A Month Back Home

Happy July! It's already July? What? Halfway through year 2012! I honestly can't believe that it has been a month since my homecoming from abroad. Time has flown by. It really doesn't feel as though it's only been 30 days. China feels so far away!

It feels great to be back home. I've gotten myself back into the swing of things and am keeping myself busy with: travel, interviews, meetings, work, and volunteering. Being home though has made me realize the things I took for granted prior to spending 5 months in China.

What are some things that I realized I missed about the United States?

1. No yelling in restaurants

2. Peaceful streets

3. Cheap Starbucks (about $5 for a tall hazelnut coffee? ridiculous!)

4. Normal bathrooms

5. No spitting

6. Being able to drive

So happy to be back home in the U S of A!

Headed Down the Coast of China

I am packed (well somewhat packed) and ready to head down the coast of China for two weeks. Within the next two weeks, I along with 4 other students will be visiting various cities along the coast of China in order to study the economic development of China. These cities include: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, and finally Guangzhou. Although there will be site visits in each of these cities, there will also be plenty of time to be tourists and adventure around. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the growth of a couple of these cities since I last saw them in 2005.

The two-week adventure will start tonight on an overnight train to Shanghai. I'll have internet access (or at least I hope so) so keep your eyes out for updates on the blog!

ALSO, Happy Birthday to my little brother Michael! I can't believe that the kid is already 19. Is this serious? It's a bit terrifying to say the least. I'm on the hunt for the perfect birthday present for him and I think I've got just the idea!

Birthday boy and I at a Redskins game last season. Can't wait to be back and watch RG3 rock the stadium!

TGIF!

Happy Draft Day!

I finished my semester with my internship today and it was so tough saying goodbye to everyone! But, who knows...maybe I'll be back...VERY soon! The greatest thing though is that all of the interns and I are already planning trips to see one another. So exciting!

Now, it's time to pack. Totally dreading this process. However, I will suck it up and just get it over with. Do you know what I'm excited about though? THE NFL DRAFT. It's one of my most favorite events of the year because it officially kicks off the season. Oh how I miss football during the off-season. Can't wait till the second pick of the draft! REDSKINS WILL BE DRAFTING RG3. They better!!! I absolutely am STOKED for RG3 to grace DMV with his presence and hopefully bring life back to the franchise.

It also means that I am THAT much more excited to get tickets for 'Skins games this fall.

Pure talent right here

BUH-BYE Rex. HELLOOOOOO RG3!

Once it's official, I am TOTALLY getting one of these shirts and will sport it proudly!

SO excited for the draft! I will be up quite early to catch some of the action. I promise I won't live tweet the draft this year (except for the major draft picks of course!).

Happy Draft Day! HTTR!



Finals, Papers, and Presentations? Check, check, and CHECK.

I am officially done with classes for the semester here in Beijing! My brain is dead after a two and a half hour Chinese exam early this morning and a four hour long night class tonight. After presenting my last PowerPoint and handing in that final paper, it felt as though a weight was instantly lifted off my shoulders.

To be honest, I can't believe classes are finally over. It flew by way too fast! And it really hit me today that I am leaving Beijing...in 2 days. Is this serious?? Where has this semester gone!?

So, classes are done. All that's left is one more day of interning. Once again, I can't believe tomorrow is my last day interning at Octagon. The goodbyes will be tough. I will be savoring every moment of it!

PS. In a couple of hours, it will be the 26th in Beijing. Tweet @johnisner and wish the guy a happy birthday!

...Club La Bamba???

I AM STILL ALIVE.

Finals has got me in a completely crazy state of mind. I never would have thought finals abroad would be stressful but let me tell you, I definitely underestimated Beijing. I have been swamped with papers, presentations, and studying for those finals. The amount of time that I've logged at Starbucks is quite impressive and the baristas all know me now (I do spend about 7-10 hours a day in there).

What my days have been looking like since last Friday.



Tomorrow night. 10pm. I will officially be done with finals! One more day of interning on Thursday and then I'm off for a two-week study trip down the coast of China. Unfortunately I still have a paper due a week after the trip but we'll push that aside for now. I'm qutie excited for this two-week trip because it pretty much equates to two-week time of relaxation and site visits. Not sure how I'm going to pack my entire room up though. ...I guess I should think about that now...

As we're getting ready to wrap up this semester, I realized that it's time to start saying goodbyes. I absolutely hate this part. Some of the greatest friendships have been created in the past few months with a couple of people outside of the CSI program. Tonight we decided to get together one last time for dinner! We headed to this fabulous place called La Bamba. My chimichanga was divine but the music was...questionable. We were having a great time eating and chatting away when all of a sudden the music was cranked up and the lights completely dimmed down. Oh hey, Club La Bamba?

But nevertheless, I had a fabulous time with my roommate Andrea and our friends Marcus and Leah. (Just realized we didn't take pictures!) It was a well deserved study break. I love the fact that we can have such a deep and meaningful conversation one minute and the next we're talking about Carly Rae Jepsen and other things that have us dying from laughter. I'm going to miss those two so much! Saying goodbye was too tough BUT we already have plans for a DC trip as well as trip to visit Leah and learn how to wind surf.

Alright, BACK TO STUDYING.

Goodbye Beach, Hello School

Waking up early Monday morning and doing homework before class was rough. I already miss the beach!

Qingdao Day #2

The day started off early as we wanted to take advantage of our last few hours in Qingdao. Did we really go to the Tsingtao brewery at 9am? Yes, yes we did. It was really cool to see the history of Tsingtao beer as well as seeing the current manufacturing and packaging system. There were cans and bottles of Tsingtao beer being filled, labeled, and packaged. I can't even imagine having a job that requires me to stand all day and stare at cans and bottles! My favorite part of the brewery would have to be seeing the marketing and PR of the company through the years. I gotta admit, it could use some work. The funniest part though would have to be the Drunk House. It was this interactive/optical illusion building and it definitely threw me off balance as I walked through. Definitely an attractive spot of brewery tour.

After our ridiculous 9am tour of the Tsingtao brewery, we took a mini tour of the city while sitting in a cab en route to the beach. The city is quite beautiful with its Western influenced buildings. Back in the day Qingdao was controlled by Germany so the city is filled with German influences. It was so pleasant to see pretty single family homes in China. The little things that I miss!

Day 2 on the beach was even more fabulous than day 1. We were on a true, legitimate beach (not the pier) and it was sunny and balmy out. I had an absolute blast sitting around, baby watching, and spending time journaling. I swear, I was made for the water. There are very few things that beat the sound of waves crashing, the smell of saltwater, the satisfaction of sinking my feet in sand, and the feeling of sun-kissed skin.

Appropriately, we ended our Qingdao trip with a seafood feast! Qingdao was fabulous and a great de-stressing weekend.

Tsingtao Brewery

too many wedding photo shoots on the beach

riding first class on our way back to Beijing! ...not worth it. seriously.



Worst Trip Planners Ever

So Rachael and I had the BIGGEST fail of our lives yesterday (Friday). After her Chinese class, we threw everything into a bag and RAN to the train station...only to find out that there were no more tickets available for the day. Seriously? Who's going to Qingdao?? We ended up booking tickets for the next morning (Saturday morning) for a 7:10am train. Waking up at 4:30 was not pleasant whatsoever.

In order to redeem ourselves last night from our poor trip planning, we wound up embracing the "freebird status." I'm quite in love with this term that my Little cMm created while she's abroad in London. "Freebird status" is pretty self-explanatory: doing things for the heck of it because you only live once. So last night, Rachael, Andrea (my roommate), and I decided to adventure around the city. The first task on the list was to hit up a bookstore to find some beach reads. After walking out of the store empty-handed, we hopped onto the metro and headed out to find a Russian restaurant.

Russian restaurants in China? Interesting. The entire restaurant was mainly Chinese and was owned by a Chinese native. The funniest moment of the night would have to be our little sour cream debacle. Rachael had asked for some sour cream for our potato pancakes and guess what the waiter brought out. ...cream. We all burst out laughing because it was COMPLETELY off target but we survived without the sour cream. At the end of the meal the sour cream came back into the hilarity of the entire night. The waiter wound up charging us RMB 5 for the tablespoon of "sour cream." We honestly could not believe it.

All in all, I'm glad we missed the train on Friday night and had our little Russian dinner adventure.

***Poor Internet connection means no pictures available right now***

I'm currently in Qingdao right now typing up this post. It's been a great first day! However, it has now been affirmed that I am not a hostel-type of gal. My friend Sam is 100% correct whenever he calls me high-maintenanced.

April and Cake Place

Happy April!

Can y'all believe it's April already? The first quarter of the year is already done. Where is 2012 going!? April is also the last month that I will be at Peking University. One more month of classes, just one more month.

My friend Rachael and I celebrated the first day of April by having a laid back day. We headed over to our favorite little cafe/study nook. After a delicious brunch, we planned out our traveling plans and hit the books for awhile. While heading back to the bus stop we saw this massive line of people waiting at a food stand. Every day, all day there is always a line in front of this food stand. Being the spontaneous individuals that we are, we got in line and decided we wanted to see what the craze was all about. All we knew about the food stand was that it sold some kind of cake but we figured that if so many people were in line for this every day, it MUST be good. (Later on a friend pointed out how it's ridiculous that we waited for something we didn't even know.)

After waiting in line for an hour and a half, we FINALLY got to the window. Rachael and I dubbed this place the "Georgetown Cupcake of Beijing." Long lines and people taking pictures as they passed by. We paid 10 kuai for a bag full of cake and immediately dug into the bag of cake. IT WAS DELICIOUS! It was made with some kind of fruit and the cake was amazing. So moist (yes, I hate this word but it perfectly describes the cake) and not too sweet.

Top (L): The "Georgetown Cupcake of Beijing" cake stand

Top (R): Rachael and I "patiently" waiting in line

Bottom (L): Happily eating our long-awaited cake

Bottom (R): Yummy cake in bag

It was a perfect cake-filled day to celebrate the start of April!

Beijing Job Fair

Last Friday my Chinese professor was nice enough to cancel class and take us on a little adventure to a job fair. As always, I didn't really know what to fully expect. My expectations were pretty low though as my professor told us that we didn't have to be in full professional dress; casual was fine.

The job fair was generally targetted towards those in the IT industry. The venue was quite small and only had a few booths. Although the event didn't exactly align with my major and career aspirations, it was still a great experience to attend a job fair in a different country. I have realized that many of the job opportunities in China are IT, service, and sales related. Interesting, right? All of the companies and recruiters were extremely laid back and not many of them were dressed in professional suits. When I sat down to talk with them it had nothing to do with the job. I'm pretty sure they were more interested in talking to an American than actually hiring me.

Overall, it was a great experience. I'm really looking forward to one of the job fairs in April with multinational corporations. I will be all over that.

Busy Tourist Weekend

After a rough week, I really wanted to get off campus and have a little bit of fun. It was quite a weekend being the ultimate tourist. The entire weekend consisted of walking, some more walking....and some more walking. My legs are incredibly sore and I woke up Monday morning feeling absolutely exhausted. But, it was all worth it as I had a wonderful time!

Saturday: Tea Market and Silk Market
9 hours. I cannot believe I spent nine hours shopping on Saturday (but do take into account travel time!). Two of my friends and I decided that it was time to start gift hunting for friends and family so we hit up the tea market and silk market...all in one day. It was very surprising that when we showed up to the tea market, it was empty. There were a couple of people here and there but for the most part...nothing. After walking around for a bit trying to pick which vendor to go to, we began the full tea market experience. The tea lady was so sweet and so patient with us. We tried all different types of tea and she definitely put on a show for us! She explained each tea very thoroughly and let us sample whatever we wanted. As a tea lover, it was a dream come true. At the end when we decided which tea we wanted, we were shocked to find out how inexpensive it was! I will be bringing tea back for my family and friends!!

Having a fabulous time tea-tasting

This woman has officially been dubbed "My Tea Lady." She makes tea like so fancy!

After picking out a few bags of tea, we hopped on the metro towards the Silk Market. I was definitely not mentally prepared for the Silk Market. It was overwhelming to say the least. So many natives, tourists, and the vendors were all over us. It felt as though I was being pulled by vendor to vendor. During my first negotiating encounter, it was clear that my negotiating skills were lacking. I felt terrible negotiating for something that was originally 300RMB to 20RMB! I overpaid at the first transaction but as time went on, I got more aggressive and made some GREAT deals! These vendors were interesting. Not only did they price items ridiculously but they knew what seemed like a million different languages--Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish, English, Swedish, Russian. You name it, they know it. After perusing three floors, we finally decided to call it a day. I walked away a happy girl with a few cute purchases. I will be back Silk Market!

Sunday: Tianjin

My friend Rachael and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Tianjin. We left around 7:45am to catch the bullet train out. These bullet trains run every 15 minutes to Tianjin and took only 30 minutes. It blew my mind that it takes 30 minutes to get to another city while it takes me an hour to get to work every day. The trains were so clean, quiet, and there was more leg room than that of airplanes. Beautiful!

I went into Tianjin with low expectations but at the end of the day, I was so happy that we decided to go. Well worth it. The city was gorgeous and I think it was even more beautiful with a sunny spring day. The city was quite random though because on the same block there would be Western buildings and then a random Eastern influenced building. That's how it was throughout the city. Confused city?

The city seems to have never heard English or seen Americans. People stared...all day. When we asked for directions, they seemed to not know where anything was and we were sent in circles. Can you believe it took us close to two hours to find this one Thai restaurant (it's supposedly the best restuarant in the city)? After following a million different directions for this restaurant, we finally stopped at a Westin hotel for clear details. Lesson learned: when in need of help, go to a Western hotel.

This man is drawing this out of carmalized sugar. So impressive and the five-year old kid next to me was BEYOND excited. Too cute!

Old City Museum

***pictures aren't loading. will update later!***

All this traveling this weekend has made me fall in love with getting on a train and going somewhere. Even flying to Fuzhou was exciting. I can't wait for more weekends filled with traveling!

Tuesday Tunes

Happy First Day of Spring!

...or at least that's what my planner tells me. It surely doesn't feel like it in Beijing. There never seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel with this weather. Beijing likes to be cold...cold...and even colder. All I'm asking is for some sunshine, clear blue skies, and a little bit of warmth. Is that asking for too much?

I'm a huge fan of Spotify for checking out new music. You all should definitely give it a go! Whenever a new album comes out, Spotify is my go-to place to click through the tracks and see if the album is worth buying on iTunes. It has definitely been a money saver and as a college student, every little penny counts! In order to celebrate Spring, I created a "Spring Playlist." These aren't necessarily the ONLY songs I'll be listening to for the next couple of months, but they are some new, catchy tunes recently released!

Hope you enjoy these tunes as much as I do! If there are any tunes you think I need to check out, for sure leave me a note!

Happy Listening!

Back to Reality

What a "Monday Blues" kind of day. My flight back to Beijing last night was delayed a bit so I didn't get back to campus until 10pm. The second I walked into my room I hit the books (after I Skyped with my mother of course). It was a complete shift in mentality and it was back to reality for me. Some of you may think that I wasn't too smart in putting off my work till the last minute but I wanted to truly have a break from school. No regrets whatsoever. But, the Type A side of me did get some studying in throughout the week. There was no way I could've felt comfortable leaving EVERYTHING for the last night. Staying up late the night before my first day back in class was definitely not what I expected. I woke up exhausted (I will never get use to the sound of an alarm clock) but at the same time completely rejuvenated. My Chinese professor probably thought so too as I participated more than usual and did well with my presentation.

Yup, burnt the midnight oil translating my resume into Chinese. Took quite awhile...

Time for my body to get back into the swing of things. There's a week full of classes, assignments, presentations, events, and interning that there is absolutely no time to waste. Only 6 more weeks of official class and then the study trip! Counting down the days...



Spring Break

Chinese midterm in less than an hour...freaking out right about now. You are all probably wondering, "If you have a midterm in less than an hour, why are you blogging?" Well, to clarify, I actually have had this post written up in advance, thank you very much. I can't wait to be done with this three hour midterm. The second I turn in this exam I am officially on Spring Break! I will have to dash back to my room, grab my luggage, and head straight to the airport.

I'm hoping that getting onto the plane and to Fuzhou will be a breeze. I have this knot in my stomach and am terrified that something will go wrong. Let's hope not? How tough can a two and a half plane ride be?

I am beyond excited to be in Fuzhou for Spring Break. I desperately need to get away from campus and the school environment. A week with family sounds perfect. In Fuzhou awaits family, relaxation, HOT weather (it's nearly 60 degrees there compared to the 40 degree weather in Beijing), delicious food, endless amounts of seafood, and great shopping. Don't get me wrong, I will still have homework to do seeing that my professor thought it'd be great to assign an essay over break as well as a quiz on the day we get back. Thanks buddy. But, at least I will be able to relax while doing homework!

Cross your fingers that I do well on this midterm, get through check-in easily once at the airport, and arrive in Fuzhou safely. Prayers would definitely be much appreciated. Hopefully I'll also be able to blog through the week in Fuzhou. Not too sure about the internet situation at my grandparents!

If I don't update within the next week, I wish you all a FABULOUS week.

Great Wall

My dad and I via text this morning:

Dad: Get on Skype.

Me: No. I can barely move.

Dad: What happened?

Me: The Great Wall happened.

 

 

This is no joke. I cannot move at all right now. My entire body is insanely sore from yesterday's trip to the Great Wall. Not completely sure why my arms are also sore. Nevertheless, all this post-day soreness was well worth it! I am grateful though that I am able to breathe again. After sitting on a jerky bus for an hour and a half, we finally arrived to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We were all so excited, "oo-ing and ah-ing" at every tiny thing. Little did we know, the toughest part was about to come. I don't think any of us were expecting that long and steep hike up to the actual wall. We really weren't prepared for all of that...including the cold air. The rapid altitude change was alright for me but I had such a problem breathing because the cold air filled my lungs.

 

 

When we finally got to the top, the view was INCREDIBLE. To be honest, it was more than "incredible." There simply aren't any words to describe the view. It was one surreal experience. You can't fully grasp how vast this wall is. It's 5,000 some miles long and we only walked a few miles of it. So crazy to think that!

The wall was awesome and just thinking "wow, this wall is MAN-MADE. People died building this wall that I'm walking along." But, what stood out to me was a few conversations that I had with the locals there. Along the wall there are a few vendors who are selling water, snacks, and beer. (Funny story: they were trying to sell a bottle of water to my friends for 10 kuai. However, when I went up to buy a bottle for a friend they told me the water was only 5 kuai. It helps being Asian!) These vendors were asking me if I was with the Americans and I told them yes, I'm actually an American-born-Chinese. We got to talking and then they told me that in order to get all of their inventory up to the wall, they have to carry it on their backs every day and carry it back down every night. That was kind of a humbling moment for me. Life in China definitely isn't easy. Life ANYWHERE isn't easy. I have taken so many things for granted while these individuals have to carry close to 50 pounds of bottles and food up that trail in order to make a living. My friends think they made have said that to guilt-trip us into buying food and drinks from them. Nevertheless, they still do this for a living even if they don't carry things up that trail. They still have to walk up that steep trail to get to work everyday and then sit in the cold for almost 10-12 hours a day. Talking to them was great. They were all so sweet!

Mountains, mountains, and some more mountains.

Oh, hello Great Wall.

All the American University students! (I am far too short to be standing in the back.)

Time to start climbing...

***For some reason Blogpost is being moody and won't let me post pictures. There will be an update tomorrow with added pictures!***

Visiting the Great Wall is now crossed off of Bucket List. PERFECT.

Let's Catch Up

Hey y'all!

I apologize for being totally MIA this past week. To say it's been busy, stressful, and absolutely insane would be a minor understatement. Ask my parents. I had a tiny meltdown when I was Skyping them on Monday. It seems as though no matter where I go, I always find a way to completely bog myself down with an endless list of things to accomplish. I promised myself that I'd take this semester easy but I guess I was wrong about that. Pretty much my time has been consumed by my internship and school (aka Chinese class). Fun, right? But in reality, I'm starting to see the intersect between the two so I guess I'll stop dreading my Chinese class. It has actually been quite helpful.

Today has been FABULOUS. Went out to Starbucks before my afternoon tutoring session and studied for this Chinese midterm I have coming up. It was incredibly refreshing to take a mini break and get away from campus to sit and be surrounded by people! It made me realize that I actually do, in fact, like living in Beijing! I'm also convinced that the state of the weather has a direct correlation with my mood. Beijing was beautiful, nice, clear, and sunny today and guess what, my mood was also up. Keep it up Beijing weather.

My week recapped:
1. Weekend: Even though I'm committed to interning and working hard in classes, I still try once in awhile to have some fun. That's the point of study abroad, right? To have fun? I met some awesome Americans here in Beijing who have AMAZING Chinese. We've gotten into a routine where we hang out every Friday and/or Saturday night. Last weekend was super laid back and we had dinner and watched a movie at a friend's house. One of the guys had me on the floor dying from laughter. He's pretty much just like me but even more sarcastic. Try and imagine that...yeah. We also went out and had Mexican food! That was quite the adventure. Definitely keep your eyes out for a post about that. It was hilarious.

2. Midterms: Ok, so midterms technically start on Monday but my "midterms" week starts the week before because I start studying the week prior to exams. I hate cramming and waiting till last minute so I like to spread my studying out. Plus, there was no way I could possibly cram five chapters of Chinese into this brain of mine within two days. There's just no way.

3. Presentation: Another source of my stress?? At work my supervisor had three of us create a presentation on an event we had all attended last week. The tricky part was, each of us had to present in the language that we were less comfortable with. For me, that would be Chinese. A ten minute presentation...in Chinese...by myself. Yup, I would label that as a stressor. But, to my surprise I did pretty well. I went in confident and the presentation went smoothly! I was able to understand and throughly answer all questions in Chinese. Chinese class has really been helping! SUCCESS.

That's pretty much the recap of what you all missed in my oh-so-exciting (but not really) life in Beijing. It's back to studying for these midterms for me! Only 4 more days until I board a plane to my grandparents in Fuzhou for Spring Break. It's not like I'm counting down the days or anything...

PS. dWa is hosting a super cute E. Olsen Designs giveaway over at her blog (Prep In Your Step). Monogrammed hair bows? Yes please!

Uh oh!

I am WAY, WAY behind on blogging. Major catch up session tomorrow! PROMISE.

TGIF

via

This is such an understatement. I honestly look forward to Fridays every week. I've now gotten into this routine where I wake up absolutely exhausted Friday mornings, sit through two classes and then get ready to head out for a relaxing night with a few friends. Pretty much one of my favorite nights. I just got back home from a low-key night with friends and I'm so grateful to have met these guys. To be honest, I haven't laughed this much in quite awhile. They are simply hilarious.

SO, TGIF!

Life as an Intern

There is never a single dull day as an intern in Beijing. Each day is completely different and something exciting always happens. ...or at least it's exciting for me? I don't know but everyday this week has been hilarious. Whenever I'm running around getting an errand done or heading somewhere I always find myself in a situation that only would happen to me. What I mean is, I am directionally challenged and I always get lost.

On Tuesday I was asked to go to this electronic store to find a replacement cord for the external hard-drive that I needed access to. One of my coworkers drew a picture for me and I found the store perfectly fine. The funny part would occur the second I walked into this building. "Electronic store" is definitely an understatement for this place. It was a four-story building that was HUGE and there were little stands everywhere. People were shouting at me, trying to pull me into their stand to buy something, or attempting to take my iPhone and sell me another one. What was even funnier would be me...trying to talk about technology...in Chinese. The second I said "external hard-drive" in English the salesmen got scared and shuffled me off to the next person. Yup, English is intimidating? Needless to say, I walked out the store empty handed.

After the whole electronic store adventure I found out I'd be headed out to observe a focus group! This was a first for me and of course I got lost getting to the building but once I got there I did recognize a couple other people from different companies whom I met last week. The focus group was incredibly interesting but I don't think I can share much about it. I'm sorry!

Yesterday at my internship was hilarious. Last minute we needed to scramble and find some CDs that the artists need to autograph. The problem is, in China pirated CDs are very common and real legitimate CDs are very difficult to find. So, Karen was sent off to find CDs! Before I went out though, I did want to make sure that the store had the CDs in stock. That phone call was another "roll on the floor" laughing conversation. I had everyone's attention in the office as I was making this phone call and stumbling through with my Chinese. It was a sight to see...more like, conversation to hear. For the third time this week, I got lost but eventually found where I needed to go and I am now guarding these CDs as I will have to deliver them to the venue today.

See, everyday is just an adventure! My life as an intern is simply too entertaining!

Typical Wednesday night dinner for me. Baozi, jiaozi and some bubble tea! By the time I get back to campus I'm starving because I don't eat at all on Wednesdays. Like I said, life as an intern. I am absolutely addicted to the taro bubble tea here. It is fabulous. Is it also sad that the man at the stand now knows me? If I can't get my daily dose of coffee then bubble tea it is!

Came home to find a letter from my Big, Kendall, sitting at the front desk of my building! What a wonderful surprise to come home to after a long day! It was the perfect Valentine...and she wrote some Chinese! LOVE HER.

Me with the CDs I had to pick up last night. YES, THAT'S RIGHT. iL DIVO IS PERFORMING IN BEIJING TONIGHT. I am so, so bummed I won't be able to go tonight. They are literally my favorite quartet on this planet. I know, I'm an old soul.  

Anything exciting happening in your lives right now??

Tuesday Tunes

I have been in Beijing exactly one month now. I honestly can't even wrap my brain around this because it doesn't feel like it! In a way it feels like time has flown by but there are times where I feel as though I've been here forever. Only two more months of classes and three more months until I am on a plane headed home! Don't get me wrong, I really am enjoying my time here in Beijing. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else. Life in Beijing is just different and there are aspects of the US that I miss. But, there are some things that I love in Beijing. So, happy one month anniversary Beijing!

This week's Tuesday Tunes feature: Jessie J.

Jessie J is one talented girl. I will admit though, I wasn't a huge fan of "Price Tag" but once "Domino" hit the radio I instantly became a fan. She has one incredible voice and her songs are always so catchy! Off her album Who You Are I'm loving the following songs in no particular order: Domino, Who You Are, Nobody's Perfect, Casualty of Love, and Abracadabra. Such a catchy album.

I came across her cover of Rihanna's "We Found Love" on Youtube the other day and that is ALL I've been listening to. Is it awful that I kind of prefer it over Rihanna's? The cover showcases Jessie J's vocal ability and the control that she has. She put her own touch into the song and that's what makes it so awesome! Also, she did it live. Mad impressive. That is a clear indication of talent right there.

What have you all been listening to lately? Anything that I must check out?

Tuesday Tunes & Press Conference

I am dedicating this Tuesday Tunes spotlight to Westlife, an Irish boy band that has been together for 14 years. Yup, you read that correctly. FOURTEEN years.

This afternoon, I got to meet these guys through my internship. Arrived at the office bright and early, got some work done, and by 10:30am Jenny (my co-worker) and I were out the door headed to MasterCard Center (previously known as Wukesong) to set up for Westlife's press conference. The band will be performing tomorrow night at the MasterCard Center as one of their stops on their Farewell Tour. I had no idea that an Irish boy band was so popular in China! The last time they were here in September, the show completely sold out. Seriously??

Jenny and I spent an entire day running around prepping for the press conference. Such a great learning experience! After the press conference we filmed a few ID's for tomorrow night. Those guys are absolutely hilarious and their accents? AWESOME. Throughout the presser, they kept saying "lads." LOVE IT. One of the things I wasn't use to today was speaking music industry/production jargon in Chinese. I struggled through it but I made it through the day! It never hurts to try and as I spoke more and more in Chinese, the easier it got.

Here's one of Westlife's most popular song in China. "My Love" is currently plastered everywhere in Beijing. MasterCard has some great branding! (hehe) The guys sure don't look like this anymore...

Staff Badge

This backdrop in the green room only took Jenny and I about an hour and a half to put together. Major struggle bus there. Who thought it was a good idea to let two girls under the height of 5'4 to put this contraption together? Thank goodness someone finally stepped in and helped us!

All set and ready for the press conference to start

Priceless Beijing

Seats are filling up! Presser about to start

Back in the green room filming ID's for MasterCard!

Alright, time to get studying on Chinese and attempt to get some rest for tomorrow. It's going to be an even longer day but always exciting.