The gaiwan’s heat reminds an old tea leaf of its time under the golden sun. The once dead leaf awakens to reveal its true fragrance Tell me, how will this rebirth occur if the tea is crushed and bagged? 盖碗的温度让古老的茶叶......Read More

The Peacock Dance was unlike anything I’ve ever studied in terms of the structure of the class and its movements compared to the styles that I’ve learned. I’ve always taken hip-hop, ballet, modern and contemporary dance classes where a group......Read More

All students on the group flight are on their way from Kunming to Beijing, where they’ll transfer for their flight to Los Angeles! With so much thanks to all students, families, instructors Patricia, Ian & Maddie, China Program Coordinator......Read More

Wow. It’s already August. I feel like this summer just started and then I’ve just been in this surreal dream for the past five weeks. Where did the time go? Never in six weeks have I felt like I’ve changed so much as a person. The friends......Read More

Warm, oh- so inviting: The Beijing Guesthouse. Cats roam as we make delicious dumplings The Great Wall ever in sight: climbing up so high In the mountains. Watching: The Sunset Watching: The Stars Watching: The Fireworks Watching the time start to......Read More

As you have all probably read in a previous Yak, I really love tea, so when we were all choosing which ISP (Independent Study Project) to do while in Kunming, it was clear to me that I wanted to study tea. The tea master the instructors found for me......Read More

因为我们火把节第一天的经历很失望，所以我们的小组的状态很低了，我们决定有一个比较轻松的早晨。我们先到了一个傣族餐厅去吃早点；我们吃了面条（米线、圈粉、饵丝、等等）、包�......Read More

Day 1 One of the first nights in Dali, the same night we got the x-phase introduced, we also heard about the opportunity to experience the 彝族 (yi ethnicity) torch festival. This festival happens every year, all over Yunnan, but the main event......Read More

We took the high speed train back from Dali two days ago. We will start our homestays shortly but are currently on our way to 楚雄 (Chu Xiong) for the annual fire festival where we will spend our weekend. Last night, after trying out a few ISP......Read More

Lying between the shining lake Er Hai and the towering Cangshan Peak is Dali, an ancient city full of beauty and history, and where we have stayed for the past five days. Whereas most groups would have had to stay in a hotel we were lucky enough to......Read More

Most good days don’t start at 5:30 but as we viewed the historic Three Pagodas of Dali through dense fog without another tourist in sight, I knew we had made the right choice in waking up early. We rose before the sun in our last-minute hotel and......Read More

Journal drawings and group reflections from the Dali Eco House!...Read More