We just finished week 3 and got back from Hangzhou yesterday night. We also start 8:30 classes this week, and though I'm not too excited about being awake before 8:30, we'll have more free time during the day now that afternoon classes are over, so I can't complain too much. Last week was only a four-day week because of the Dragon Boat Festival on Monday, but between a group trip to Yuyuan garden on Tuesday and another overnight trip Saturday to Sunday, we've definitely kept plenty busy. We also met with our language partners for dinner on Friday one last time before they head home for summer break, though they'll be back in Shanghai in a few weeks.
Hangzhou is beyond beautiful; I only wish my photography skills (or lack thereof) could do it more justice. It was also the capital of the Song Dynasty, so definitely a lot of history to be seen, and it's known today for its silk and tea. On Saturday, we mainly visited Leifeng Pagoda and Su Causeway, and had free time at night to find our way to Hefang Street, a lively (albeit very touristy) area with lots of shopping and food. We also took a boat tour on the West Lake, one of the most culturally significant sites of Hangzhou (and, fun fact, is featured on the back of the one yuan bill). Leifeng Pagoda is a reconstruction of the original pagoda that stood around 1000 A.D.--
today, it's five stories tall with landings on every floor. Carved into the walls is The Legend of the White Snake, a well-known Chinese folktale that takes place mainly in Hangzhou. The view from the top was pretty amazing, even with all of the fog, and the bottom floors had more historical information and artifacts from the original tower. At night, we spent a few hours exploring Hefang Street before finding our way back to the hotel just in time for an online group meeting for buggy next year (what can I say, my priorities are still in order).
Sunday was a little less busy--we had the choice to see either the Hangzhou Silk Museum or hike Yuhuang Mountain. I chose the latter, and after running into some very humid weather and some very weird bugs, we ended up at a landing with a teahouse and some sort of tourist cave before retracing our steps back down (to be completely honest, I'm not sure how to get to the top of the mountain, or even if there was a way to do so, so if anyone who happens to read this does this program later on, let me know what you find).
Anyways, I guess that's about it for this week. Our trip to Hangzhou was our last two-day trip of the program, though we do have a couple of day trips coming up in a few weeks. This week is also filled with more cultural activities, starting with a trip to the Shanghai Museum on Tuesday, calligraphy on Wednesday, a lecture on Chinese media on Thursday, and our first test in class on Friday. Otherwise, it's business as usual, although it does look like I have to become a morning person for the next month. In any case, thanks for reading and I'll post again next week!