Some photos of my new home :)

mint ginger mango water at CCD :) yumm


my bedroom!


My kitchen <3 where the best chai in the world is made!


the street where I live at night..didn't turn out so well

some photos of my new home :)

India!

Another week, Another Update

Another update with a few shots of a few things I've seen this week, once again with no coherent theme. At some point I'll actually have a point to these posts, besides just showing off a bunch of cool looking sites. Until then, enjoy.

The Forbidden City's North Gate

YuanMingYuan Park

YuanMingYuan Park

Inside the Forbidden City

Ornamental Roof Inside the Forbidden City

Hall of Preserved Harmony 

Tiananmen Square's Monolith at Sunset

Tiananman Square

Beijing City at Night

North Gate of the Forbidden City

Sculpture by Chen Wenling

If you read the front of the barrel of this baby's tank, it says Made in China.

The 1st Week

The first week here was great. It was adventurous and hectic trying to get settled in and figure out my surroundings, but I enjoyed every second of it. For some reason amidst all of the chaos this last week all of my pictures are of structured things. Strong architecture, organization, and lasting customs. Orderliness is not an accurate representation of my experience so far, but here are some of the things I've seen.

The Freshmen at the Campus do military style marching drills every morning for 2 weeks as part of their orientation into college life.

Notice the difference between the freshmen students and their uniformed upperclassmen.

On our way to the great wall we stopped at this farmers house to eat lunch. They make a lot of great food made right on their land and have a small dining hall for people who are visiting the wall to eat at.

The Great Wall of China. Seeing it with your own eyes delivers a sense of vastness that a picture just can't emulate.

The KTV building across the street from campus. Believe it or not this is a karaoke hall. The Chinese take their karaoke seriously.

An example of Beijing's unique architecture.

Construction in Beijing

A classic Pagoda

It's a Dangerous Business, Frodo, Going Out Your Door

In less than a day I will live in the East. Far from my home and my culture, my friends and my school. I have been pushing this night to the back of my mind for so many months it feels more like a daydream really.  I am overwhelmed with the spectrum of emotions. Hope, anxiety, excitement, stress, fear, and wonder - none of them seem out of place so close to this new chapter in my life. These butterflies ought to belong to first dates and roller coasters, not pre-departure checklists. So what better way to ground myself than to write, and what better way to write than to share what I see with my friends and family. I have never blogged before, but I have read a few and I think the bar has been set sufficiently low that I can pull this off!
I am leaving to study abroad in Beijing, China, at the International College of Beijing for the Fall 2012 semester. On my new campus 20,000 students from China and around the world come together to learn, hopefully as much from each other as from the professors. Six of us are leaving Denver, two economics majors (one being me, of course), two poli-sci majors, a communications major, and a mathematics major. Already Chinese students are contacting us, looking to practice their English, ask about our culture, and offer their boundless help. We six are novelty items and we haven't even arrived.

From this...

To this...

However before my adventure begins, I had to put five months of clothes into two suitcases that I swear are made of slowly shrinking materials. So I thought a good way to start would be with a few pictures of the packing gambit I just ran!


Post from CU Denver Student Logan Thompson
Source: http://intotheeasternworld.blogspot.com/

Digital Scandinavia

Thank you, THANK YOU.

by ohhmai

Class time this morning was useful and we discussed our group project a little more. Jenessa, Vy, Mikki, and I are in a group together and our topic is on evaluating students rather than using standardized tests. We feel that standardized testing is the easy way out because its so practical, so we are proposing solutions to it. Instead of regurgitating what you hear in class, we think there should be other methods of measuring a student’s intelligence. This may include visual learning, interactivity, and observation. Standardized testing does not measure integrity, work ethic, passion, or open mindness… the things that are really important. I think we have some pretty good thoughts and plans on how we want to approach our topic. Brian, you will be proud ;)

-

We then went to THANK YOU which is a design firm who does motion, graphics, branding, interactive, everything pretty much. They are the dream team. They showed us their SWATCH watches campaign which was freaking AMAZING. Their motion work was beautiful, including their storyboards. My favorite part of their SWATCH campaign was the Snap Dance that they did for MTV. They are truly a group of talented people. They were founded about 6 years ago and the three guys who started it started in a Danish broadcast television company. So all of the graphics, branding, interactive design was new to them. They did transfer their knowledge of what they did in broadcast television to THANK YOU because a lot of the processes were similar. Their attitude towards work is awesome. They follow their instincts and don’t really have a set plan. I admire that about these guys because they are so brave. They were inspirational and I hope to be like them one day. :)

Their SWATCH designs

Yeah, I really saw this while walking to the studio… hahaha

Liz and I at lunch
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Family italian potluck dinner was great. EVERYTHING was so delicious.. The presentation of food was superb. We are definitely designers… Thank you everyone for being an amazing group of people. I am so glad I was able to spend these 4 weeks in Copenhagen with such kind hearted, talented, and awesome people. Now i’m off to a food coma.


My contribution: fruit, cookies, and candles to set the mood of course..

The family :)

The TJ face.. or not the the TJ face.


Miss Aimee did my hair. She’s so awesome!! Topped it off with a Denmark flag.. :)
-M


Post from CU Denver Student Mia Linh Nguyen
Source: http://digitalscandinavia.tumblr.com

Shanghai: Old, new - liberation

Arriving in Shanghai initially felt like arriving home in any major U.S. city. The looming skyscrapers that appear on the horizon are reminiscent of the New York skyline.  Starkly in contrast from Casey and Kirstin’s weeklong experience in Beijing, they realized that ”neither Beijing nor Guangzhou can match the superficial, gilt-edged feel of modernity that covers the city”(p. 373).

Shanghai skyline.

Fallows argues, “A central problem in the way the outside world thinks and talks about China is that it assumes there is a single, comprehensible “China” to discuss” (2009, p. 4). Casey and Kirstin’s initial reaction to Shanghai was that the city was simply a replica of any U.S. city, and, as such, there was no reason to visit a city that had everything one could find at home. Clearly, the two women were bringing their foreign assumptions of what China should look like and imposing the same notion of a single, comprehensible “China.”
However, upon exploration of the various neighborhoods within Shanghai, the mix of old and new that China has become known for quickly became apparent. The French Concession is a small city block packed with alleyway shops and restaurants, but unlike the China Casey and Kirstin had experienced thus far, it was a peaceful reprieve from the yelling and bargaining of the markets in Beijing. The Bazaar near the Yu Gardens gave the appearance of grand ancient Chinese architecture, but was rebuilt in the 1950s to attract tourists. These two neighborhoods stood in stark contrast to the business district with its daunting skyscrapers and fast-paced commercial feel.

Shanghai skyline.

Garden of the Humble Administrator

Garden of the Humble Administrator

Garden of the Humble Administrator

For example: stepping foot into the winding narrow alleyways of Shanghai’s French Concession is to venture into one of the peaceful respites the booming commercial capitol of China has to offer. The French Concession, a holdover neighborhood from the 1840s, was known in its time for trafficking in opium and was governed by its French residents. Today, the French Concession is full of tiny shops and restaurants that stand quietly by while shopkeepers check their cell phones and generally ignore passersby. Kirstin, being a Western tourist that had finally become somewhat accustomed to the shouting and bargaining Beijing marketplaces are known for, found herself at odds with the lackluster negotiations and disinterest shopkeepers seemed to have in their tourist customers. As a deal for a child’s toy went sour due to her unwillingness to increase price, she realized that she was imposing a Beijing standard upon a city hundreds of miles, culturally, economically and geographically, away.
Even though a week in Beijing had prepared Kirstin for continued experience on the busy streets of Shanghai, she carried with her an assumption that all metropolises in China would operate under the same cultural standards and practices. As James Fallows further discusses, “Every country varies; the challenge of China is that its internal variations are truly enormous . . . [there are] countless important cleavages within the country – by region, by generation, by level of schooling, by rural versus urban perspective, even by level of rainfall . . .” (2009, p. 5) – here she stood, disappointed in the increase from price and the unwillingness of shopkeepers to engage in her rather severe attempts at bargaining, essentially as she attempted to employ Denver standards while operating in Manhattan.
As disappointment in her naiveté and generalizing of China and its citizens washed over Kirstin, she vowed to continue her exploration of Shanghai anew and under its terms. Diving back into the alleyways of the French Concession, Kirstin returned to a toyshop in which she had earlier attempted to purchase a gift for her niece. Knowing now that bargaining does occur, but perhaps on a subtler level than in Beijing, she held a up toy and looked at the shopkeeper. “15 dollar,” the shopkeeper said.  If in Beijing, Kirstin would have offered 5 dollars in response. Clutching the toy, Kirstin offered in return a tentative “10.” Grabbing a bag, the shopkeeper swiftly wrapped up the gift and sent Kirstin on her way.

French Quarter.

French Quarter.

As the class discovered the French Quarter and the Yu Gardens and Bazaar, as well as the business district and Pearl Tower yesterday, the juxtaposition of the different neighborhoods made Casey and Kirstin appreciate all of the ways Shanghai has expanded into a major metropolitan city. All of the neighborhoods and their characteristics that make up the greater puzzle of Shanghai truly reflect the variety of China that Fallows addresses. As Fallows points out, “no one can sensibly try to present the ‘real story’ or the ‘overall picture of this country” (p. 4). Perhaps not, but one can certainly present her own story of China, and Casey and Kirstin are finding that their narrative of China, shared as well as independent, is turning out to be quite liberating.
References
Fallows, James. (2009). Postcards from Tomorrow Square: Reports from China. New York: Random House.
McMillan, A. F. (2010). Shanghai Exposed. Business Traveler.

Post from CU Denver Student Kristin Runa
Source: ataleoftwocitieschina.wordpress.com