Yunnan Day One

We left Beijing and headed to Kunming—about a 3 and a half hour flight. The plane was a little delayed so we ended up arriving around 5:30pm (an hour later than planned). We collected our suitcases and headed outside, immediately greeted by the not-so-frigid air (like we had experienced in Beijing). Three buses, 20 people per bus, and we were off driving through the capital city of Yunnan Province. That night we watched the “Dynamic…

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Introduction to Yunnan Trip

From January 15th to January 29th, I travelled through China’s southernmost province: Yunnan. Yunnan borders Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar (formerly Burma). I travelled all over the province, racking up more than 60 hours of bus time. We started in the provincial capital of Kunming, drove south to the border of China and Myanmar, drove north to the Tibetan autonomous region, and finished the trip with an overnight train back to Kunming. Yunnan is incredibly diverse…

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On the plane ride over…

This post was written on January 7th on the plane (somewhere over Russia).  I’m currently on hour 3 of my 14 hour flight from Chicago to Beijing, heading back to China because I just couldn’t get enough of it the first time. I spent a three week hiatus from my Chinese life in good ole’ Des Moines, Iowa. There I was kept perennially busy by a confluence of family and friends. I had a few…

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Introduction to Spring Semester

Anastasiataber.com has been silent for two months. The silence ends now. I have a few posts for you, one I wrote on the plane ride over from China on January 8th and another introducing you to my 16 day excursion in Yunnan Province that took place January 15-29. It is my goal to write posts for every day experienced on the Yunnan trip, which was amazing just in case you were wondering. As always, I…

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The Placement Test

我吃饱了。 I am so full. I feel like I have been eating food all day. This morning I woke up at 7am and ate three baozi (steamed bun with meat) while I waited an hour for my gmail to load. (I wish I was exaggerating.) After dealing with Internet issues, I wasn’t in the greatest of moods. I went back to my room and my roommate had looked up Chinese music that I could use…

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My Chinese Roommate

After the day I had yesterday, last night my mind and body felt like pudding. We climbed the Great Wall yesterday, which is actually quite a climb from where we started. I didn’t count the steps but it easily racks up to a couple thousand. One thing about climbing the Great Wall is that you are always climbing—once you think you’ve reached the top, you spot an even higher tower daring you to climb it….

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