Here in my City

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Well midterms are over, and I think I did pretty well. Midterms here are a lot more intense than in the States. We got the whole week off of classes, so it’s just like finals week. I loved it! Finals week is my favorite part of the semester because you have all day to do nothing (with a little studying) and take one test per day, and here we have it right in the middle of the semester! I did study quite a bit, but I also watched a good amount of “How I Met Your Mother”. I had a test each day Monday through Wednesday, then Thursday was a day off for everyone.

On Friday, the International College planned a trip for all the international students to visit Qiandao Lake in Chun’an County. We only had to pay 20 yuan for a whole day of exploring, boat rides, and lunch. Qiandao means Thousand Island, and there really are over one thousand islands in the lake. We left at seven in the morning on tour buses for the two hour drive. I was extremely tired since I had stayed up too late the night before, so I really wasn’t very excited for an all day outing. I almost didn’t go. But I probably wouldn’t visit the lake by myself later, so I figured I needed to go. We arrived and found our tour guide. It was a little hectic with so many students milling around there, but we all made our way to the water and boarded our ferry boats.

The lake was absolutely stunning! The water is so clear and there is hardly any development on the lake, so everything is green and natural. We went to a few different islands: Lock Island, which apparently holds the biggest lock in the world; Monkey Island; Snake Island; and Bird Island. I didn’t see any birds or monkeys on their respective islands, but Snake Island was home to hundreds of snakes. Thankfully they were all enclosed and not slithering free, so I wasn’t as afraid to set foot on that island. Our tour led us to several islands, all connected by floating bridges. I think I would have enjoyed it ten times better if there hadn’t been so many people. The paths were so crowded with students, it was pretty annoying. I must confess, I had a bad attitude for the first half of the day. I did enjoy walking across the bridges since the visitors were more spread out and I could actually see my surroundings instead of peering over shoulders. One of the bridges is called Happy Fish Bridge, and there are several netted sections holding fish so you can feed them.

We reached the last island and boarded our boats again for lunch on the water. My bad mood returned because I was starving, but the food wasn’t very good. I ended up having just a few pieces of fish and a bowl of rice. After lunch, we stood outside to watch our surroundings as we sailed by, and again I was struck by the beauty of this place. We stopped at a small mountain and went to the top. Carey and I were tired so we rode the ski lift up to the top. The view was breathtaking. Luckily we had a clear day and less pollution than in Hangzhou because we could see many of the islands in the distance. Seeing the top of this mountain and being on the water made this trip worth it for me.

However, after seeing this, I was ready to get back to Hangzhou and get some real food and go to bed. The return ride home took a lot longer than in the morning for some reason. We ended up having to stop for a bathroom break. This wouldn’t be anything special except for the fact that it was on the highway at a toll booth. The bus pulled over to the shoulder and five of us got out. We had to cross the highway to get to a building on the other side that had a bathroom. I thought I was going to die: it was dark out, and we had to cross ten lanes of traffic. At least it was at a toll booth so they were slowing down, but it was still a bit frightening.

We finally made it back to campus and got some food in our bellies. I was in a much better mood at this point and could reflect better on the trip. This day made me notice my reluctance to go out and do anything out of my routine. Lately I haven’t wanted to go sightseeing or traveling. I just want to go to class, do my homework, and relax once everything is done. I feel like this really shows that I am at home in Hangzhou. It’s like anyone who lives in a “touristy” city: they live in the city, but they never see all the sites. Maybe it’s because they think, ‘Hey, I live here, I can go anytime I want, so I’m not going to go right now’. I’m past the traveling/visiting stage when the city is new and exciting. I have my regular haunts and I don’t feel the need to find any more. Now that we have fewer excursions planned, I’m looking forward to just relaxing in my city.

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