Trip to Qingdao!

What can I say about Qingdao? The trip was definitely something worth doing while in China. Before going I envisioned a beach city that you would find in Florida or somewhere else in America, but it is nothing like that. There was so much to do in Qingdao but it was good that we made it a weekend trip because it would have gotten boring if we stayed longer. The train ride there was not bad at all; it was like 6 hours and we got soft seats so we were able to sleep or just rest but the train ride back was absolutely horrible. To save money we all bought hard seats, which was our first mistake but then we also took a slow train back so it took almost 10 hours to get back, which took forever. Everyone was absolutely miserable and tired especially because it was an overnight train. But other then the horrors of the train ride the trip was soo much fun. A big group of us went so it was almost impossible for us all to hang out together the whole time so we all broke up into groups for the whole trip, which worked out really well. After we arrived we all went to our hostiles to sleep because it was really late and we were all really exhausted. A few of us took a taxi to our hostile, which I must say was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. It started off with the driver totally ripping us off but we did not care because we were so tired and just wanted to get to the hostile. First we left the train station and went the opposite direction of the hostile, which we thought, was odd. We were freaked out, we all thought that our organs were about to be stolen then the driver stops in this shady alley, gets out of the cab and comes back 5 minutes later with a woman and food. He gets in and offers us to eat with him but when we refuse he starts having a conversation with the woman. After listening to them argue for 5 minutes he realizes that we really need to get somewhere so he finally takes us to the hostile. I was so happy to get out of that cab! I half expected the hostile to be dirty and uncomfortable but it was not bad at all. We stayed on the beach at a hostile called the Beach House and it was really nice. There were five of us in a room; the room was set up like a dorm only more spacious and a bathroom. On Saturday we spent all day on hiking around the mountain in Qingdao. We originally wanted to spend it on the beach but it was cloudy and the water was freezing so we decided to go hike around the mountain to find the waterfall. We spent 8 hours walking around the mountain looking at temples and searching for the waterfall, which we finally found around 7 hours into our excursion. Hiking up the mountain was definitely my favorite part of Qingdao. After that we were exhausted and worn out so we went and got dinner then rested. Later that night we went out to check out Qingdao nightlife. Qingdao is pretty enjoyable during the day but it does not compare at all to the nightlife in Beijing. The next day we slept in, and then we went to the Brewery. Apparently Qingdao is known for its beer, which I did not know going there. It was pretty cool to see the Brewery and walk around; a lot of the people in the group enjoyed it because during the tour you get to taste a few cups of different beer. After we wanted to kill some time because our train did not leave until 8 in the evening so we went and walked along the pier and the beach. It was a fun day and definitely a good way to end the trip. After we were so exhausted and sticky from the humidity that we just wanted to shower and sleep. Unfortunately we had to check out at 12 noon so we had no room-one of the best things about China is that everything is negotiable. A few of us negotiated a deal with the hostile, we wanted to shower and put on comfortable clothes for the train ride so we came up with deal to check out a room for an hour and pay 30 RMB (which is less than five American dollars) for it! Qingdao was a great city and is definitely worth visiting. Everything was enjoyable but I cannot help but relive that horrible experience on the train on my way back from Qingdao.
I did not sleep that whole night on the train and I had to be in lab at 9am, which was an hour after we got back from the train station. I was so tired that whole day in lab and when I finally fell asleep on my lab bench my grad student was really cool and told me I could go home and sleep. That Monday was the worst day ever. I have never stayed up for 24 hours straight but I never want to do that again! After sleeping all day and night I finally feel better. Today was like any other workday long and filled with experiments. Even though the week already started it feels like it is going to be a good week, now I just need all my experiments to work out right!