Beijing

Minus weekends of slush at winter camp, I’ve never been in real snow before.

Which is why I kept telling myself it would be cold in Beijing.

But as someone who’s never known a cold that can sting your eyeballs and make your lips feel as though they’ve received a generous dose of Novocain, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The truth is, I laughingly bought leggings and a hat and mittens at the H&M in Hong Kong (which was a balmy 80 degrees by the way), thinking how cute and quaint it was to be making such a purchase.

When I stepped off the plane in Beijing wearing cotton socks and Converse, I finally understood—it would be COLD in Beijing.

That first night, Laurel (who’s tall and witty and makes for a lovely travel buddy) and Lila (who you should know now I absolutely adore) and I ran around the Peking University campus stalking up on long underwear and wool gloves and other such things one needs in order to be properly bundled. And then, of course, Lila and I bought the most ridiculous-looking panda hats. We wore them loud and proud around Beijing, and I can safely say that we most certainly spread joy everywhere we went, as a good three out of five locals couldn’t resist a hearty chuckle at the sight of us (I might post a quick picture if I find internet in Japan so you can get a better idea of exactly what we were sporting around town).

We walked out of the hotel the next morning looking like first cousins of the Michelin Man, but from there on out we were warm enough to enjoy Beijing in all it’s full (and snowy) glory. It felt absolutely magical to walk around the city with icicles hanging off of buildings and the pine trees so perfectly dusted. The Bird’s Nest Stadium was covered in snow, and the Great Wall was made that much more breathtaking (and treacherous, may I add…but more on that later) by the early winter cold.

I suppose I should’ve mentioned earlier that my trip to Beijing was a university exchange, so we were staying on the campus of Peking University (supposedly the Harvard of China, and one of it’s oldest universities). We toured around the city with a student-guide during the day, and in the evening we chatted with Chinese students at two separate receptions the university held for us.

Martin was my first university friend, and what a wonderful one he was—if my suitcase was big enough, I just might’ve smuggled him back on the boat! We got to chat about family and holidays and communism and his dreams of studying at Stanford one day. We all had quite a lot of questions for him, and Martin was ever so patient and lovely to answer them for us. He took Lila and Laurel and Eric and I to his favorite eatery on campus, and we bought soup-in-a-bag and squid-on-a-stick and a random egg-pancake thing, and we could see our breath as we walked happily through the campus.

Lily is my other university friend. I met her at the reception on the second night. She’s studying law, and her hair holds curl (which she is rightfully quite proud of). We talked about relationships and dating and marriage in our respective countries, and about her dreams of studying at Cal Berkley (notice a theme in dreams here?).

Other wonders that I had the pleasure of seeing while I was in Beijing were the Summer Palace (absolutely gorgeous covered in snow), the Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square (there was much to learn here as the massacre took place the year I was born), the Great Hall of the People (i.e. the Chinese parliament building), an acrobatics show (a slightly lower budget Chinese style Cirque du Soleil), the Forbidden City (gigantic), the Temple of Heaven, and of course, the Great Wall of China (my personal highlight)—we were just a little bit busy, and a little bit tired at the end of four days. Just a little though.

I have a million little gems of moments and memories from my time in China that I wish to share with you in perfect nuance—it truly was such a marvelous time—but this is a small start in that direction, and it won’t be long now until I can convey them to you personally (HOOray!).

Last night, I must have woken up hourly to the sound of drawers slamming or the jolt of a large, rolling wave against the ship, and it’s been so long since we’ve had really rough seas that it seems I’ve lost any and all tolerance I had for them—but our stretch to Japan is so brief; I know I can make it!

Sporting the sea bands and wishing you the calmest of seas,
Anna