From Alyssa

Alyssa Parker

Blog Post #2

5/30/11

                        Yesterday Ashley, Tamara and I went on an expedition of the city. We first found where I was going to be working for the internship, and it turns out it is about a 50 minute subway ride from Peking University. (We call it Beida, because in Chinese it is called Beijing Daxue. It’s like shortening American University to AU.) The building is a skyscraper in the business district of Beijing, called the Capital Mansion. Next, we went to Tiananmen Square and took some pictures of all of the museums and monuments near there. It turns out that Chinese (or other Asian) people really like taking pictures with white people- both Ashley and I were asked by total strangers to pose in pictures with them. Being in Tiananmen Square and seeing where Mao’s body is kept actually gave me chills, as corny as it sounds. I have been researching and studying this stuff for years, and to finally be able to see all of it first hand was a neat experience. We will have a group trip into the Forbidden City later on in June.

                        Next, we went to find Tamara’s work which turns out is a very short subway ride from Beida. Then we were starving, and stumbled across a relatively good Muslim restaurant near Tamara’s work. Then Ashley and I met up at an AU alumni dinner with Professors Zhao, Egan, Lusane and Dean Goodman because they were in Beijing for a conference. We were in a nice restaurant, and the food was really good making for a nice change. I love all the chances I get to practice my Chinese speaking, which is surprisingly a lot better than I thought it would be. It turns out speaking Chinese has never been easier for me than now; maybe because I have a lot more confidence in general than I did when I studied abroad in undergrad.

                        Today I will begin my internship experience- I’m both extremely nervous and excited for what’s to come!