We just arrived at the Zhejiang Hotel in Hangzhou after a full day of traveling. This hotel is AMAZING! Hangzhou is actually a famous romantic/honeymoon spot and we are staying at a beautiful resort. And guess what? Muriel's friend Victoria is my new roommate! What a coincidence! I was so worried about getting a new roommate - I'm so happy it is Victoria. This hotel is huge though, so I have no idea where my other friends are staying.
Anyway, I should probably backtrack to the beginning of the day today. We had a 5:30 am start because we had to be on the bus by 7:45 this morning to go to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We listened to a presentation by Mr. Zhu Haiquan, Director of the Department for North American and Oceanic Affairs. We were seated in a really fancy press conference room, where every seat had a personal microphone, water bottle, book of postcards, and Chinese cartoon book. The presentation was mainly about the Chinese economy and politics with connection to the U.S. It was interesting to see how much Chinese culture affects politics here. For example, China values respect, patience, and harmony. For this reason, China refuses to go to war or even place economic sanctions on other countries. Haiquan said that the Chinese always want to promote peace no matter what (even though they are a Sudan and North Korea ally). China favors diplomatic talks when dealing with foreign nations.
(The fancy press room the lecture was in)
(AJ from Canada, Ayesha from South Africa, and Mariana from Puerto Rico)
(Haiquan at the podium)
After the presentation, I had a chance to go up to Haiquan and ask him a question. I asked him what China's next step would be in foreign policy if a country did not comply with agreements made in peaceful, diplomatic talks. He told me that China will ONLY use diplomatic talks because they ALWAYS work if one has patience. This comment is so different from U.S. Foreign policy that I have grown up with!
We checked out of the hotel, and headed to the Beijing Airport. At the airport, I hung out with a very diverse group of friends. Ayesha, Katty, and Katie from South Africa; Miguel from Venezuela; Azahn from Australia, Lucretzia from Argentina; Mariana from Puerto Rico; Victoria from Germany; and of course, Jay. Traveling with friends is so fun and definitely the best way to travel.
(Miguel, Lucretzia, Mariana, and Ayesha just chillin')
(Katty, Avery, Azahn, and Katie)
(Katie, Jay, Chava, and Lucretzia)
(Me and Miguel)
On the plane, I sat in between Adam and Aaron, who are both from my LGM. I had a really good time with both of them, especially Adam because we found out that we had so much in common (eg. politics and stuff). We talked, shared music, and when he went to sleep, I did some reading on water scarcity for our LGM meeting on the topic. The 2-hour flight didn't feel long at all.
(This is Adam)
We were all so tired after the flight (which was delayed), but we still had to go to a fancy restaurant for dinner (even though we all ate pretty good Chinese food on the plane). No one ate, but we played a really great game at the table. We picked up a little cherry tomato with our chopsticks and passed it around the table - chopstick to chopstick. It was actually quite challenging...
We met up with our fellow scholars who took other flights at the hotel. Two of the bus groups had been waiting at the resort for hours, but the final group had a really long delay and arrived at a quarter past 11. I'm so glad my day of traveling was stress free. Well, today was a great day - I can't wait for the next adventure!
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