So we took a four-day trip to tour around Beijing (doesn't this class sound hard?) over the weekend. We left the faculty club at 6am. yeah. I guess that was to get us into Beijing by 11ish. We were greeted by 'Jerry' our tour guide and got on the bus. While everyone was ready to stop at the hotel, change/rest whatever (like the itinerary said), we went straight to lunch and then straight to the Summer Palace.
I was excited to go to the Summer Palace. I some how managed not to go last summer and really wanted to see it. Jerry really did the fastest tour of life. we BOOKED it through. I didn't really learn much about it either except that the Qing dynasty would come here in the summer... the 'Chinese unicorn' is this lion thing with antlers and a horse's tail and scales and a bunch of other stuff... and the summer palace has the longest corridor or a long corridor or something. 
(Hence the picture of how shocked I was at its length...) From there we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. The UVA Beijing Club (comprised of uva grads in beijing) had contacted professor maxham to set up a dinner/get together that night. It seemed perfect for me to make some connections to pre-empt my summer in Beijing. We went to this Thai place and I sat across from this guy Casey. He's lived here since.. January... and offered to help me find a place to stay! So that was cool. Beyond that I met this guy who's son is coming for the summer w/his gf (they just graduated college) and said to get in touch with him if I want to meet them. Plus I got the business card of the head of the club so I can keep in touch when I go back to Beijing.
(to be continued)
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