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The last day

To say that this was one of the longest days of our lives would not be an understatement, by the time we made it to the Minneapolis airport it was the 29th hour we had been awake (those who went to Seattle had a similar situation). This very long day was filled with a lot of active! Most of us (besides Ellie because she had already left) woke up at 7 to say goodbye to the 4 people fighting to Seattle! Those who were left in china finished some last minute packing and essay writing before we headed off to a group lunch at the “orange chicken restaurant”. All 12 of us packed into one table had a great last lunch. By the time we got back it was time to load the bus and set off to the airport. After checking in we all gathered at the gate waiting to board. When it was almost time to get on we said good by to the Riply Family and filed onto the plan. After a lot of movies, journaling, plane food and listening to a crying baby we touched down in the US. It was time for another round of goo
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We Are From

I am from 114 days of travel I am from circumnavigating the globe I am from Italy, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, India, Thailand, and China I am from 24 people who held me together and carried me through I am from Kate and her contagious laugh I am from Rachael's endurance and love for her family and friends I am from Matthew's tendency to go out of his way to help everyone he knows I am from Will's passion for all he does I am from Erin and her ability to wear her heart on her sleeve I am from Rose and her dedication to adventure I am from Peder and his enormous heart of gold I am from James' dedication to fully experiencing each new location I am from Ellie and all of the hard work she puts into everything, for her sake and ours I am from Alexandra and her keen sense of important going's on I am from Adam's desire to know everyone deeply I am from Anna and her ability to introduce laughter into any situation I am from Maren and
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Coming to an End - 12/20

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Hi everyone! This is Ellie for my final blog post of Global Semester. For many of us, today was the day that hit home that Global Semester is coming to an end. Traveling with this group has begun to feel so normal that many of us have expressed that “it is just our life now; this is what we do.” However, with our last group meal, our last sharing time, and our last singing of Um Ya Ya , we are forced to face that their is an end to our 114 day journey. Globies spent their day finishing things up in Beijing. For some, that meant finishing the two papers we have; for others, that meant visiting a few lasts sites of Beijing including seeing the pandas at the Zoo, visiting the Olympic Village, shopping at more markets, and eating one last meal of orange chicken. That night, we feasted on delicious Chinese food for our last group meal (and our last meal with the Lazy Susan tables!), and we said goodbye and thank you to our amazing trip organizer here in Beijing, Zoe. Afterwards,
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12/19 -- Temple of Heaven and Sophie's Birthday!

Hi it’s James, The day started out with a nice surprise of hot chocolate and coffee for our final day of class. Built into class was a time to reflect on the trip. The reflection time in class mirrored the reflection we have provided in our final papers, and was a nice way to flush out some thoughts and hear what people had to say. After class we had a few hours to relax and get lunch before our last tour as a group. At 12 we all loaded on the bus and set off for the Temple of Heaven. We spent a few hours exploring, learning about it’s historical context, and of course taking a lots of pictures. At the end of our time exploring we walked all the way through the park where the temple was putting us very close to our next stop for the day, the pearl market. Here we went our separate ways getting some last minute shopping done. Some went back to the dorms after a few hours. Personally me and a few others took the subway to another market for a bit more variety. After about 4 hours and t
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(12/18) Hanging Temple and a Bus-Ride Home

Hi everyone! This is Peder, writing about our final events in Datong and the remainder of our day. After a great buffet-style breakfast at our hotel with buns and coffee, we all piled into the bus and traveled to the Hanging Temple. This temple hangs on the side of a mountain and is the only existing temple that has a combination of Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist elements. It was awesome to be there and witness it. This was probably the coldest experience of Global so far as well as an incredibly beautiful one. We spent a couple of hours touring this incredible sight, bundling up to stay warm in the wind, before jumping back into the bus to go back to Beijing. The bus ride was about six hours and people took advantage of this time to work on their final projects, read, and catch up on some rest. We arrived back to Capital Normal University about 7 pm and went separate ways for dinner. A few of us took the subway to a restaurant called Mr. Shi's where we had a delicious dinner
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Globies/Brodie's Bday v. Next Level Cold

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Hello all, it's Rose! Today began dark and early with a 5:30am bus ride (sound familiar..?) to Datong, a 5 hour drive east of Beijing. Luckily, our amazing coordinator Zuo kept up amply supplied with water, apples, and bread! With our usual perfect timing, we checked into our hotel just in time for lunch. Our first tour of the day was of the Yungang Grottoes, a series of caves filled with amazing colorful carvings and more huge Buddhas than we saw even in the Ellora caves of Aurangabad, India! Here, we had plenty of free time to wander among the caves and find the warmest and least windy spots. Although it would have been fascinating to have spent much more time here, we were not sorry to pile back onto the bus and try to thaw a little before our next stop: Huayan Temple, an originally thousand-year-old temple complex. As the sun dropped below the horizon, our body temperatures dropped as well. The perfect thing to warm us up: birthday cake!!! We have officially entered birthday
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Lions and Tigers and Acrobats, Oh My! - 12/16/17

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Good morning! It’s Erin again, here for the final time to tell you all about our wonderful FREE DAY! Jam-packed full of different activities, studying, laundry, writing essays, coffee, and acrobat shows, today gave us some much-needed freedom that we all spent in our own ways. I can’t speak for what every person did given the breadth of activities, but I can provide a little glimpse into a day in the life of one Globie trying to wrap up the semester. After getting the chance to sleep in, a group of us decided to check out the Beijing Zoo in the morning! It was bitterly cold and most of the zoo ended up being outside, but it was still an interesting opportunity to compare the conditions of zoos abroad to those back home. For one, we had heard this zoo had an exhibit of squirrels , but I guess we must have missed the turnoff for that enclosure. In fact, we didn’t end up seeing much wildlife at all because most of the animals were taking refuge from the cold. We did get to visit
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