Biking to the Bund

Napped at 11PM, woke up at 3AM, biked to the Bund with 18 friends, got there just before sunrise

so tiring, but totally worth it!

back to studying for my two midterms and dealing with my food poisoned stomach..:(

my roommates

Frances asked me if it was okay if she could post about Jessica and me on her blog. She reasoned that it's the people who make our studying abroad experience unforgettable. I couldn't agree more, so I decided to steal her idea!

I think I have the best roommates ever. We just get along really really well. We always yell, "hi!" and "bye!" to each other when entering/leaving the apartment. Who does that?


Frances 傅篮慈

This girl is one of the friendliest people you could ever meet --she's fun, open, and easy to talk to! She actually really reminds me of one of my roommates back at home. I can talk to her about anything. Since I've been in Shanghai, she's kept me in check, making sure I'm doing alright. Also, we both religiously watch Chuck. We're addicted. We're also addicted to tv in general.


Jessica 黄家颖
Jessica is definitely the mommy of our apartment. She's been training me to do chores, or so she says. Like with Frances, I also feel like I can be myself around her. Maybe it's because we're both from SF. Right from the first day of moving in, I felt a great sense of familiarity with her even though we never really hung out before in Hoover or Berkeley. Also, if you ever want to get an honest opinion, Jessica will do it with no hesitation. Btw, Jessica eats as much ramen as I do, if not more :)

my room

I've been living in this room for almost two months already. Its become too messy, so I never got the chance to take pictures. Today I finally spent a few hours reorganizing and cleaning everything. I pay 65kuai a day (equivalent to 10usd) for this room, which is the smallest of the 3-bedroom suite in Tonghe. It's small, but I like it.

The view is also amazing! From my window, I can see buildings from wu jiao chang (they look even prettier at night). I can also see the guang hua towers, where all my classes are. It takes me about 25 minutes to walk to class, but some of my friends have been generous enough to take me on their bikes :)

i love BJ (beijing!)

Day 1 (April 1)
Shopping/eating around 西单 （Xidan）

王府井小吃街（wang fu jing street food)

Peking Duck at 大董 (dadong)
We had a fun-filled and food-filled day, but I couldn't get myself to try the scorpion skewers (the bugs were still moving!). I got some yummy lamb skewers and a chicken biscuit though. The duck was good, though I didn't think it was a lot better than the one that I tried at Great China back in Berkeley. We ordered 5 whole ducks. Duck overload. After binging on food the entire day, we went to Vix and Natalie flushed her phone down the toilet hahaah



Day 2 (April 2)
后海 (hou hai) bar street

鬼街 (gui jie) for dinner
After an exhausting night (we got back to our hostel at 6am), we decided to just take a stroll around houhai, a lake surrounded by bars, restaurants, and shops.

Local people don't seem to understand that Asian people live in America. A number of people tried to get me to go on their rickshaw tour by greeting me in Korean. I've also been asked if I was Singaporean. No. I am not. Neither am I a hired translator to my non-Asian friends. Btw, the squid balls were disgusting. Don't get them.

Guijie was good. It was an entire street of hot pot restaurants!

Day 3 (April 3)
故宫 Forbidden Palace

天安门 Tiananmen Square

climbed up 景山公园（JingShan Park）- view of Forbidden Kingdom at night

Bird's Nest
We had a productive day!
Saw some amazing architecture. Had the best peach ice-popsicle ever in the Forbidden Palace. Took tons of photos. Tiananmen square was just...a square. Noodles were eh. Ended the day happy, but with dead feet.


Day 4 (April 4)
慕田峪 (Mutianyu - Great Wall)
I haven't exercised this much since being in China. We signed up for a tour with our hostel and I think we got ripped off. Poo. Oh well. The slide down was fun!

Day 5 (April 5)
Bye Happy Dragon Hostel!
Our hostel honestly wasn't that bad. It was clean and it did its job. My only complaint would be the showers. At one point, water was just dripping out of the shower head while shampoo was still in my hair.

Do you see that panda in my hand? I got him at the Great Wall. His name is 汤圆 :)



I had fun! The people in Beijing are nicer than the people in Shanghai, and places seem cleaner. The weather was also perfect. Seriously, our trip couldn't have gone any better.