In the three short weeks I’ve been in China so far, I’ve experienced a collection of firsts. Even though I thought I knew what to expect based on my previous trips to China, Beijing constantly surprised me.
On the first weekend, we visited the Forbidden Palace in the heart of Beijing (and casually picked up President Schapiro on the way there). We bypassed the long lines and were escorted by the guide through an area marked “Restricted.” Moments later we walked right through the middle of what appeared to be a gun training session, which gave us quite a shock at the start of our tour! Besides that, walking around various parts of the palace was much more fun, and my favorite part of the trip was looking at the ornate details on all the buildings.
The following Saturday we went to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which was promised to be “the most beautiful part but also the most difficult to climb.” After an unending amount of stairs and embarrassingly sweat-soaked clothes, we finally reached the top. The view was indeed beautiful, and it was enough to make us forget (for a brief moment) the long climb down. Luckily, we decided to ride the slide down instead, which felt like driving a go-cart but with less effort and more fun! Unfortunately, we were STRONGLY discouraged from taking pictures during the ride, so this pre-ride shot will have to do.
Tobogganing down the Great Wall
The next day, my friends and I were craving pizza (after only two weeks in Beijing), so we sought out a Pizza Hut. To our surprise, the interior decoration gave the place a “fine dining” feeling to it, as did the meal portions. In fact, following the locals’ lead, we ended up eating our pizza with forks and knives and completed our meal with milk tea. After peeking into other familiar fast food places like KFC and McDonald’s, I realized that foreign fast food here is taken as an opportunity to appreciate a different cuisine rather than as a convenience measure, and there are countless fusion elements as well, such as Pizza Hut’s high tea menu.
Overall, the first few weeks in Beijing have been busy, but there were more than enough opportunities to experience a “first” everyday. Which reminds me that now I have to go prepare for another first: my first set of finals! Until next time!