The last couple of weeks in the program, it was a big rush and passed by extremely quickly. Everyone was rushing to do all the things they haven’t done yet in Beijing, and go to the places they haven’t been yet. I myself also did not escape this trend. At the beginning of the program, eight weeks seemed like a very long time, and no one was in a rush to do anything. We just wanted to take things one step at a time. However, it ended up being a burden in the end since a lot of time has passed and there were still so many places that were still unvisited.
In addition to preparing for finals and the wrap up for the end of the classes, I was also going around Beijing almost every day after class. It was a lot; having my day start at around 8am and end around 8pm, I felt very exhausted, but I was also able to visit places our weekend excursions was not able to take us. A couple of friends and I went to Beihai Park, visited the zoos, went on shopping trips some last times, and ate at small non air-conditioned restaurants. Although it was a burden at points, it was quite a thrill.
If I were to have eight weeks to visit Beijing again, I would have definitely have spaced out my trips a lot more and not take for granted the amount of time I thought I had extra of.
