Laying it All Out... The Beginning of a Busy Summer

China!

I've finally reached summer. I walked into this summer thinking I would be really bored. Most of the students in my house were going back for the summer, and Korean students often have different ideas of summer than American (meaning, they study) so I was sure I would be alone all the time. That's not how it turned out at all, but then, there were only two things that consoled me: China. Yes, I realize "China" is not two things, but I was going to go to China two times this summer, so that makes two trips. I will explain both of these trips through a series of posts, not just one each, so hold tight!

Okay, I don't want to depress you with my explanation of my first trip, so just know that I compare it to my second trip, which was amazing. So basically, an okay trip becomes in my mind not so great in the light of a such a wonderful trip.

My first trip was with my school. We were going to Qingdao, China, a coastal city closest to South Korea. The first week, we studied Chinese in the morning, then had free afternoons and evenings. The second week we went travelling a bit and saw various places. While it was a good experience, and I definitely had good times, this was not my favorite trip for a few reasons. For one, it was not a very well planned trip. It was the first trip to this school, and the school itself didn't do so well. Most of the time it felt like they didn't care much about what we wanted, but they just wanted to show off and follow the schedule, throwing us around and taking us places to make us run through and get back on the bus. Number two was the area we were in. Someone later told me it was a place that Korean companies used to be involved in, then they all pulled out. So basically it was full of a bunch of half finished apartments and buildings that really depressed me when I saw them. Here's a great example of how this city was planned, hahaha:

So as you can see, that is a crosswalk. With a bush in front of it. Bwahahaha... we all died when we saw this.
Another thing that made it not the best trip ever was the group with which I went with. Don't get me wrong... I really liked all of them, and the problem was not entirely their fault. But, I went with around 20 Koreans and one American. That is bound for some communication issues and some feeling of being left out... And lets just add that there was LOTS of drama on this trip (in which I was not involved). It didn't help that they liked drinking more than seeing sights, and for someone who doesn't like drinking at all, that's no fun. As most of you should know, its the people you're with that make or break a trip. So part of the time they made mine, part of the time they broke it.

Ok, maybe you thought it wasn't necessary for me to tell you that it wasn't such a great trip. True, but then you wouldn't have gotten the feeling of the posts. They would just be pictures and stories with no background, and that's not any good. Plus, part of travel blogging is sharing the bad stuff too. So, I don't say this all to make you feel bad or anything, it's just so you know, you know? Haha, glad I got that cleared up.

A Happy Planning Mistake

I guess the first story is the first thing that made us notice that the planning for this trip wasn't so great. We arrived at the dorm we were going to stay it, only to find that the conditions were not so good. There was no AC... and the bathrooms had no toilets, just squatty potties, and get this... The shower was over the squatty potties! Btw, this is a squatty potty. So weirdly enough, someone in charge said we could go to a hotel. So we did. And this is what it looked like:

With this kind of view:

So that was awesome! Probably the best problem ever. Haha.

I'll leave it at that today and start on the adventures on my next post!

Music video: I'm going for a more indie one this time! I just heard this and I love it. She has such a different sound than most Korean girl artists.