This is our last week in China! We went back to the Jimo market to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. There was a man at the exit who sold watches and also happened to carve seals. I picked a beautiful white seal, wrote down my Chinese name, and watched as he drew it on, carved, […]
Tag: Deborah Zinn
IMBA Study Abroad: Fifth and sixth weeks in China!
This week we had a very special Taiji class: the professor taught us a sequence of movements with a sword! He brought his own custom-made sword; it was beautiful and pretty heavy. Curiously, people walked by very close to us even though we were flinging a sword around and there was more than enough space […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Fourth week in China!
This week we had a little adventure: We had our hair cut in China! Gasp! We were worried for no reason at all. The salons in China are very nice, and the hairdressers are funny and polite. Our haircuts turned out great, although I must warn you that the blow-drying is definitely sub-par, just in […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Third week in China!
This week the school organized a trip to Laoshan— Lao mountain. It is a very famous mountain and is known as one of the birthplaces of Taoism. It turns out that Laoshan is not just the mountain; it’s the entire area around it as well. It’s huge! First we climbed the mountain, all 1132.7 meters […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Second week in China!
This week we are becoming more accustomed to the Qingdao way. People speak somewhat aggressively, yet they are not angry, and taxi drivers are absolutely insane, but they have to be to survive Qingdao traffic and drivers (anyone who has complained about Miami, Venezuelan, Middle-Eastern, or any other drivers MUST come to Qingdao and see […]
IMBA Study Abroad: First week in China!
We arrived in Qingdao after a three-hour flight from Hong Kong on a cool airline called Dragonair. Their seats are upholstered in blue leopard skin, which I found hilarious, and the service is phenomenal. As soon as we landed we had a taste of the swine flu craze in China…two men, dressed entirely in white […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Mediterranean Cruise, Livorno and Pisa
This day we decided to relax and take it easy after the stress of the Rome ordeal. We docked in Livorno, Italy, and had the option of visiting Pisa and/or Florence. We decided to pick just one and went to Pisa by bus. It is a little town surrounded by a wall that looks like […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Mediterranean cruise, Civitavecchia and Rome
Our next stop on the cruise was Civitavecchia. We docked at the port and took a train to Vatican City. It was packed, as I expected, and not open to the public for a while because the pope was leaving or had an appearance, I’m not exactly sure which. When we finally entered St. Peter’s […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Mediterranean cruise, Napoli and Capri.
We went on a Royal Caribbean 7-night Mediterranean cruise. It was fantastic. We boarded in Barcelona, spent a day at sea, and then stopped at Napoli, Civitavecchia, and Livorno in Italy, and Villefrance and Marseilles in France. The ship is enormous and definitely engineered for fun 🙂 We left our bags and immediately explored it. […]
IMBA Study Abroad: Barcelona, Day 2
After no sleep for sooo many hours, I decided to rest instead of going out to a bar opening with Monica and one of her friends from here. We originally wanted to take the tour bus around the city bright and early but we were very tired. I went out on my own to explore […]