Evening Activities

In Prague, nights were filled with friends and partying. In Beijing, nights are filled with good friends, snacks, cards, chatting and movies. I don’t know if I am getting over the party scene or if Beijing just makes me want to stay inside and hide from the smog and language barrier. I think one of the factors is that I am not hanging around the ‘party’ crowd, but I am making some great friendships this way. I have met some wonderful people and made some friendships that I know will last for years to come. Some of the best nights have been spent ordering in pizza and trying to squeeze nine people around a laptop to watch a movie.

Other great memories have been made room hopping and just talking with different people about different things throughout the night. Sure the rock star party hard nights can be fun, but I am also enjoying my nights in with some good friends, good conversations and good laughs. Some of the most relaxing nights have also been those where I hang out in my room alone, listening to my itunes, playing on my computer and watching episodes of Family Guy on my laptop.

 I think one of the greatest factors for staying in is that going out in Beijing is such work, especially with the language barrier. Traveling is also a pain, to walk anywhere is a minimum 20 minutes and that could sometimes just be getting to a subway station. Earlier a few girls and me were craving ice cream but knew that going to Cold Stone meant committing over an hour of our time in traveling too and from. Also, lets not forget that we are in the dog days of summer and this is our ‘vacation’ so that also helps me from feeling guilty about not doing a lot. It is super humid, hot and polluted outside so going out is an effort. I am just now getting back into the mood of sight seeing. This is still a bit of a hassle because I have not quite assimilated with the culture, nor do I plan to- there are just some differences that are too different from my way of life to do. I will post more on the Chinese culture later, which will add insight to what I am saying. But in case you were wondering- the beer is cheap and good when served cold and while mixed drinks aren’t that cheap they are the strongest I have ever had.