Hello everyone! It's been awhile! Sorry about that, but I haven't done a lot of interesting things in the last couple of weeks. The last couple of weeks have been dedicated to doing end the semester projects and tests. But here's a quick note to sum up my last 2 weeks. Some recent Shanghai highlights include bowling, go-karting, and another trip to QiPu Road for cheap clothes. Also, my friend Sophia from Hong Kong visited!! She studied at my school a year ago and I have not seen her since she left the US last summer. So, naturally, it was a very exciting visit! We went to all sorts of places. Some were more touristy than others, but I still found new things that I had yet to see in Shanghai; even after 3 months! We ... read more

Yunnan Province is located in Southwest China, about as far southwest as you can go before you hit Tibet, India, or Laos. Being bordered by so many different countries has led Yunnan to gain (rightly so) the reputation of being very diverse. Statistics vary, but from what I've been told/read, about 40-50% of Yunnan's population belongs to ethnic minorities. Within Yunnan Province, our group (6 people, including myself) went to Kunming, Dali, and Lijiang. Kunming, capitol of Yunnan, is known as the 'City of Eternal Spring' because of its year-round mild weather. Also, because China only has one timezone (Beijing time), the sun sets fairly late. With Kunming's tropical environment and vast variety of wild flowers and vegetation, I was strongly reminded of my days in Taiwan. Kunming is a beautiful city, and I regret that ... read more

大家好！Hi everyone! It's been a while, or it feels like it anyway. I haven't had too much to write about lately. We had midterms this past week, so the past couple of weekends have been fairly quiet; traveling limited to Shanghai. Now that it's Spring, I've been able to play more volleyball than before. But pick-up volleyball games here are a little different than at Umass. With 33 million people in the city, and who-knows how many traveling through campus, games end up with a lot of random people. No introductions, or "nice to meet you"'s. Also, one part of the culture here is to not wear work-out clothes. People often play sports in jeans (unless they're serious about it) or in business suits (if they're on their way home from work). So, the other day ... read more

It's been a long week of traveling! I've decided to split the week into more than one entry, because I have so much to tell, and 1,000 photos to sift through. This entry is about my trip to Inner Mongolia. We (the entire ACS CIEE group, ~20 people) left Shanghai on Friday morning for Hohhot, the capitol of Inner Mongolia; not to be confused with Outer Mongolia. Inner Mongolia is part of China, and most of the residents in Inner Mongolia are Han Chinese, not Mongolian. Though the street signs generally are bi-lingual, with Chinese and Mongolian. Hohhot is a nice city in Northern China and features blue skies and lots of three-wheeled cars. We spent Friday night in a rather nice hotel in Hohhot before heading out to the grasslands on Saturday morning. The Xilamuren ... read more

I had a fairly quiet weekend this time 'around. I've been dealing with a nasty cold, but thanks to my quiet weekend, it's getting better. Now, on with the story! On Friday, my friends and I took a trip to the Shanghai Planning Exhibition. Remember that picture of the blue gumby-like fellow? Well, he's the mascot. And the planning exhibition, well, it's the plans for the 'New Shanghai'...Part of Shanghai, anyway. The restoration/building process is only taking place in the heart of Shanghai, along the banks of the Huangpu river that runs through Shanghai and keeps the city thriving. Most of the exhibit I didn't understand (I hate not being able to read Chinese) and was kind of boring. I'm sure it would've been better if there was some English captions thrown in from time to ... read more