Nimen hao, dear readers!
Over the past week, we had a little Thanksgiving break in which some of my IES Abroad friends and I visited the beautiful Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.
Qingdao was a German colony for over 15 years, and such heritage wraps every corner of the city. We got there on a very cold Wednesday evening. As soon as we arrived in our hostel, we decided it was time for us to have dinner, and what could be better than some fresh seafood?
We walked around for a while but the wind was blowing extremely hard, so we went back to our hostel, which by the way was so, so pretty! I highly recommend it if you ever visit Qingdao, it’s called Old Observatory and of course, there’s a reason for it. As you know, the Germans are renowned for being outstanding scientists, as well as astronomers. Back in the day, Qingdao had over 3 observatories. This said, in our hostel there was a cafeteria-lounge-very cozy place to hang out, in which we had a super nice hot chocolate when we got back and breakfast on the following morning. Furthermore, the cafeteria had awesome views on the city and beaches.
So our day 1 in Qingdao was a complete success. We visited so many things! First, the Qingdao Site Museum of the Former German Governor’s Residence, then the Signal Hill Park, the Zhanshan Buddhist temple, and of course… the Qingdao Beer Museum! Raw beer in there is amazing, guys! Four our Thanksgiving dinner we had seafood again, what else? All kinds of clams, shrimps, crab… I was happy I could share this American tradition with my friends. Alright, the dinner was kind of peculiar, but does it really matter? We had a great time again! After dinner we headed to Qingdao’s most lively street, in which we made some Chinese friends.
On the following morning it was a bit harder to wake up. We visited a Catholic Church just down the road and of course, the beach. This was a great trip all in all, I really hope I can be back in Qingdao during the summer, I best it must be fantastic.
Thanks everyone!
艾丽
Alejandra Sola Ávila
<div>21, from Southern Spain. Translation and Interpreting student in University of Granada.</div>
<div>Now IES Abroad student. Currently living in Beijing and studying in Bei Wai University. </div>
<div>Passionate about books, poetry, cinema, good music and travelling. I believe I was born to travel the world while helping others.</div>
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<div>'Not all who wander are lost'.</div>
