It is hard to believe that we started Dragons less than a week ago. It seems like we have been in China together for much longer. We have been so lucky with the weather. For the past few days, there have been sunny blue skies and luckily it’s not that hot. Now that we are in the city and have had more time after a busy few days of orientation, we wanted to update you all about our first week in China!

We started off our adventure with Orientation in a beautiful place north of Beijing where we got to live right by the Great Wall, in our gracious host Kou Da Ge’s guesthouse. Unlike the other parts of the Great Wall which are typically crowded with tourists and foreigners, we got to see a remote part of the wall which practically had no visitors but us. It was pretty surreal that we could see the view of the wall on the mountain from where we were staying. Kou Da Ge and his family spoiled us with delicious meals (favorite dishes from our group below!). Apart from all the activities and group bonding we did, we also hiked up to the Great Wall which was a rather steep and rocky 1 hour climb (stuffing ourselves with food everyday did not make this easier) When we reached the top, we explored the ruins, took pictures, and tried out instructor Zack’s cool drone.

After 3 days of orientation, we all piled into a bus and came to the city of Beijing. Coming from a quiet small village to the city could not be more of a change in environment. We split up into groups on our first day exploring Beijing. Today, we visited Tiananmen and the Forbidden City and ended the day with a delicious Peking duck dinner.

We are all embracing what it means to be a traveler by immersing ourselves in the lives of the local people.

We are sending love to friends and families back home!!!

Amanda and Muskaan <3Photo credits: Muskaan

Here are some of our favorite Chinese dishes so far:
Amanda: Qie zi

Noah: Tang Cu Li Ji

Ellie: Tang cu li ji

Muskaan: Jiao Zi and Qie zi

Thomas: Tofu and Tang cu li ji

Melissa: Jiao zi

Peter: tang cu li ji

Nikolas: tang cu li ji

Bennett: Qie zi

Mercedes: mi fan

Long yun: Jiao zi, pu Tao

Zack: cucumber with garlic

Madeleine: Qie zi and all the greens