adventures in china: part 1 - Xi'an - part 1

I find it difficult to spit out everything that I want to share about China. I also have little time to compile everything I saw and learned at one time, so here is my proposal of what I am going to do. For the Silk Roads class, I was required to keep a journal to take notes, write down my impressions, and to use it in any way that I saw fit. I love journaling, reflecting, and recreating the environment in words, so I wrote down as much as possible all throughout the journey. I will be posting excerpts from my journal in conjunction with pictures to share my experience. Just keep in mind that (it isn't so evident in the first few pages as it is toward the end) I often wrote on the bus and in a mind of stream of consciousness, so many of my sentences have grammar mistakes and probably do not make much sense.

I start with my journey to Xi'an, the capital city of the Shaanxi Province.

A picture of the city taken from the bus as we drove to see the Terracotta Warriors (+ entertainers and horses)

A horse statue at the site leading to the tombs.

Souvenirs outside of the tombs. This was the first place I learned to bargain!

Close-up of a terracotta warrior. The style of his hair in a bun to the side tells you that he was a warrior.

At the west end market.

In front of a museum in Xi'an!

to be continued...

6 hours.360 minutes.21600 seconds. Walla Walla -> Xi'an

Ready to go!

In approximately six hours, I will be on my way to the land of China for the field trip for my class, History and Ethnobiology of the Silk Roads, with two Whitman Professors and 9 other students. Though the trip is so near, it still feels so surreal that I am going to be going to China; it will probably not sink in that I will actually be in China until I get back to Walla Walla.

I am so grateful and so blessed to be able to go on this trip. It is truly a dream come true. Whitman has made some of my greatest dreams come true - and that is to travel the world. This trip is also a much, much needed break from the chaos of this semester.

Anyhow, I will not have very much internet access, so the next time you hear from me may actually be in two weeks from now. When I come back, I expect to have my mind blown by the different culture and experiences I will have there. I will be sure to post about my experiences and upload several photos of my journey and what I learned there.

Below is a map of the future journey ahead. I will be starting in Walla Walla, taking a bus to Pasco and flying from Pasco -> Seattle and Seattle -> Beijing and Beijing -> Xi'an. We are in Xi'an at night on Sunday, so that is almost a whole 2 days travel, including the time change. Xi'an is the the one dominantly Han Chinese city that we will be going to. The others are made up mostly of Uighur, who are people of Turkish descent.  We will then be going from Xi'an to Dunhuang, Turpan, Kucha, and Khotan by trains/car (mostly overnight sleepers). All of these cities are and were major trade centers along the Silk Road. We are driving across the Taklamakan Desert from Kucha to Khotan. I expect to see lots and lots of.. sand. and dirt. The scenery will be amazing, no joke. It will be so desolate that it will be simply amazing. Then we will be flying from Khotan to Urumqi and then Urumqi ti Beijing and then back home. Unfortunately, we will only be experiencing Beijing through its airport, but since the trip is two weeks, we don't have time to see everything.

just going to china, brb.

It has been quite a while, I know, and I can probably sum up my life over the past couple months in about two words for you: school & theta. I've finally become used to the early mornings, but I still haven't figured out how to go to sleep earlier.

Last weekend, I went on a trip to Portland, which was a much, much needed break. However, I am now a bit behind and I am scrambling to catch up on everything I had next week, which is midterm hell week. But then... I AM GOING TO CHINAAAAAA! It is a dreaaaaaaam come true. I absolutely cannot believe that it is happening, and it has just been creeping up on me. It's funny though, because the reality of it is really not hitting me because I have so many other things to do/going on right now and before it.

I have also given up facebook for lent, which has actually been one of the greatest things ever. seriously.

One of the saddest things about being so busy is that I have forgotten to take pictures of the world around me. I have a few, though, from events that I've taken for theta that I can share!

My memories this year consist regularly of just hanging and and being silly with my theta sisters, and I absolutely love it. 

This is my little sis, right after initiation. So much love. I am so proud of her :)

80's prom.

i like coffee

This whole college business is exhausting. I love my classes, and my schedule is not even that bad, but it is kicking my butt. Monday through Thursday I start class at 8am, and Friday I start class at 7:15, and it is getting the best of me. Coffee has been one of my friends in the past couple of weeks. I am hoping that my body will get in the hang of things and start becoming more of an early riser ready for class every morning.

On another note, I have a sociology paper due on Monday, and it is the first time I have ever been excited to write a paper for a class. I find myself thinking, is that natural? Wait, maybe that is how I am supposed to feel about writing papers. Or maybe its just that I am finally writing about something that interests me. My paper is analyzing the way that I interact with the opposite sex using the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism and several concepts developed within this theory. If I am feeling up to it, I may put it on my blog if I am happy with it.

And on an even happier note, I found out that I will be staying in Walla Walla this summer! I just found out that I was accepted to do a research project under one of the professors at Whitman in Wallula Gap, which is not far from Walla Walla. It is in the field of grassland ecology, and I will basically be studying the survival of the native grass species bluebunch wheat grass near the biological station there. I am super excited to do this, and I will be working with a friend of mine, who worked on the project last summer. Below is a picture of where I will be working (she took the picture).

Anyhow, happy weekend! 

since being back at whitman...

Since being back at Whitman...

1. Used my real snow shoes for the first time to walk from Prentiss to the Prentiss dining hall for a whole 100 ft or so. I bought them at a garage sale 2 years ago thinking that I would need/use them often.. it appears not, but amazingly they came in handy today.
2. A flight of stairs is between me and the bathroom, making a trek to the bathroom a feat. I now go to the bathroom less because to my mind it is apparently "inconvenient". Wow I am spoiled. I need to get over it. But I've learned the important value of having one in close proximity, or at least on the same floor.
3. Learned that going outside in the freezing cold after working out is one of the best feelings ever.
4. Learned that there is such a thing called freezing rain mist.
5. I have gone to the gym two whole days in a row! I don't think I've done that in a looong time. Let's hope that I can do this for the next 21 days to make it a habit.
6. I learned that I love living in a single.
7. I learned that I miss the "presence" of someone else being in the room when I go to sleep.
8. I learned that the amount of work that can get down in a single is a lot.
9. I learned that running errands takes more time than you think, especially when you are walking very slowly in the snow all around campus.
10. I am reaaaally enjoying my time not working and assembling notebooks several hours a week.
11. I LOVE MY CLASSES! Finally got over the hump of calculus and chemistry to get to the classes I enjoy.
12. I am trying to adjust myself back to "UNI" time where I go to sleep early and wake up really early for class. Its going to be difficult, but its the only way I'll survive this semester with my early classes.
13. Being back in the dining hall is one of the most stressful times of the day. The mad rush of people and the amount of stimulation is almost too much for me to handle.

my life on a corkboard.

I can already tell that this is going to be a GRAND year. I am so excited for 2012. I know it has a lot in store for me, as well as my friends and family. I know that I am going to grow and learn more than I could ever imagine.

I am back in good ol' Walla Walla. I got in yesterday morning, and today I moved into my new room!  I've just finished unpacking most of my things from boxes and started decorating and rearranging my room(s). I would like to say that I could fit my life into suitcase and I could pack up and go at any instant, but sadly that is not the case. I am a pack rat, what can I say. I save movie ticket stubs. I save posters to things I have gone to. I save anything and everything anybody has given me. So, it takes me a bit longer and I require more boxes to store these things.

It is strange not having a roommate, and having two rooms to myself. There's so much... SPACE. I have not one, but two closets. Two beds. Two desks. Two chairs. This is definitely something I am not used to. I love it though, and I think I am going to like it a lot. I can use the second room for hanging out and all things good! I imagine that it will be a lot easier to concentrate and focus while in this room, which is fantastic. AND it is so quiet, something I have not had for a while. Well, maybe it is because no one is here, but still, the rooms seem to be pretty soundproof.

And here is what I've been working on! This is one of my corkboards in the outer room. I didn't realize this until after I finished, but this basically sums up my life right now.

I'm still in the process of decorating my room with posters and more pictures, but I won't have access to them until tomorrow, so that is when I'll work on that.

Also, there will be more to come on the crafts that I have been working on over the past month!

the love for my home

I went on a wonderful walk down in Crystal Cove with my papa today. It was wonderful to get out and go walking along the beach under the basking sun in the middle of winter. Walking along the shore, barefoot, with the sand beneath my feet and keeping me cool under the warm sun reminded me how peaceful it is out there.

Yet, when I was driving home this is what I see.