beijing or bust

first the bad news: my midterm today was a disasterrrr. second the good news: i am taking these classes for pass/fail credit at GWU, the midterm is now OVER, and we are GOING TO BEIJING TONIGHT! wahooooo. it's tough to stay down around here.

this was a nice, short week. sunday (the 4th of july) was sadly anticlimactic and rather disappointing. shanghai was in the midst of a monsoon, which seemed to keep everybody from celebrating. everybody under 40 years of age, that is. we ventured out to an advertised "american bbq" but felt like we were sitting at the kids table watching all the adults get toasted. so we left! perhaps it was for the best, because we had class monday at 8:30 like always.

on monday we had lunch with director michelle after class, and were briefed on the details of our beijing trip. very exciting stuff! our itinerary is extensive... it's going to be an insanely busy four days. but i say, bring it on! all costs are included in our original program fee so i want to pack in just as much as possible. tonight we take the overnight fast-train to beijing (10 hours in 4-person sleeper bunks). tomorrow we arrive at 7 am and get started touring right away. we are seeing the big attractions: temple of heaven, forbidden city, great wall, summer palace. but because our director and many students have been to beijing before, we are also seeing a few things off the beaten path, which should be rewarding. we fly back to shanghai sunday night. i can't wait to share pictures then!

rewind back to tuesday; i intended to camp out in the cafe to study all evening, but got sucked into an indulgent western meal with my 朋友 (friends) from boston university. even i will admit, i was craving pasta/bread/salad. maggie and matt went all out with steak and salmon, kristina and sam got pasta, and i went for fish and chips. of course, we studied afterward, but i lost a good two hours to this escapade. ha!

today, i came home from class and packed. we take an alliance-hired bus to the train station at 7:45 pm (for all i complain about being tied down by group travel, this is one of the other major perks... not worrying about transportation). right now, i am settling in for a nap because i know that this train ride is going to be one wild slumber party :) 'till sunday!