of the train to experience the different areas and ways of travel. Being that this was my first sleeper car experience I was excited. We all hung out in our rooms and played card games, listened to music, or slept. Tomorrow will be so exciting our train leaves us in Beijing where we will be staying at Beijing Sport University,and visiting The Great Wall of China!