Week 1
大家好！Just a little about myself. My name is Alice Li and my Chinese name is 李光晶. I am a rising sophomore at Yale University majoring in Molecular Cellular Developmental Biology. This summer I was placed into Duke's Level 3 Heritage Chinese with Business Practicum so a total of TEN weeks here in Beijing, China.
Now a little about why I chose to participate in this ten-week long program 6,769 miles away from home in Connecticut where I could have just Netflix all summer.
Identity. Who am I? Being raised in Fuzhou, China, by my grandparents, there was definitely a point in my life where I solely identified with my Chinese culture: learning Chinese folk dance, wearing "qipao," etc. But, it is crazy how coming to America can change all that. Being mocked for how I look, how I sound, essentially being "Chinese" planted within me seeds of hatred of myself and my Chinese culture to the point where I would do anything to eliminate my cultural heritage.
But now I understand. I don't have to be ONLY American or ONLY Chinese. Why can't I be both, Chinese and American? Proper term: Chinese-American. Other than coming to Beijing for the Beijing Peking Duck, Beijing Hotpot, and learning Chinese of course, I want to finally learn to embrace my Chinese culture. Yes, I could have just stayed home and had my parents and grandparents go on and on about their love for the culture and history, but I really want to EXPERIENCE it.
Okay enough with the boring introduction. Let's get to the juicy stuff. My first time leaving the country by myself (Scary). I have never been out of the Northeast and now I'm already traveling to China. CRAZY.
I had a 15 hours flight from New York to Guangzhou, 2 hours layover, and then 3 hours flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. Ask me how many hours I slept? : 0. The airport was also where I encountered my first ever squat toilet (for those of you who don't know, these are the toilets that Chinese people use. You literally have to squat to use the bathroom) I was totally not expecting one of these at an international airport. Anyways, I was so tired when I got to Beijing, I could barely walk.
Now the dorms!! They are like a 4-5 star hotel that comes with an AC, fridge, TV, wifi, etc. We get our sheets and towels changed and trash is taken down; everything is taken care of. (Fun Fact: This service is only provided to international students. I heard that Chinese boys don't have showers in their dorms so they have to walk 5 minutes outside to use the showers that are kind of in a gym. I feel bad).
Identity. Who am I? Being raised in Fuzhou, China, by my grandparents, there was definitely a point in my life where I solely identified with my Chinese culture: learning Chinese folk dance, wearing "qipao," etc. But, it is crazy how coming to America can change all that. Being mocked for how I look, how I sound, essentially being "Chinese" planted within me seeds of hatred of myself and my Chinese culture to the point where I would do anything to eliminate my cultural heritage.
But now I understand. I don't have to be ONLY American or ONLY Chinese. Why can't I be both, Chinese and American? Proper term: Chinese-American. Other than coming to Beijing for the Beijing Peking Duck, Beijing Hotpot, and learning Chinese of course, I want to finally learn to embrace my Chinese culture. Yes, I could have just stayed home and had my parents and grandparents go on and on about their love for the culture and history, but I really want to EXPERIENCE it.
Okay enough with the boring introduction. Let's get to the juicy stuff. My first time leaving the country by myself (Scary). I have never been out of the Northeast and now I'm already traveling to China. CRAZY.
I had a 15 hours flight from New York to Guangzhou, 2 hours layover, and then 3 hours flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. Ask me how many hours I slept? : 0. The airport was also where I encountered my first ever squat toilet (for those of you who don't know, these are the toilets that Chinese people use. You literally have to squat to use the bathroom) I was totally not expecting one of these at an international airport. Anyways, I was so tired when I got to Beijing, I could barely walk.
Now the dorms!! They are like a 4-5 star hotel that comes with an AC, fridge, TV, wifi, etc. We get our sheets and towels changed and trash is taken down; everything is taken care of. (Fun Fact: This service is only provided to international students. I heard that Chinese boys don't have showers in their dorms so they have to walk 5 minutes outside to use the showers that are kind of in a gym. I feel bad).
Classes started 2 days after arrival but I am going to go more into detail about it in my next blog.
But this Saturday, we went to The GREAT WALL (长城), the powerful symbol that represents the unification of China and the awesome ability of the Chinese to work together for the good of the country.
But this Saturday, we went to The GREAT WALL (长城), the powerful symbol that represents the unification of China and the awesome ability of the Chinese to work together for the good of the country.
These stairs are NEVER ENDING let me tell you. You will be out of breath just going one flight of these but it was still so much fun. Thank god we went when it was 70 degrees F out so it was manageable going up thousands of stairs (if we were to go in normal Beijing weather 100 degrees F, then it would have been IMPOSSIBLE).
Fun Fact: The Great Wall of China is 8851.8 km (5500 miles). I think we walked less than 10 miles OOPS.
Anyways, we may have embarrassed ourselves doing taichi in the middle of The Great Wall. Overall, it was an AMAZING experience. Walking up and down The Great Wall is definitely a week's worth of exercise.
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