All Right It's On!

All right now it's time to start keeping my promise to all of you guys. I'm finally settled in Hong Kong and I have full Internet access so I can now get to work. Since three weeks have passed already, I'll give ya'll a brief synopsis on what I've been doing.

I finished my two-week seminar in mainland China on Saturday. We went to Xi'an (a city in northwest China), Beijing, and Shanghai. The trip was actually a 3-credit class; we had lectures most mornings as well as several field trips. We also had two quizzes (which I found mad easy) and four journal entries where we reflect on our experience. I wish this class counted on my transcript because I'd have it in the bag, but unfortunately it doesn't. Anyway, our program had the great luck of going to mainland China during its worst, snowiest winter in years! One thing I learned about China is that the weather can get a little gully in the winter. I mean, it was pretty damn brick! I'm talking long-johns, double-socks, the whole nine yards. And my dumb-ass decided NOT to bring my Timberland boots, the high ones that go all the way up past my ankles! I had them PACKED in my suitcase, but then I thought, "I'm only gonna be in cold weather for two weeks. No sense lugging these around". And I left them! Trust, I paid for that mistake!

Anyway, Xi'an is not exactly my kind of town. It's considered a pretty average, run-of-the-mill city, yet what's crazy is that it has 7 million people! China has so many cities and people that a city with a population almost as big as NYC is average! But the worst thing about Xi'an is its pollution! The whole city stinks like coal, which is the main source of energy in most Chinese cities. That smell really permeates the air everywhere you go; it's pretty bad. But we went to Xi'an for its historical significance. Xi'an is the ancient capital of China, and has been around since 200BC when the emperor Qin Shi Huangdi unified China and started the Qin Dynasty. Isn't it crazy that what we know as China has been a nation for the past 2,200 years?? Do you know how many monarchies, empires, and civilizations have begun and ended over the span of 2,200 years? Europe alone went from the Ancient Greeks and the Phoenicians to the Roman Empire and barbaric tribes to Charlemagne and feudal monarchies to the Renaissance and Vatican rule to the Napoleon era to the World Wars, which finally established most of the nations that we know of today. And yet while all this chaos and change were going on, China has been the same country with the same people and the same written language and the same religions and philosophies. China has gone through several different dynasties, but even when China was ruled by the Mongols during the Mongol empire, they adopted the Chinese government system and customs to rule over them--basically China set the tone even for their conquerers! So if you REALLY dig history, look no further...

Blog to be continued...