Just one more week in China!!

At the end of April I was sad because the year at Drake was almost over, then I keep my international experience abroad one more month with a Drake Summer Seminar in China, then I applied for a two month program with IES Beijing & Chengde and now: FIVE MORE DAYS and this course is over too.
Why does time fly? Why the summer was so great and fast? It was like yesterday when I was doing all the applications, applying for a visa at the China Embassy in Chicago, moving out of Carpenter Hall. But now, it isn't May 16th.
It is already August 6th. I have travel all over China, I have met many Americans and Chinese people, I have learned Chinese, I have improved my English, I have read some books, I have visited almost everything in Shanghai and Beijing, I have taken thousands of pictures, I have taken calligraphy classes, I have gone to a Chinese soccer game, I have gone to a Beijing Opera, I have lived with a Chinese family, I have gone to the coolest place in the world: Tibet, and I have missed Drake family a lot. I have learned so much this summer!!
And yes I'm Spanish, as it appears written in the Chinese calligraphy in the picture, 西班牙人: xībānyá rén, and I miss my family, friends and home, but this have been the year of the opportunities and the year of my dreams and I don't want to say goodbye to it.
I don't like goodbyes and I'm next to another one. But at least on Saturday morning (Chinese time), I'm going to take three planes and arrived 24 hours later and with a 13-hour difference in Des Moines and see all of you again. I can't wait to share stories, go to Kansas City, walk around Drake campus, go to Drake Dinner, go to Mars Cafe, go to an Iowa Cubs game, visit the Iowa State Fair, etc.

Trip to Xi'an I

Last weekend I went to Xi'an. It is located in the center of China, around 12 hours by train from Beijing. It is a place full of history and it has been the capital of 13 dynasties.
We left Beijing on Thursday afternoon after our Chinese midterm. We went by taxi to the West Railway Station to take the train that departed at 7 p.m. When we started to plan the trip we were going to be just four people but at the end we were ten. We bought our tickets very late and we only found hard seats!! The trip was long, we couldn't sleep for more than three hours and the train was crowded and hot at dinner time. Everybody was eating noodles. We arrived at Xi'an around 6 a.m. and we tried to buy train tickets to go back to Beijing on Saturday night but all the tickets were sold out, so after two hours waiting in the train station, we decided to go to our hotel.
We asked a taxi driver about it and he said that our hotel was very closed and we could walk. We started to walk, we get lost, it started to rain, etc. It took us around 45 minutes to arrive in our hotel... By this time we just wanted to sleep, but it was too early and our rooms weren't ready yet.After a long nap, we went out for lunch and we found some Starbucks coffee. I really miss coffee in China, but there are Starbucks everywhere in Shanghai, Beijing and Xi'an.We explored Xi'an all the afternoon and night. We visited the Forest of Stones Steles Museum, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the City Wall, etc.

Back in Beijing

Since one week ago, I am back in Beijing. We are living at the Beijing Foreign Studies University located in the third ring, very close to the zoo and the Summer Palace, where I want to go very soon.
Everyday I have class in the morning, I visit places around Beijing, I meet with my language partner, I go to calligraphy classes and I study Chinese in the afternoons.
I also bought a bike so I can go by bike from one side of the campus to the other, to have lunch, and to some streets around. I really like. I was afraid about the traffic but now I am used to it.Other thing that I really like is the Beijing Opera and the costumes they wear. I hope I can find cheap tickets and go to one performance.
This is my room in the dorm. It is decorated with Spanish flag colors (yellow and red), some notes, flowers, the Asturias flag, and Fernando Alonso flag (my favorite F1 driver who is from my hometown).
And this is the door of my room. It has my name (Rita), my Chinese name (Ai Litai) and some flags from China, the United States, Spain, Asturias, and of course Iowa. I really miss the white board that I had when I was at Drake. I hope I can find one soon!!

Clean water

While we were in Chengde we made a trip to the countryside. Everything was pretty, specially the water that was very clean.
Here you can see some pictures:


We have a great time fishing in the river, playing badminton and talking with people around there.

I love travelling all over the world!!

Yeah, the more I travel, the more I like it. I started when I was a little girl of 10 years old. I went to many cities in Spain during the weekends with my grandparents, following the soccer team of my hometown. Thanks to them I visited a lot of cool places and I enjoy soccer games.
Then, I started to travel with my classmates to Europe and I did a school exchange with Westlake High School in the USA. Since then, I couldn't stop traveling.
Why do I like it so much? Because I meet new people, I visit beautiful places, I take lots of pictures, and the most important: I learn a lot of things everyday, every second.
And this is what is happening now in China. I love this country, I met new people from the States and China, I visited beautiful places, I took a lot of pictures and I have learned so much.
That's is probably why I want to be a correspondent, so I can keep traveling, taking pictures, and share my experiences and the information about what is going on all over the world.
One of my last experiences was to celebrate for first time the 4th of July with Americans in China. It was incredible to be with people from two countries, having fun and making new friends.

With some Chinese friends in Chengde

Celebration of the 4th of July in Chengde

Some pictures

Having lunch with Americans and our tutors

With my tutor and other friends
A man cooking at the street
A Mongolian tent
With my tutor Hatty

Hello from Shanghai

We are in Shanghai. The last few days we were in Chongqing, most of the days we have lectures about Chinese Arts, the silk road, Chinese Traditional Medical Science, Chinese History and Chinese Religion and Beliefs. The ones that I like the most were the lectures about arts and architecture.
Today we had some classes in the morning and in the afternoon we took a plane to Shanghai. After checking in at the hotel we met with a Chinese journalist and we were talking about Chinese media and differences with American media. Later I went to explore a little of Shanghai, the streets next to our hotel.
Now I am going to bed because I am very tired and tomorrow we are going to see the gardens in Suzhou.

The trip is almost over

In the past few days a lot of things have happened. We went to see the pandas in Chengdu and they were so cute and then we went to one of the best places in the world, Tibet. The landscape was beautiful, we visit some temples, the Potala Palace and we visited a lake, the highest in the world.
Everything was great until my mum phoned me from Spain telling me some bad news. My grandfather went into coma. Then we took a plane to Chongching and after checking in the hotel, some friends and I decided to watch a movie. After just 20 minutes, my mother phoned me again with worst news, my grandfather died.
I tried to find a plane to go to Spain but the trip included three stops before my arrival in Spain and I will not arrive until Saturday, so I would miss his funeral today. Finally I decided not to go and stay here learning more things with this program and the next one. His dream was to give me the education that he didn't have and to be in my graduation next year in Madrid. He is not going to be there in person, but he is going to be with me always.
I grew up with him. He was the best grandfather ever. We travel together, we played ludo, we sang traditional Spanish songs together, we took care of his cows and horse, we enjoyed my grandmother's food, we watched soccer games on television, we went to the bar on Sunday with his friends, we talked on Skype wearing cowboys hats and the best, he asked for hugs and kisses all the time. Probably the most important thing that I have learned from him was his love to our family. My grandparents were together for almost 50 years.

China is great

More than 10 days in China and I just have to say good things about this country. I am really tired because in this trip we don't stop one moment. We go from one city to other, by bus, by train and by plane. We visited museums, families, farms, monuments, we have some lectures and we visit some cultural resources.
So far we have been in Beijing, Luoyang, Tai'an, Tianjin and now we are in Chengdu. Tomorrow we are going to see the Pandas and in the afternoon we are going to fly to Lhasa and we are going to visit Tibet.
In total we are 21 students, 3 Drake professors and other two adults, and a Chinese guide and a city guide are always with us. Sometimes is hard because not everybody speaks English, so they have to translate things and explain to us the things. This is a picture of our group with Miron, our Chinese guide who is seating next to me.
One thing that have surprised me a lot is the food. I really like Chinese food, probably more than American food. We eat always together, we seat in three tables and the plates full of delicious food are in the middle as you can see in this picture of my table. Normally we never finished the food but this time was a special dinner and we did.
I love taking pictures and in this trip I have taken so many! More than 1,000 already! And I am going to be in China for another 2 months and a half. But everyday we do so many different things. I really like taking pictures of Chinese people, as you can see in the next picture, there are two Chinese pictures that we met while we were visiting the White Horse Temple.
That's all for today. Not it is 11.30 p.m. and Rita is going to bed because tomorrow we have to be ready by 8 a.m. at the hotel's lobby to see the pandas while they are eating breakfast. I am writing from a Starbucks in the city center of Chengdu, just in front of our hotel!! So lucky to have access after so many days without service.

First days in Beijing

The first days in Beijing have been great! We visited the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall and three factories. Now we are in Tianjen, yesterday we visited two traditional Chinese families and today we are going to a museum and to talk with a professor about the research he has been doing.

This is a picture of all the group in Tiananmen Square:

Inside the The Temple of Heaven

In the Great Wall

The Great Wall

I have just arrived in Beijing

I am in China!!! I have just arrived in Beijing two hours ago. I took three planes with stops in Minneapolis, Tokyo and finally Beijing.


Now, I am in the hotel in Beijing and I have Internet connection. I do not know if I am going to have access daily but I will try to upload some pictures and let my friends know how everything is going.

Chinaaaa!

It is 1.04 a.m. and I cannot sleep! So nervous! I am going to China in just 11 hours. The plane leaves around 12 but we have to be at the airport by 10 a.m.
Since Thursday I was in Kansas City and Columbia. I went with a friend to visit Mizzou University, her family, her sister's graduation and now I am back in Des Moines.
I want to leave to China soon and view new things but I also know that I am going to meet my friends from here.
In the last three days I have eaten in some many international restaurants: Italian, Mongolian, Japanese, Mexican and American. And the best thing is that I love the four of them.
Tomorrow I am planning to have a breakfast with my friends at Mars Cafe and then I will write you more things from China.
Have a great summer! =)

Goodbye dinner

Japanese dinner with Yoko

Good news

In the last post, I wrote that I have had more news to tell you. The most important one is that I have been accepted to do a course during summer.
I applied to some programs and I was accepted to do one in Wales and another in China. Finally I decided to take the China one. So after my trip with Drake University, I will stay there for another nine weeks.
Now, I don't want to complain but I have so many things to decide and look at that it is going to be hard to do everything. And the finals week is arriving.
So, I have decided to make two lists with the things I have to do and the information I have to look at depending of the program: health insurance, money, passport & visa, baggage, clothes, laptop, hospitals, weather conditions, Chinese dictionary, information about the places, batteries for the camera, vaccines, flight tickets to come back to Des Moines in August, tickets to go back to Spain, etc.
I am sure that I am forgetting things. Ok, I am a world traveler since five years ago and I have lived a lot of difficult situations with people like lost baggage when I arrived here, my camera was stolen in Rome, my phone was stolen in Madrid, a friend fell down in a street in Greece and went to hospital for two months, a person threw her baggage to the trash without taking her flight tickets in Athens, etc.
But this situation is different. It is Asia. I have never been there before and I do not know Chinese at all. I am nervous, happy, but above all excited.

I am going to China

Yes, it is official, I am going to China in May! I am so happy! It is incredible, I am going to be in three continents in just one year: Europe, America and finally Asia. This is going to be my first trip to an Asian country and I can not wait until May.
I have decided to write a blog about this experience, so all my friends, family and future China tourists can see how things are going! I have called the blog "Rita is going to China," it is going to be in English, so most of the people will understand.

And now in Spanish...
Y ahora en español...

Sí, ya es oficial, me voy a China en mayo. ¡Estoy tan contenta! Es increíble, voy a visitar tres continentes es un año: Europa, America y Asia. Este será mi primer viaje a un país asiático y no puedo esperar hasta mayo.
He decidido escribir un blog sobre la experiencia, así todos mis amigos, familia y futuros turistas que vayan a China pueden ver cómo van las cosas. He decidido llamar al blog "Rita se va a China"y estará en inglés, así la mayoría de la gente lo entenderá.