I am happy to report that internet has come to my house.
After 36 hours of grueling, no-internet time, the internet company has come to my new apartment and set it up, once again welcoming us to civilization. It feels nice. Crazy to think how dependent we have become on our computers for everything we do in our daily lives and even crazier to think that once upon a time, there was no internet.
So now that we are here, my roommates and I are busy planning our housewarming party, which is tomorrow night. (It is so weird having other roommates outside 223!!!! I miss you ladies!). We have invited our token local, Ted, who shows us around and introduces us to his friends, as well as 30ish exchange students. I'd say by now we are half undergrad and half MBA, removing us from being the babies amongst our friends. I am interested to see how it turns out. Most people have been here a week or so and don't have many friends so they are eager to meet people so hopefully everyone opens up, feels comfortable and has a good time. I have been searching for cups fit for flip cup just in case conversation is lacking and we need to get people into the mood. I've failed so far so that's not great. We got finger foods and beer for literally no money. A huge bottle of beer (each is probably 3 or 4 cans of beer) is 2.5 kuai- which is about 50 cents. JGao and I are happy because Jacks Monday's got nothing on us!
Other than that, life has been revolving around classes since we just started. Let's see, my first class was a first year accounting course which I left 20 minutes into because I knew Ivey would not approve of it...my second course was intermediate macro, which was actually great because the prof is awesome. My third class was one of the most interesting experiences I have had here. We come in for Global Business Analyst Team Project and there's about 7 of us exchange students and then locals. The class starts. Mandarin. The powerpoint starts. Mandarin. Someone mentions the class is supposed to be an English class. WHAT? The prof was SO confused. He told us he is not a good teacher in English because he has to think about the words and not the concepts and so at first break (classes are 3 hours with 5 minute break each hour) the exchange students got together and decided to ask him if we could do a project instead of the class for him (ie. write a case) and he agreed! It was fantastic. He doesn't want to teach in English at all so this works for everyone.
Today I had Developmental Economics and so far, I am very much looking forward to this course. ND, I thought of you the entire way through and how much you would enjoy sitting there with me. The course talks about economics in different types of countries as well as all of the aspects that affect the development of a nation- from health care, to education, to traditions. Already today the course was interesting. There's a lot of exchange students from all over the world and there's lots of locals so it makes for an interesting conversation about cultures and it is eye-opening to see how different cultures perceive the world and themselves. We spend a good chunk of the class looking at The World Factbook statistics and talking about why some countries may be where they are in certain stats. It reminded me of my Politics of Latin America course at UWO two years ago in that you talk about really interesting things but having this class with people from all over the world takes it to a whole new level.
I must be off to get my cell phone set up (finally!!!) and get a DVD player for our pad but hopefully it is easier to communicate now that I have internet at home and classes are rolling.
Much love.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wishing I was there
I am missing home today.
Not because things here are sub-par but because I found out today that my aunt in Colombia is on life support because she suddenly stopped breathing and that one of my BFFs had surgery last week.
It's just one of those days....
Not because things here are sub-par but because I found out today that my aunt in Colombia is on life support because she suddenly stopped breathing and that one of my BFFs had surgery last week.
It's just one of those days....
5 days into it...
Hello hello!
I've been in Beijing for a few days now and it's about time I give you all a better idea of what I am up to and tell you about the city.
Since I got here, JG has been my saviour with her incredible Mandarin skills and as a result, we have been able to make many great successes.
The newest success is that we found an apartment to live in. It is close to campus, close to the subway station, close to food and grocery stores and close to our friends. One thing that I have found very interesting about Beijing is that they really don't take any care at all of the public areas or the outside of buildings. You see these concrete blocks that look dirty and not really appealing, walk inside to find concrete floors and poorly painted walls that have marks from hands, shoes, etc and really don't get a great impression of the place. However, you walk into the actual apartments and more often than not, they are quite nice. Our place has tiled floor in the common area and hardwood in the bedrooms, nice taupe-ish walls and crown molding. There are three rooms, all of good size, and two bathrooms. The closets are good although with the little clothes we have here, this was never going to be an issue. The kitchen is of a good size and the dining room table is beautiful- it is good and fits 6 people around the rectangle. The living room is connected to the dining area and there's three navy blue leather couches. There's also two sunrooms that are supposed to be used to dry clothes because there's no such thing as a dryer in rented apartments here. Overall, I am really excited to live there, the place is clean and it feels homey and inviting. The common space is big enough to host decent dinner parties and pre-drinks as well so you can all imagine how happy I feel. We are signing tomorrow and hopefully moving in directly after, and looking at having a house warming on Friday for our friends.
I must make a point to tell you all about the city of Beijing and what I've found so far. I don't know how you all picture the city but in all honesty, I imagined a place that looked gray, old and unlike what I am used to. To my surprise, I found a city with wide, spacious streets and sidewalks, beautiful buildings, sky scrapers and a Time Square look-alike corner every few blocks. The cleanliness of the city really impacted me although it can rightfully be attributed to the Olympics. The one other thing that I have really loved is how friendly strangers are. Coming from India, where people gave me dirty looks when I smiled at them, and Toronto, where people barely look at each other, I have been surprised to see that most people smile back at me. It is so welcoming and it makes the language barrier a tad less intimidating. The food has been incredible so far...the Chinese have something great here. The combination of flavours and textures is something that you really need to get into, but once you do- there's so much to explore and most of it tastes so delicious!! We also found a sushi place with really good sushi. It is very close to our school and our apartment and it has the conveyor belts that just flow food through and you pick up whatever you want. It was cheap, too! I paid 30 kuai for dinner, which is about $5-6 canadian. Oh I also found my new favourite candy! They sell fruit on a stick dipped in caramel everywhere and it is so yummy!!! To save myself from becoming a whale, I have done my best to restrain myself when I see them but it is such a great treat!
Exploring the city has been really fun, finding new grocery stores, markets, nail places and cool restaurants every time we venture out into the cold. Hopefully it gets warm soon. The locals say this is a cold front and it should pass quickly and I'm crossing my fingers hoping they're right.
Today was a frustrating day but we finally successfully registered for our courses. Just so you can all point and laugh, I am taking things like stats, macroecon, developmental economics (which I am uber pumped about) and other equally thrilling courses. It should be an interesting semester even academically, as I am really stepping out of my comfort zone and taking courses that I don't know much about- hopefully I will emerge with a whole new lot of knowledge!
Ok then, I am off to get ready for dinner. A few of us are going out for hot pot- my first time! I am very excited.
Zai jian!!!
Cat
I've been in Beijing for a few days now and it's about time I give you all a better idea of what I am up to and tell you about the city.
Since I got here, JG has been my saviour with her incredible Mandarin skills and as a result, we have been able to make many great successes.
The newest success is that we found an apartment to live in. It is close to campus, close to the subway station, close to food and grocery stores and close to our friends. One thing that I have found very interesting about Beijing is that they really don't take any care at all of the public areas or the outside of buildings. You see these concrete blocks that look dirty and not really appealing, walk inside to find concrete floors and poorly painted walls that have marks from hands, shoes, etc and really don't get a great impression of the place. However, you walk into the actual apartments and more often than not, they are quite nice. Our place has tiled floor in the common area and hardwood in the bedrooms, nice taupe-ish walls and crown molding. There are three rooms, all of good size, and two bathrooms. The closets are good although with the little clothes we have here, this was never going to be an issue. The kitchen is of a good size and the dining room table is beautiful- it is good and fits 6 people around the rectangle. The living room is connected to the dining area and there's three navy blue leather couches. There's also two sunrooms that are supposed to be used to dry clothes because there's no such thing as a dryer in rented apartments here. Overall, I am really excited to live there, the place is clean and it feels homey and inviting. The common space is big enough to host decent dinner parties and pre-drinks as well so you can all imagine how happy I feel. We are signing tomorrow and hopefully moving in directly after, and looking at having a house warming on Friday for our friends.
I must make a point to tell you all about the city of Beijing and what I've found so far. I don't know how you all picture the city but in all honesty, I imagined a place that looked gray, old and unlike what I am used to. To my surprise, I found a city with wide, spacious streets and sidewalks, beautiful buildings, sky scrapers and a Time Square look-alike corner every few blocks. The cleanliness of the city really impacted me although it can rightfully be attributed to the Olympics. The one other thing that I have really loved is how friendly strangers are. Coming from India, where people gave me dirty looks when I smiled at them, and Toronto, where people barely look at each other, I have been surprised to see that most people smile back at me. It is so welcoming and it makes the language barrier a tad less intimidating. The food has been incredible so far...the Chinese have something great here. The combination of flavours and textures is something that you really need to get into, but once you do- there's so much to explore and most of it tastes so delicious!! We also found a sushi place with really good sushi. It is very close to our school and our apartment and it has the conveyor belts that just flow food through and you pick up whatever you want. It was cheap, too! I paid 30 kuai for dinner, which is about $5-6 canadian. Oh I also found my new favourite candy! They sell fruit on a stick dipped in caramel everywhere and it is so yummy!!! To save myself from becoming a whale, I have done my best to restrain myself when I see them but it is such a great treat!
Exploring the city has been really fun, finding new grocery stores, markets, nail places and cool restaurants every time we venture out into the cold. Hopefully it gets warm soon. The locals say this is a cold front and it should pass quickly and I'm crossing my fingers hoping they're right.
Today was a frustrating day but we finally successfully registered for our courses. Just so you can all point and laugh, I am taking things like stats, macroecon, developmental economics (which I am uber pumped about) and other equally thrilling courses. It should be an interesting semester even academically, as I am really stepping out of my comfort zone and taking courses that I don't know much about- hopefully I will emerge with a whole new lot of knowledge!
Ok then, I am off to get ready for dinner. A few of us are going out for hot pot- my first time! I am very excited.
Zai jian!!!
Cat
Saturday, February 21, 2009
I HAVE A SUPER COOL ASIAN AFRO FRIEND
He is in my facebook profile pic if anyone is wondering.
We met him last night at a bar and we thought his hair was incredible so we took pictures with him. Then we found out he has a band and so I gave him my email so he would tell me when his band is playing and my friends and I could check it out.
I just received this:
Hey,Catalina
How are u.Next Saturday my band play at D22 . U want coming?
Aha . and can u tell me your MSN? i convenient talking 2 u,and HBA candidate is great！
Cheers ！
SOOOOO ASIAN! SO EXCITED!!! hahahahahaha
We met him last night at a bar and we thought his hair was incredible so we took pictures with him. Then we found out he has a band and so I gave him my email so he would tell me when his band is playing and my friends and I could check it out.
I just received this:
Hey,Catalina
How are u.Next Saturday my band play at D22 . U want coming?
Aha . and can u tell me your MSN? i convenient talking 2 u,and HBA candidate is great！
Cheers ！
SOOOOO ASIAN! SO EXCITED!!! hahahahahaha
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Finally in Beijing
Hey everyone!
So I finally arrived in Beijing yesterday after an amazing 10 days in India.
The trip was incredible. AE, MZ, AB and I had a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend India as a travel destination to anyone looking for a place with history, religion and good food. My favourite thing was definitely the Taj Mahal, but that is a pretty obvious one. It is majestic though, the delicate details make it truly beautiful in a very simple yet elegant way. Delhi has a lot to see and do, so we enjoyed many temples, forts and restaurants. Other than that, the wedding was amazing. It was AB's cousin and his family treated us like we were a part of their family- few times in my life have I felt so welcome after meeting someone and considering the magnitude of the occasion and how busy they all were, it made for an overwhelmingly positive experience. There are pictures up on facebook- check them out. I haven't really put comments on what everything is because I'm tired and busy adjusting but I will one day...maybe. They look pretty regardless!!!!
Ok so I am in Beijing and so far, I'm into it. Everything is much more beautiful than I expected and the campus is gorgeous. The worst thing (even worse than not being able to communicate with anyone) is the shower though. They suggest you shower between 7-9, 3-5 or 8-10 but I showered at 9.15 and there was either boiling hot water or ice cold water. I may still have shampoo in my hair because I could not deal with it for longer...abysmal!!! That, in addition to wanting a kitchen and to be closer to the subway, is sending JGao and I on a search for an apartment. If all fails, we will be great in residence, but the idea of having a place to cook and temperate water sounds amazing. Will keep you all posted on how our search turns out.
Today, we are off to Tianamen Square and to see some other Beijing sites around the area- should be exciting!!!
Much love
Cat
So I finally arrived in Beijing yesterday after an amazing 10 days in India.
The trip was incredible. AE, MZ, AB and I had a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend India as a travel destination to anyone looking for a place with history, religion and good food. My favourite thing was definitely the Taj Mahal, but that is a pretty obvious one. It is majestic though, the delicate details make it truly beautiful in a very simple yet elegant way. Delhi has a lot to see and do, so we enjoyed many temples, forts and restaurants. Other than that, the wedding was amazing. It was AB's cousin and his family treated us like we were a part of their family- few times in my life have I felt so welcome after meeting someone and considering the magnitude of the occasion and how busy they all were, it made for an overwhelmingly positive experience. There are pictures up on facebook- check them out. I haven't really put comments on what everything is because I'm tired and busy adjusting but I will one day...maybe. They look pretty regardless!!!!
Ok so I am in Beijing and so far, I'm into it. Everything is much more beautiful than I expected and the campus is gorgeous. The worst thing (even worse than not being able to communicate with anyone) is the shower though. They suggest you shower between 7-9, 3-5 or 8-10 but I showered at 9.15 and there was either boiling hot water or ice cold water. I may still have shampoo in my hair because I could not deal with it for longer...abysmal!!! That, in addition to wanting a kitchen and to be closer to the subway, is sending JGao and I on a search for an apartment. If all fails, we will be great in residence, but the idea of having a place to cook and temperate water sounds amazing. Will keep you all posted on how our search turns out.
Today, we are off to Tianamen Square and to see some other Beijing sites around the area- should be exciting!!!
Much love
Cat
Friday, February 6, 2009
At least we all get street cred from AB's misfortunes
I am sure most of you have heard about this by now, but one of my very best friends has been deported from Germany, contributing to the diversity of people I know and experiences I am familiar with. If you're reading this, it probably means that you are friends with him as well and as a result can also tell people that you have a friend who was once deported. Growing up (aka life outside of UWO) is already proving to be tougher than we thought.
The downside of the increase in street cred I recently acquired is that it made for an intense and stressful day yesterday. Why? Because if AB can't be in Germany, he has to go somewhere...and the Germans have 10192873548392029816 laws and rules of how/when/where/why you can re-apply for a student visa, long story short, leading our friend back to Canada.
So, you know how I was going to India with him to see his family and go to his cousin's wedding next week? About that. Now you can start to picture what was going through my head yesterday.
Anyway, the story does have a happy(ish) ending.
India is still a go for myself, MZ and AE. We'll have to make do without our favourite India man (sorry RP) but we will still get to see Delhi , Jaipur and a baller Indian wedding. That leaves me now with 3 days in this country before I go hang out with AB's parents- but stay tuned for some fantastic pictures that I plan to take in India and post on facebook.
Love alwayssssss
Monday, February 2, 2009
1 week away
In 7 days from today, I will be getting to the airport right around this time and I will be about to embark on what will be, I'm sure, an experience of a lifetime. I can't say that I'm not nervous and scared, but all of that doesn't begin to compare to the excitement and anticipation I'm feeling.
I want to walk through this doorway
I want to open my mind
I want to pledge my allegiance to all I can find.
I want a car that will crash through the barriers
to a road no one knows.
I want to feel less control,
want to bend and I want to land far from home.
The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if i cannot learn
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...
I want to learn a completely new language,
one I don't understand.
I want to help someone lost, someone helpless,
with the strength of my hand.
I want to come to the base of a statue built
before they counted the years,
and there i'll fall with my face in my hands and cry
and feel their hope in my tears.
The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if I cannot learn,
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...
Train rides and pastures colliding...
colors and customs i've never seen...
I know I, yes I know I,
I know I will stumble
but time is precious my friend.
Those who journey can easily understand,
the more they see the more they'll learn,
the more that they will be.
So this I swear to you, and this I swear to me,
I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see.
No, I'll never rest till I've seen all i can see.
I want to know where the stength of a person lies,
in their past or their future.
Is it in the way that they hurt or they love themselves
or is it all an illusion?
I want to crawl from this skin that i'm painted in...
Body, please let it give.
I want to find the creator of all good things
and ask what it means to live
This weekend, I received a scrapbook that J put together with notes and letters from some of my closest friends. It was unbelievably overwhelming reading all the kind, amazing things people said about me and it made me realize just how blessed I am to have those people around me. Amongst those letters, LK quoted one of our favourite songs- "All I Can See" by Brendan James.
This is a song that I have been playing over and over again in the past month because it captures the essence of why I am going on exchange and it reminds me of how I want to live this experience. I decided it was a great way of kicking off this blog, so here it is.
All I Can See
I want to walk through this doorway
I want to open my mind
I want to pledge my allegiance to all I can find.
I want a car that will crash through the barriers
to a road no one knows.
I want to feel less control,
want to bend and I want to land far from home.
The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if i cannot learn
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...
I want to learn a completely new language,
one I don't understand.
I want to help someone lost, someone helpless,
with the strength of my hand.
I want to come to the base of a statue built
before they counted the years,
and there i'll fall with my face in my hands and cry
and feel their hope in my tears.
The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if I cannot learn,
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...
Train rides and pastures colliding...
colors and customs i've never seen...
I know I, yes I know I,
I know I will stumble
but time is precious my friend.
Those who journey can easily understand,
the more they see the more they'll learn,
the more that they will be.
So this I swear to you, and this I swear to me,
I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see.
No, I'll never rest till I've seen all i can see.
I want to know where the stength of a person lies,
in their past or their future.
Is it in the way that they hurt or they love themselves
or is it all an illusion?
I want to crawl from this skin that i'm painted in...
Body, please let it give.
I want to find the creator of all good things
and ask what it means to live
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