Suzhou

                We left this morning and went to Suzhou first on our agenda was to see the humble administrators garden. Yes it was a beautiful garden and there was lots of stuff crammed into the 5.2 hectares that the garden covered. After going to the Humble Administrator’s garden we all went to another garden, then we ate lunch and after that we went to a silk factory and saw how silk is made. At the end of the silk factory there was a store with silk products, I bought a scarf and then we went back to the dorm.

Calligraphy

                Today we went to Dr. Chen’s cousin or something like that and we had a meeting with him and he lectured us on Chinese calligraphy because he is a famous calligrapher. We learned all about the various things that he does and the different arts and styles behind calligraphy. He also wrote 1 character for each one of us. Lots of fun, I only fell asleep once.

Beijing Day 5

Today we went to the PaJiaYuan market and the silk market which was lots of fun I was able to haggle items down and bought an ivory chess set. At lunch we went to eat peking duck and it was great. Tonight we also flew back down to shanghai and the dorms.

Beijing Day 4

Today we went to the summer palace and the birds nest. I had not yet been to the summer palace so that was very interesting. There was lots of traffic in Beijing today, not that there isn’t every other day. While on our trip to the summer palace another girl got her ATM card stuck in a ATM card I really have no idea how they do it. I mean you put your card in and all you have to do is take when it spits it back out, but that was okay. Later while at the summer palace we went through the long corridor or hallway I do not know the English translation but it is something along the lines of that. After going through the long hallway we went on a boat ride on one of the dragon boats which hold about 40 people this was lots of fun because there was a tour group from Greece on the boat with us and they brought a boom box, like a full sized boom box, and had a kind of dance party thing and it was really funny to see that in China. The birds nest was nothing to write home about.

Beijing Day 3

Today we woke up early and went to the Great wall. More specifically we went to the MutianWu section which is known for its beauty and lack of tourists it is approx. 3 hours away from beijing so it is less crowded than the Badaling section which is closer to the city. despite the fact that it was raining actually pouring all day and one girl had an asthma attack and had to go to the hospital, we all had a great time i think. i was sick yesterday so that is why i skipped that day.

Day 1 in beijing

Today we woke up early around 5:00 and brought our belongings to chris the TAs room to store it while we were in beijing. we left the dorm at 6 and arrived at the airport at around 7:30 we checked in our luggage and ran to our gate to barelyt get there in time for our 8:00 boarding time. we arrived in beijing and we went direectly to the Temple of heavan which was exhausting. our flight was originally going to get there sooner but due to weather and various problems we got there late so we were unable to go to WangFuQin street or some other places and this set off our whole schedule but after temple of Heaven we went to our hotel which was 5 stars and very very nice.

Consulate

Today i got to school a bit earlier so that i could pick up my text book which i had copied. after that i went to class and we learned some new stuff and we sang some songs towards the end i also learned that we were going to go to the consulate general to meet some people. so that was cool i ate lunch and then at 1 we all got on the bus and met some other state department group from chicago, and we went to t he consulate but of course i just heard this so i was forced to wear very informal dress. in any case it was not too big of a deal because i was sitting next to some kids from chicago and it made me feel over dressed in a t-shirt. anyway still have alot of homework every night :(

Independence Day

We had lots of fun today first we had a test in the morning then we learned taichi at culture class then we went out to eat and had Chinese food and went shopping at a really big mall

Shanghai Expo 2010

[11:46:41 AM] John Santolucito: ill just write to u about it
[11:46:46 AM] John Santolucito: okay here it goes
[11:46:49 AM] Mark Santolucito: ya
[11:47:01 AM] John Santolucito: i got up early like 6:15 and then studied cause i got the test tommorrow
[11:47:05 AM] Mark Santolucito: you can do a condensed version if you want
[11:47:08 AM] John Santolucito: and then i ate breakfst
[11:47:20 AM] John Santolucito: and then i walked to the school
[11:47:30 AM] John Santolucito: and i noticed i forgot my camera so that sucked
[11:47:36 AM] John Santolucito: and i didnt have tome to go back
[11:47:42 AM] John Santolucito: so i didnt get any pictures
[11:47:44 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh thats to bad
[11:47:48 AM] John Santolucito: and then we got on the bus
[11:47:53 AM] John Santolucito: and we went to the expo
[11:48:01 AM] John Santolucito: we waited an hour to buy tickets
[11:48:08 AM] Mark Santolucito: i thought you already had ti
[11:48:10 AM] John Santolucito: then w waited 2 hrs in security
[11:48:10 AM] Mark Santolucito: x
[11:48:24 AM] John Santolucito: we had reserv to buy tickets
[11:48:30 AM] John Santolucito: so wwe didnt have to wit as long
[11:48:30 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh
[11:48:37 AM] Mark Santolucito: wow
[11:48:41 AM] John Santolucito: and thenwwe went to us pavillion
[11:48:45 AM] John Santolucito: we had vip
[11:48:51 AM] John Santolucito: so we didnt have to wait in line
[11:48:54 AM] John Santolucito: it was good
[11:49:14 AM] John Santolucito: but the pavilion was all about americans being idiots and not being able to speak chinese
[11:49:18 AM] John Santolucito: and it sucked
[11:49:27 AM] Mark Santolucito: hahahah
[11:49:27 AM] John Santolucito: but there were 4 videos
[11:49:36 AM] Mark Santolucito: videos?
[11:49:39 AM] John Santolucito: that was just the first 3
[11:49:43 AM] John Santolucito: like movies
[11:49:55 AM] John Santolucito: four imax movie theaters u go through
[11:50:06 AM] Mark Santolucito: wow cool
[11:50:08 AM] John Santolucito: but they have speakers like omni theater and
[11:50:13 AM] John Santolucito: artificial sun
[11:50:17 AM] John Santolucito: and artificial rain
[11:50:22 AM] John Santolucito: and all that stuff
[11:50:24 AM] Mark Santolucito: wow!
[11:50:25 AM] Mark Santolucito: thats sick
[11:50:27 AM] John Santolucito: to recreate weather
[11:50:39 AM] John Santolucito: so i got soaked wen it rained in the fourth movie
[11:50:48 AM] Mark Santolucito: hahah
[11:50:56 AM] Mark Santolucito: how long were they?
[11:50:56 AM] John Santolucito: and then i bought two t shirts for u and bill
[11:51:02 AM] John Santolucito: likd 20 min ea
[11:51:05 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh cool thanks
[11:51:12 AM] John Santolucito: we wait in lin like 5 min
[11:51:19 AM] John Santolucito: normally is like 4-5 hrs
[11:51:25 AM] Mark Santolucito: wow!
[11:51:29 AM] Mark Santolucito: you got really lucky then
[11:51:32 AM] John Santolucito: anyway then we went to the china pavilion
[11:51:38 AM] John Santolucito: it was rlly good
[11:51:44 AM] Mark Santolucito: how much were these tix?
[11:51:44 AM] John Santolucito: amazing rlly
[11:51:48 AM] John Santolucito: idk
[11:51:53 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh
[11:51:55 AM] John Santolucito: 300 RMB last sunmmer
[11:51:59 AM] Mark Santolucito: what wsa at the china pavillion
[11:52:06 AM] Mark Santolucito: how much is that
[11:52:08 AM] John Santolucito: alot of cool stuff
[11:52:18 AM] John Santolucito: Dr. Chen said i should talk to some chinese people
[11:52:25 AM] Mark Santolucito: ha
[11:52:27 AM] Mark Santolucito: awesoem
[11:52:30 AM] Mark Santolucito: he must like you
[11:52:31 AM] John Santolucito: so i talked to every chinese person that we stopped by
[11:52:32 AM] John Santolucito: in line
[11:52:35 AM] Mark Santolucito: haha
[11:52:42 AM] John Santolucito: cause we waited in line 4 hrs
[11:52:43 AM] Mark Santolucito: were they surprised
[11:52:47 AM] John Santolucito: to get into china pavilion
[11:52:50 AM] John Santolucito: ya ther were
[11:52:52 AM] Mark Santolucito: what i thought you had vip
[11:53:01 AM] John Santolucito: well we got into china pavilion like 30 min
[11:53:06 AM] Mark Santolucito: ya?
[11:53:16 AM] John Santolucito: but then we had to wait to get into elevator
[11:53:20 AM] John Santolucito: but watec
[11:53:35 AM] Mark Santolucito: so you waited 3.5 hrs for an elevator?
[11:53:36 AM] John Santolucito: and then we saw all kinds of cool sstuff
[11:53:40 AM] John Santolucito: umm ya
[11:53:42 AM] Mark Santolucito: like tech stuff
[11:53:45 AM] John Santolucito: there was like 10000 ppl
[11:53:50 AM] Mark Santolucito: !
[11:53:51 AM] John Santolucito: waiting in lin
[11:53:55 AM] Mark Santolucito: !!!
[11:54:03 AM] John Santolucito: 700k to 1m ppl come every day
[11:54:09 AM] Mark Santolucito: wowo!
[11:54:14 AM] John Santolucito: ya alot of ppl
[11:54:16 AM] Mark Santolucito: thats crazy
[11:54:20 AM] John Santolucito: more than the pop of boston
[11:54:26 AM] Mark Santolucito: do you go back again
[11:54:32 AM] John Santolucito: no
[11:54:36 AM] John Santolucito: very very expensive
[11:54:41 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh
[11:54:48 AM] Mark Santolucito: how much is 300 RMB
[11:54:53 AM] John Santolucito: like more than 150 USD to get in now
[11:55:08 AM] John Santolucito: 300 RMB was 1 year advance to get reservation to buy the ticket
[11:55:16 AM] John Santolucito: 300 rmb is like $50
[11:55:27 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh to reserve for this year
[11:55:30 AM] Mark Santolucito: wow
[11:55:31 AM] John Santolucito: ya
[11:55:53 AM] John Santolucito: anyway then it was like 1630
[11:56:02 AM] Mark Santolucito: haha
[11:56:08 AM] John Santolucito: so we were told we had 430 hr freetime
[11:56:15 AM] Mark Santolucito: awesome!
[11:56:22 AM] Mark Santolucito: whatd you do
[11:56:26 AM] John Santolucito: so i went to greece pavilion first
[11:56:32 AM] John Santolucito: rlly cool i got suvlaki
[11:56:35 AM] John Santolucito: lamb
[11:56:40 AM] John Santolucito: good stuff
[11:56:50 AM] Mark Santolucito: does each country have one
[11:56:54 AM] John Santolucito: yes
[11:56:59 AM] John Santolucito: then i went to italy
[11:57:05 AM] John Santolucito: i got pasta for dinner
[11:57:09 AM] Mark Santolucito: awesome
[11:57:12 AM] John Santolucito: well first dinner
[11:57:14 AM] Mark Santolucito: did they all have tech
[11:57:15 AM] John Santolucito: penne
[11:57:21 AM] John Santolucito: well its tech
[11:57:27 AM] John Santolucito: but more so culture
[11:57:30 AM] John Santolucito: like
[11:57:37 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh cool like the world fair i guess
[11:57:40 AM] John Santolucito: they show their country culture
[11:57:45 AM] John Santolucito: it is the world fair
[11:57:50 AM] John Santolucito: they renamed it
[11:57:55 AM] Mark Santolucito: oh
[11:57:57 AM] Mark Santolucito: awesome
[11:58:05 AM] John Santolucito: now its
[11:58:09 AM] John Santolucito: Exposition
[11:58:11 AM] John Santolucito: ???
[11:58:20 AM] John Santolucito: not rlly sure where they got that name
[11:58:23 AM] Mark Santolucito: haha
[11:58:23 AM] John Santolucito: but anyway
[11:58:33 AM] John Santolucito: after italy i went to Luxembourg
[11:58:38 AM] John Santolucito: kinda dumb
[11:58:45 AM] John Santolucito: they prtty much said
[11:58:45 AM] Mark Santolucito: haha
[11:58:52 AM] John Santolucito: we r the richest country in the world
[11:59:17 AM] John Santolucito: and we made our pavilion out of this extremely expensive steel
[11:59:21 AM] John Santolucito: cause we are so rich
[11:59:28 AM] Mark Santolucito: hahaa
[11:59:32 AM] John Santolucito: and we can afford to not recycle
[11:59:42 AM] John Santolucito: pretty funny
[11:59:47 AM] Mark Santolucito: haha awesome
[12:00:00 PM] John Santolucito: i got a sample of this like steak wrapped in potato stuff
[12:00:05 PM] John Santolucito: pretty good
[12:00:09 PM] Mark Santolucito: from lux
[12:00:14 PM] John Santolucito: ya
[12:00:19 PM] Mark Santolucito: cool
[12:00:27 PM] John Santolucito: keep in mind i have to wait along time to get into these places
[12:00:39 PM] John Santolucito: like 1 hr+
[12:00:42 PM] John Santolucito: wa
[12:00:42 PM] Mark Santolucito: is it mostly chinese
[12:00:44 PM] John Santolucito: ea
[12:00:50 PM] John Santolucito: 85% or more
[12:00:56 PM] Mark Santolucito: coo
[12:01:16 PM] John Santolucito: all the while when i was in line i was talking chinese with families and introducing myseld
[12:01:31 PM] John Santolucito: and all that stuff
[12:01:40 PM] Mark Santolucito: awesome
[12:01:49 PM] John Santolucito: so i went from the extreme wealth of Lux
[12:02:00 PM] John Santolucito: to the africa pavilion which was just depressing
[12:02:14 PM] John Santolucito: like
[12:02:17 PM] Mark Santolucito: haha
[12:02:59 PM] John Santolucito: i cant believe lux is spending so much money while the african countries all had like little huts the size of idk my room
[12:03:06 PM] John Santolucito: and were selling trinkets
[12:03:08 PM] John Santolucito: for money
[12:03:19 PM] Mark Santolucito: huh
[12:03:36 PM] John Santolucito: lux spend 1b+ on their building
[12:03:41 PM] Mark Santolucito: wow
[12:03:44 PM] John Santolucito: ya
[12:03:53 PM] Mark Santolucito: and africa is starving
[12:03:57 PM] Mark Santolucito: crazy
[12:03:57 PM] John Santolucito: yup

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i wrote a fricking book about today i spent 2 hours and now its all wasted and it got deleted and i dont think im ever going to write on this blog again but everyone plz write there name and adress so i can write them a postcard