end of Beijing and onto Xian!

yesterday we went to Beijing International Studies University (BISU) and visited the campus. we got a tour from the cutest girl ever (i wont lie- i think everyone in this country is adorable) and then were each paired with a student who had to APPLY to be there (whoa..) and all of their English had to be very very good.  my girl, Amanda, was so sweet! we talked about boyfriends and school and her family and classes - i told her all about the USA and college and all of that- it was so cool! we exchanged emails so i hope to hear from her! college over here is so intense- even at like age 5 the children study late into the night. they are tested repeatedly and if they do well they are put on track to go to the university. they have to take exams to get in, like we do, but they only take the top few students (like 1 or 2) so apparently lots of people commit suicide if they do not do well because of the shame it brings the family. that was upsetting to hear. the Chinese are definitely hard working people but they are keeping themselves at a major disadvantage by censoring what information people have access to.

next we went to a pearl market and a silk factory. we watched them take the silk worms out of the boiled cocoons and then stretch the silk to make blankets and fabric. it was really interesting but sorta annoying because our guide kept taking us places to buy things cause he got a cut of the profit. the pearl market was insane! so many people and shops and products- i got some beautiful stuff for not a lot of money. the people there were very very pushy which was intense but similar to Ghana :) so i loved it.  

after that we ate lunch at a yummy restaurant where i finally sat at the veggie table to get some tofu- all i got from that lunch was the knowledge that I'm probably allergic to MSG because my face is bright red, itchy, and a little swollen. (COOL.) oops :) after lunch we went to another market - this one had 5 floors with fake EVERYTHING- from clothing to electronics to shoes to DVDs- oh man. this one lady coerced me to try on a pair of boots i had no interest in buying at all and when i walked away cause i literally did not want them she death grabbed my arm to the point i thought she was going to break the skin and took her price from 850 yuan to 100 yuan- aka about $15. ha. i had to buy them. i also got a fake Hermes watch (because i never know what time it is around here), a fake bag for me and one for Lucy per request, and the pashminas Linda and Adrienne requested :) i did good :)   then we headed to the airport where i ate KFC fries for dinner and took the 2 hour flight to Xian. one thing i dont understand is that the Chinese are the most efficient people ever but when they are put into a system- like airport check in- they are SO SLOW its terrible. i don't understand how they are kicking everyone's butt economically but it took over 1 hour for us to get our tickets and we were the only people in line and there were at least 3 tellers. anyways, we took the 45 minute bus ride to the hotel,  got in our room, i took some benadryl and slept until 9:15 this morning when the maid pounded on our door trying to collect laundry we didn't have. 

my roommate and i went downstairs to get some food and then i got dressed to explore Xian on our free day. we entered the city walls (it used to be the capital before Beijing so there is a wall around the city) and climbed up to rent bikes. Katherine and i rented a tandem one which was hilarious/awesome because i was on the back therefore didn't have to steer and could take pictures. there were a lot of decorations going up for Chinese new year and we got to circle the entire city. it was about a 10 mile ride? so fun! i was wearing my sweet Boston hat Ethan got me and my hokies tee shirt and these three guys and one girl were like yea Boston! and then we started talking and they were peace corp volunteers- one guy saw my hokie shirt and was like um is that say hokies? I'm from springfield VA! haha such a small world in china :)   after the bike ride we went to pizza hut- ha. so delicious cept the waiters/waitresses spoke zero English so ordering was a bit of an adventure- and yes, i said waiters because it is a sit down restaurant with steak, coffee, dessert, pasta, etc on the menu. after lunch we walked around this outdoor street market where i got some cool art and saw lots of interesting things. now I'm back in the room trying to get my face to stop burning before we go to a dumpling dinner at 6:30! tomorrow we are doing the terra-cotta warriors  which should be the coolest experience ever. i feel like I've been dreaming of this all my life. 

in other news i've been really enjoying my new book: The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders. David Sedaris recommended it when Jess, Adrienne, and I saw him read in Richmond- and obviously his word is law so I bought it. its hilarous. he actually summed up what i like to think is my philosophy towards traveling, exploring, growing, living- thought i should share: "F*** concepts. Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen."