This week has been insane! I attended a trip to Chengdu along with 44 students from my university. We took a domestic flight from Shanghai to Chengdu and surprisingly we were given a complimentary meal on this short flight! I have never been on a three-hour flight where a meal is provided. After we arrived and checked into our hotel we headed out to see the city. Chengdu is in the Sichuan Province where they have many interesting foods that you can try. Some of these include rabbit head and pig’s snout. I can officially say I have tried pig snouts and would be happy to never try it again.
The following day we drove hours on a bus to see the largest Buddha that is carved into a mountain; it’s the largest carving in the world. Unfortunately, it was under construction, so we had to visit by boat.
On the third day we traveled to a mountain. We drove two hours to this mountain then switched to another bus for another hour and a half ride. On this bus, we had to drive half way up the mountain! There were so many needle pin turns it was insane. Once we got there, we hiked up the mountain by way of stairs to see wild monkeys!! We were warned not to bring any packaged food because they will climb on top of you and steal your food and your water bottles.
We then rode a gondola up to the submit. On the gondola we traveled through clouds and couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of us.
Then all of a sudden, the sky opened and we were above the clouds, walking towards the huge Buddha.
The last day in Chengdu we headed to the largest Panda sanctuary in the world. They were so cute! I would never have thought I would see the Giant Pandas while I was in China. They were so adorable. In a flash the trip was over, and we were back on a two-hour flight to Shanghai. On this flight we were served another meal! I can’t believe how fast this study abroad trip has flown by. There is only about a month left until I head home.
A lot of the students on the trip are in language learning programs. Some of them are very close to being fluent in mandarin. The team work on this past trip helped me to understand the language and conversation that most of the others were speaking around me. I found it very interesting how incredible these students are to quickly pick up and speak fluent Mandarin. One goal of mine would be to one day speak fluently in mandarin and Spanish. It is also very interesting how many people I have met from around the world. All of these people from different countries have come together to take on the challenges and fun adventures that China has to offer us. Some people I met are from France, Hungary, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Korea, Vietnam, Canada.