Farewell Dinner

That night we were all sad to be eating our final dinnner in China. Our ten days had passed in the blink of an eye. We each gave a short, impromptu presentation about what we had learned from the trip and what we hoped to bring back home. The Indians surprised us with some amazing presentations, singing and performing in Hindi. After dinner, the celebration turned into a dance party when the Indians shared some popular Hindi music. By the end of the night, none of us could believe we were getting on planes the next day to take off for different parts of the world.



Once back at the hotel all of the Global Citizens gathered for an after-party celebration. Jason and Max actually moved one of the beds out of their room to clear space for all twenty of us. Jason, Diviyanish, and Abhishek experimented on Abhishek's new guitar and the rest of us sat around until the early hours of the morning, exchanging contact information and talking. None of us wanted to go to bed, knowing that it was our last night together.





(top) Jason with his guitar. (top right) Max and Brooke. (bottem) Shivang, Rishika, Devika, and Erika.

Max's Doodle

Max's doodle for Krishna about our trip.

Some Adventures

The Great Wall at Last

On our last day in China we finally visited the Great Wall of China, something I'd been looking foward to the whole trip. I have to say, the Wall definately lived up to the "great" in it's name. Although much of it was built over 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty, it still remains the longest man made structure in the world. Visible from space, it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.



I was surprised to find that climbing the wall felt like as great a feat as building it. For over a half an hour we staggared up hundreds of stone steps that wound their way through the humid jungle. When we stopped to rest, feeling like our limbs were on fire, we were swarmed by huge bugs surfacing from the tangled undergrowth. The agonizing journey to the wall only made it more amazing when I stepped foot on its breezy summit.




































The Wall was spectacular. Only about ten feet wide and punctuated by watch towers every so often, it snaked and dipped across the mountians, dissapearing into the mist. As we climbed over the weather-worn stone I marvalled at how, even after hundreds of years, something built by hand could have lasted so well. Though we profess we've come so far as a society and have built such amazing things beyond the wildest dreams of ancient architects, they have not been built to last. In a hundred years our skyscrapers will probably be crumbling, but the Great Wall will still stand.
























A top the great wall, backdropped against a seemingly endless expanse of jungle, the film crew recorded the last of its promotional ads. It was amazing to think that another student would soon be watching me standing in such an incredible place, proclaiming "this is my classroom," and would be inspired to travel with EF. On tour I really learned the importance of travel, of how it can truly open a person's world view and provides learning through experience that is unequivocal in textbooks. All students should have the opportunity to travel; I know I never would have been able to visit a place like China without aid from a scholarship.

June 25th

That afternoon we were able to test our bartering skills at Chi'enmen Market, a market place near Tienanmen Square. We separated off into groups to explore, trying our hands at a little bit of independence and strengthening the friendships we'd been building. Unfortunately for me, it was then that I discovered my wallet was missing. I spent the afternoon frantic until we returned to the hotel and cancelled my Visa card (waking up my poor mother at two in the morning!) Needless to say, I learned a hard lesson about watching out for one's belongings.



We relaxed together at the hotel for a little while, playing some team-building games and then simply spending time with each other, whether it was obsessing over our new favorite hackey sacks, ordering mass amounts of food from the French waiter at the cafe, or just sitting and talking. I was realizing just how close I was becoming with my fellow Global Citizens--and how sad I would be when we all went our separate ways in two days time. The ten days had truly flown by.

After dinner we stepped out into Beijing for a spectacular kung fu show. Some of the feats performed were truly incredible and we were all absolutely awestruck. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed so I can only let you use your imaginations.

The Temple of Heaven

Beijing's Temple of Heaven is surrounded by a huge park. As we walked up to the Temple, we caught a glimpse of Beijing's people visiting a place beautiful to both them and outsiders. They practiced tai chi. They strolled hand in hand. They danced to the sounds of traditional music vibrating from speakers. They played dominoes. They kicked feathered hacky sacks. It was amazing to see such vibrant and colorful life surrounding me.


The Temple it's self was beautiful. Three tiers of elaborately painted blue, red, and gold, the Temple was surviving from the fifteenth century, a place where farmers would come to pray for a good harvest.



In the park, we were given a tai chi lesson. Tai chi was different than I thought it would be--often it's confused with Kung Fu. However, although tai chi was about self defense, it stressed slower, fluid motions and control over one's body. At first glimpse it seemed easy, but I discovered that truly mastering the intricacies of the poses would take years. Our tour guide, Jacky (not Chan) was a tai chi master in several of the different styles.



Our tai chi lesson in the middle of the bustling park contributed to what seemed to me to be a separation between modern China and traditional China. It felt as though the country was caught between progressing forward through new technologies and celebrating its past. Cities like Shanghai were focused on building the tallest and brightest skyscrapers, the most fantastic World's Fair, the most affluent citizens. I wondered if China's push to be a modern world power was at the expense of its traditions.

The Summer Palace

After exploring the forbidden city, our next stop was the ancient Summer Palace, a gorgeous place with some amazing history behind it. The Summer Palace was the second home of the Emperor Dowager Cixi, also known as the Dragon Lady, one of the most powerful women in Chinese history and my new heroine.


Cixi was originally a concubine to Emperor Xianfeng in the late 1850s. We actually visited her quarters while in the forbidden city. Cixi bore the emperor a son and when Xianfeng died unexpectedly, her son was crowned Emperor at age six. Cixi essentially ruled behind the curtain, gathering political allies as her son grew up. As he got older, he attempted to drive Cixi from the Forbidden City, and eventually died of smallpox. Meanwhile, the Dragonlady hand-picked one of Xianfeng's nephews as Emperor but continued to rule through him, governing the Hundred Days' Reform, The Boxer Rebellions, and the Qing Reforms among other politics. The new Emperor died two days before Cixi, giving her enough time to pick successor who would continue her policies, leading to speculation that she poisoned. Regardless of whether or not this is true, Emperor Dowager Cixi definately had a major influence on China.

The lake its self was actually man-made, built by the Emperess in an attempt to immitate the breathtaking West Lake in Hangzhou, which we also visited. It didn't quite compare, but it sure came pretty close. The dirt excavated to create the lake was used to build a man-made mountian, acutely named Longevity Hill, atop which the palace rests. It was gorgeous, and we had free time to simpy sit by the water and enjoy the view and the breeze.


Beneath the willows by the lake and Longevity Hill.







The Dragonlady's stone Dragonboat, where she used to dine by the lake.