Goodbye for now Beijing

As finals arrive fast, I begin to say goodbye to this semester and to my life as an Alliance student. No longer will I walk past the women dancing on the tennis courts or the parking lot guards standing in one spot for hours. Nor will I drink endless cups of coffee in the cafe trying not to let the beautiful Italians and their muto buonas distract me from practicing my hanzi*. No longer will I fall asleep to the sound of my meimei's English recordings telling her a story about Eric and Jenny, or have my nainai telling me to eat, eat, eat.

I have learned so many things this semester.  I now know that I am capable of living in a country so different than my own; the more I experience the unknown, the less scared I am of new things. My Chinese has improved so much. Not only can  I chat about the weather, but thanks to last week's vocab, I can now talk about the economy. I have had many ups and downs— there were times when the pollution made me sad and the amount of people on the subway made me want to scream— but all in all I have really enjoyed my life here. What seemed different and a little strange when I arrived here has become normal. 

When I eventually leave Beijing, I will miss its energy. There is always something going on: art gallery openings, fashion shows, live music shows, beer and pizza festivals, Christmas markets and much more. I haven't scraped the surface of all Beijing has to offer. The one constant is that there is no constant, it is changing all the time. If  I do not want to deal with the crowds and the hustle and bustle energy of the city, I can sit and relax for hours at one of the many parks and watch retirees dance, practice Kungfu and play checkers. There is something for everyone here and I am so lucky I have had the opportunity to experience China first hand.

If you would like to see pictures and follow the rest of my trip around China and other countries follow me on Instagram: @lapidoo

*hanzi means chinese characters