A place I like to call Heaven

Ok so I am going to start today's blog off by just saying China does NOT do the whole day light savings thing. Yes that's right this morning I was an hour early to my class!

Anyways I gave up on the traditional medicine and Sunday morning I went to the hospital. Don't worry there was no emergency. If anything is wrong with you, you just always go to the hospital.............even if you have a tooth ache. The doctor prescribed me four different medications that I am taking everyday. I thought that was kind of a lot for a sore throat, but oh well my throat is starting to feel better.




On Saturday we went to a a place I like to call Heaven. It was another bartering place except this place had all the name brands! I'm talking Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, Ugg Boots, Nike, Puma, and DC shoes. It was amazing! But you have to be careful because if you take too long to decide if you want something or not and then you decided not to purchase it they WILL chase you down!

The Subway / Getting Sick

The subway is the best form of transportation here. It's the fastest and the cheapest! Thats why it is ALWAYS crowded. If you are going to bring a backpack it is best to wear it in front of you so you can always keep an eye on it. It might not be the most fashionable but it is better to not have anything stolen then to look good!


You can also meet a lot of people on the subway. For instance, Nikita and I were talking to these two older ladies and one of them up and gave us her bag of cookies that she was holding. Later we found out that if you compliment someone on something the chinese feel obligated to give it to you, especially if you are a foreigner. Yea that would have been nice to know before but at least we got a free bag of cookies out of it! =)

So this week I just started feeling sick. I have the usual symptoms, a sore throat and a runny nose. In China they have two different kinds of medicine you can take: 1) traditional and 2) not traditional. Right now I am on the traditional meds HA. Traditional is just the all natural way to get better, it's made of plants and stuff like that. (Don't worry I am not taking any drugs that are considered illegal in the US......) My roomate Roy (he is from China) said that the traditional way takes a little longer to work.....so far I am not getting better. Hopefully it starts to kick in next week otherwise it might be time for the not traditional medicine.....?

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo

School/Internship

(Mon March 2nd / Tues March 3rd)
All I have to say is I really like school here! Everyone is from different places around the world. In my class I have someone from: Russia, France, Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, Thailand, Africa and other places I can’t spell at the moment. I have also made friends from England, Hawaii, and Turkey! It’ sooo cool! So far this week I have only started Chinese. It isn’t too hard but I’m assuming it’s going to get a lot harder as we move on. Next week my other classes start. I am planning on taking Insights into Chinese Culture, and Marketing in China.


We don’t want a heavy load of classes since all of us will be starting our internships soon and Nikita and I plan to get a job as well. Yesterday was the first move towards one of us starting our internship. Nikita had an interview with Cosmopolitan Magazine! She was very nervous, but I went with her for some moral support. The interview went well, this is like her dream come true and today she gets to help out with a fitting and a photo shoot! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Wang Fu Jing & First bar experience

(Wed Feb. 25th / Fri Feb. 27th )



Both being Christians, Nikita and I decided we would like to go to Ash Wednesday. The first church we went to is located on the famous street Wang Fu Jing. Wang Fu Jing is a strip of shops with a market attached……if that makes sense. The market is the best place to go because you can barter and get things for really cheap =) They have everything at this market: jewelry, masks, toys, chopsticks, scorpion and seahorse shish kabobs. It is a foreigners dream for souvenirs and trying new things!


The only down side about it is they really want to try and sell their stuff, so if they see a foreigner (for example: ME) they will yell at you until you look and sometimes the will even grab you to try and get your attention. It is kinda scary. They were yelling at me in Spanish because the must have thought that was my native language?! So of course I spoke back in Spanish! To get back to Ash Wednesday that first church we went to was closed, so we had to take the subway to a different one we knew about. Well we made it to Mass! In case you were wondering Nikita and I gave up chocolate for lent!


On Friday night our friend Matt invited us to a bar called The Tun. I am surprised we even found the place because it is in a back alley somewhere. The bar is mostly filled with international people and Friday nights the ladies drink for free 10-12p.m. Ha! Oh and did I forget to tell you that there is no drinking age in China! Anyways this bar played the YMCA, Bad Boys Bad Boys what you gunna do, Grease Lightning, I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee), and Cotton Eye Joe! I felt like I was at a wedding; it was a fun night!

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo

More Chinese culture than you could ever ask for

(Fri Feb. 20th)

Today was the busiest day of all. In the morning we had a private Tai-Chi lesson with Mr. Wang in the park. A lot of elderly people do this in the morning for exercise, it is also like a social gathering for them. Mr. Wang said I was a natural…….I knew all those years of dance lessons would pay off!




Next we went to Tianamen Square and saw the big picture of Mao Zedong. Foreigners who go here have to be careful and watch out for people who try to rip you off. Luckily we had Tony so nobody bothered us. Once you enter Tiananmen Square you can go into The Imperial City. The Imperial City will then lead you in to The forbidden City. Back ago only the Emperor, his Empress', his concubines, and his officials were allowed in The Forbidden City. The Emperor's concubines were also not allowed to see any men even if they only saw the Emperor once in their whole life!



Our next stop was the Hutongs and then a flying Acrobat show. Going through the Hutongs was one of my favorite things we did. It was interesting to see how the people of China used to live and it was fun riding in a rickshaw. The Acrobat show was AMAZING. All I have to say is the Chinese are very talented people. If you come here you NEED to see this show!


At the end of the day we had a Peking duck dinner, which is a very famous dish in China. Very tasty and I think it tasted like dark turkey meat! It was a very busy day!

We will definitely have to come back.

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo

Ming Tombs & The Great Wall

(Wed Feb. 18th / Thur Feb. 19th)


Today was the first day of our sight seeing extravaganza! Our first stop was the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs are a burial ground for the Emperors and Empress'. In China they believe in after life so the Ming Tombs we built according to Feng Shui. There also is a part where you can cross over into "Heaven" that is where they are buried. When you cross over you say "Wo lai le" which means "I'm here!"

After the Ming Tombs we drove two and half-hours to our hotel next to The Great Wall. We were the only people staying there because A) It was too cold and B) The wall is dangerous to climb when it is icy. After a goods night rest we would take on The Great Wall in the morning.



So we figured out the great wall is not so great. I say this because we had to hike 6 miles of it. Now I thought the wall was just a smooth path of stone that inclined and declined slightly. I was wrong. It is a rough, rigid path of steep slopes!! I’m not joking. If I would have known about this earlier I would have been spending my break getting in shape instead of just relaxing. Nikita and I were ready to freeze to death and have somebody find our bodies and carry them back! Our tour guide Tony said in the summer they camp out on the wall and people bring you breakfast in the morning.

We will definitely have to come back.

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo

Differences I have noticed

~It seems like cars can pretty much park wherever they want. They don’t really have parking lots here.
~Restaurants are not what they seem from the outside. For example: A restaurant with really great food can look like a hole in the wall when you are walking by, so you have to check every place out.
~They use the word NIGGA like how we use UMM in a sentence.
~When you shop they stand right next to you like they think you are going to steal something but it is just their culture.


~You have to bring your own TP and squat when you go to the bathroom.
~They frequently hock luggys while walking down the street…..it’s actually kind of gross.


~There IS American food here! (This isn’t a difference but people were wondering about this) I have eaten cereal, spaghetti, pizza, DQ, Mc Donalds and subway!
~Oh yea and everyone is CHINESE!

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo

The Flight

(Mon Feb. 16th / Tues Feb. 17th)



My flight left at 7:57 a.m. on Monday the 16th so that means I had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to finish packing, pick up grandma, and arrive to the airport with enough time to go through security and not miss my flight. My first flight was to Chicago, and once I was there I would meet Nikita so we could fly over to China together. I arrived to Chicago a little earlier then planned so I decided to surprise Nikita at her gate. It felt like I was waiting there FOREVER because her flight was delayed since Obama was going to be flying in to Chicago. But it was worth it to be finally re-united with my best friend. When we got to gate C everyone looked like they were from China, so the feeling of being a minority began. On our way to our seat the greatest thing that could ever happen to a college girl on a 12 hour plane ride happened……….we were sitting right in the middle of the USA Hockey Team! haha Also on the plane there are TV’s attached to the back of the seat in front of you. They had a channel where it showed you what country you were flying over. We flew right over Antarctica! I thought that was pretty neat.


We made it to China and it was snowing, so much for trying to get away from the cold! The next thing to do was find Ike (the other person that went through this program) and a representative from The Education Abroad Network. Well we did and his name is Matt. Matt looks Chinese but he is actually from Australia. We followed him to get a taxi but Nikita’s and my luggage would not fit in one, so we had to get two taxis. I rode with Ike and Nikita rode with Matt. The ride to the hotel was CRAZY! I thought I was going to die about 20 times. They have traffic rules but apparently they are not very strict. Cars are honking all the time and they will drive very close to you to try and pass. That night we got some grub and then hit the sack because we were VERY tired from the plane ride.

Lots of lovin, Brooke Perillo