Last two weeks!

So as it turns out I did not totally finish my abstract and poster that same week but I did get a lot done. It is really nice because my grad student let me work on my abstract and poster a lot in lab instead of running a bunch of other experiments. Now that we are in the final stretch and we are finally getting close to going home I am starting to realize how much I am going to miss it here in China. I am soo excited to go home but here it feels like I have made a whole new family with my lab and the other students in the program. For the last two and a half months we have spent so much time with each other and have gotten to know each other so well it is going to be sad when we all have to leave. As sad as it is I can still say this has been one of the best experiences of my life!

Besides counting down the days until I go home this past week has been great. This weekend we all pretty much spent working on our abstracts and posters and buying gifts to take back home. We spent so long in China that we all did not even think about buying gifts to take back home because we thought it was going to be so long before we finally went back home, now we are all scrambling around trying to buy gifts in these last two weekends we have in China. The weekend was still really fun, we did almost all of our shopping at the Pearl Market which is jam-packed all the time with foreigners. We were all so tired and hungry by the end of the day because we spent so much time at the Pearl Market. It is not like regular shopping at all. You can spend 15 minutes trying to buy something; bargaining is great. I remember when we first came to the Pearl Market during the first week we were here, we all were totally imitated trying to bargain and buy things. Now we have been here for so long that we were totally fine bargaining and arguing with them. It does, however, ware you out and all you want to do is pull your hair out of your head by the end of the day. We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the Pearl Market so we were pretty much worn out in the evenings. It was still a great weekend, I am happy I am finally done shopping for people in my family and I finally have all my gifts done and bought. These next two weeks are going to go by really fast, now I have to take in every aspect of China I can because pretty soon I will be back in the states!

Weekend!

This was such a fun weekend!!! Saturday was pretty much a chill day around Beijing because a lot of us went out Friday night and we were all really exhausted. Later that evening we all layed around and watched movies-we wanted to save our energy for Sunday. We had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday because a few of us planned a trip to go to this park where they have bungee jumping, canoeing, and other fun stuff. It took us a while to get there because we had to continuously transfer from bus to bus and we were all exhausted because we made the stupid decision to stay up all night in anticipation for Sunday but in the end it was so worth it. The first thing we did when we got there was go bungee jumping-I was soo scared it was ridiculous, but so much fun. Before I went I wanted to chicken out so bad but I forced myself to do it and it was without a doubt worth it. The best part was it was not expensive at all. We went bungee jumping, sky walking, and canoeing for 250 RMB, which is really cheap compared to how much you would have to pay for it in America. It was also cool that we got to leave Beijing for a little bit and see more of the other surrounding areas around the city. Where we were was definitely not a big city like we were all used to. The area looked a lot more like the country and people definitely liked looking at us a lot more because we were foreigners-which is not so common in Beijing because there are soo many foreigners in Beijing. The day, however, was really long but so worth it. Going there and back was a pain because the seats on the bus are small but being at the park was great and I definitely recommend that anyone that comes to Beijing sets a day aside to go visit this area.

Other than having one of the best weekends ever I have started to realize that it is officially crunch time. We have our poster session coming up in two weeks and we need to have our abstracts and posters done by then so I really need to get working on those. Working in the lab here has been really great and I have learned a lot, now I have to get working on the poster. It is still hard to believe we have been in China this long, even though it is not long enough for good solid results, I have had a blast and have learned so much from working in the lab. I have learned a lot about the projects the lab does and more science but the best part I think is that the grad students taught me so many new things about working in a lab that will be very helpful when I go back to working in my lab in Ann Arbor. This past week was amazing-now I need to get back to work, I am determined to finish this abstract and poster this week!

Life

Opps! It has been soo long since I have blogged, not so good. Anyways, I cannot believe we are more then half way done with our trip to China. This has been going by so fast and every moment has been so much fun. I have finally started to make a lot of progress in my research and I am starting to get a lot more comfortable going places by myself. Before I was not so confident in going to the grocery store and other places by myself because of the language barrier but I have started to pick up on a lot of things and I have become really comfortable with living in the city. I finally feel like I have established a schedule here and that I have a daily routine almost everyday. It is still hard to believe that we leave in less than a month. As excited, as I am to go home and see my family, I know I will definitely miss life here in Beijing.

These past couple of weeks have been somewhat relaxing and fun. Most of the time people would not associate research with being relaxing but it really is not so bad at all. Once you get to know the people in the lab and become comfortable working in the lab, going to work everyday becomes fun. My experience so far has led me to feel that the labs here are a lot more stress free and friendly then the labs back home. People do not just come in at 9am and leave at 5pm; working in the lab is not just a job but rather a big part of their life. People go to lunch and dinner with the people in their lab and also stay in lab late into the night. Sometimes they do not even stay in the lab to work but just stay to talk and discuss things together. The atmosphere in the lab is really relaxed but also there is a sense of hard work and time constraints that does not let you get to relaxed. Basically work has been great and it will be sad when I have to say bye to the students I have been working with because they really have been helping me a lot!

Since our trip to Qingdao I have not really gone anywhere outside of Beijing. A couple people took a trip to Hong Kong and Shanghai but I unfortunately could not get off of work to go. During the week I have little time to do anything but go to dinner with the other people in the program. During the day we are all working and in the evenings we are all usually exhausted. I usually come home from work and meet up with a few people to go to the gym then grab some dinner. Occasionally we will watch a movie or just hang out in the courtyard. There is a lot more time to do things on the weekends. There is soo much to do in Beijing, once you learn how to use the subway you can go soo many places. The subway will take you almost anywhere and the getting there is not that bad at all. Last weekend a bunch of us took the subway to this area next to a body of water, we rented a boat out for an hour and just cruised around. It was late in the evening and the city was surrounded by bars and other areas with lots of lights, it was really fun. This weekend was a lot more laid back. Last night instead of going out a couple of us walked along Chung Fu Lu (the major road we live on) and just went shopping. However, this was not ordinary shopping it was shopping amongst the vendors. There are soo many great things and the best part is you can always barter-which took me a while to get comfortable with. It is still early today so we will see what the day holds in store for us!