Photos

Photos (in chronological order)

Travel Day - July 3rd

Airport Check-in!

Excited that we were in the group that got on the first flight to Xiamen!

Boarding...

Water highways in Xiamen

Xiamen University's Tower

厦门大学

Sightseeing Day - July 4th

Nan Pu Tuo Si

My friend Shanna

Lovely seafood dinner

Turtle Park

Nan Pu Tuo Si Main Temple

View of Xiamen Skyline

Winter Melon Soup

Egg Tofu - "it's like if you put egg and tofu in a blender then stuffed it back inside tofu"

Mashed Taro = Mashed Potaros

Boats on the water surrounding Xiamen

Surviving the heat at Nan Pu Tuo Si

Shanna's Favorite Meal

Obelisk at Turtle Park 

Squad

Squad

Cheng Dui! (minus Merrick)

Chillin on top of the mountain at Nan Pu Tuo Si

海洋

Artsy

Our skin looks so nice

Chillin on the temple steps

Artsy Doorway

Piano Concerto - July 9th

Merrick, Shanna, and me at the Piano Concerto 

Sydney and I at the Piano Concerto

Trip to Quanzhou - July 12th

An "Er Hu" (a traditional Chinese instrument with two strings) performance by the students at 厦门外国语学校 (Xiamen Foreign Language School) to welcome us to their institution

A classroom at 厦门外国语学校 

Riding the bus to 泉州 (Quanzhou)

Maddie and (sleeping) Merrick having a blast on the ride to Quanzhou

An ancient Chinese mosque in Quanzhou

Beautiful architecture at the mosque

The Kaiyuan temple in Quanzhou

Kaiyuan temple

We found 孙悟空 (the Monkey King, a famous Chinese tail) and posed with him. Interestingly enough, we couldn't even use our Chinese to talk to him because he was deaf!

Around Campus

Intermediate-high's classroom

Working hard with our tutor, Catherine

Reviewing new words with our teacher, 刘老师 (Liu Laoshi)

Hanging out in class

The stairs we frequently take from the cafeteria to our dorms

Shanna and cat of Xiamen University (who probably carries rabies, among other diseases) 

Our view from our dorm tower

Me and Xiuling cutting paper as if it was what we were born to do

Me at the 情人谷 (Lovers Reservoir) at night. The name comes from a couple who tried swimming there and both drowned.

危险! (danger, swimming is forbidden!)

We took a trip to the 情人谷 in the morning to get a better view, but we left after ten minutes because the mosquitoes were eating us alive

Front area of the reservoir

Wan Laoshi and I along the beach

A massive nationalistic sign on the beach - it reads: 一国两制统一中国; one country with two systems (communism and capitalism) together make a unified China

很好玩！

有的人说厦门是中国最漂亮的城市

一起走

非常漂亮

selfie with 万老师, the chillest of them all

Riding the very crowded bus during morning rush-hour back to campus

Who new riding the bus could be so fun?

We barely fit in the bus - we were smushed up against the door!

The birthday cake that Chen Laoshi bought me for my celebration!

鼓浪屿 (Gu Lang Yu Island)

Ferry to Gu Lang Yu

Boarding the ferry

They run to ferries so efficiently!

Selfie with the skyscrapers

厦门的夜景

Walking around Gu Lang Yu with Cai Laoshi and Lin Laoshi

My bedroom at my homestay

Our dining room area

The living room

The main hallway on the first of three floors

A big atrium with a beautiful ceiling light

Second floor loft

Third floor loft

Making 饺子 (dumplings) with Wenjing and 阿姨 (the housekeeper who they call aunt, ayi, because she is part of they family) 

Dumplings with pork and Chinese chives

A typical dinner

View from our house

View of Ruijing, our neighborhood where over 10,000 people live

The shopping mall of the area

Panoramic view

A nice restaurant we went to with Shanna's family

The two Catherine's in our class (one is a student from Lake Forest, Illinois, and the other is from Hong Kong!)