My worldview changed exactly like that of my father's did when he came back from Germany. Not much at all. In China, there are people, they live, they flirt, they marry, they reproduce, they work, they eat, they sleep and eventually they die. There are birds and plants in China, seasons change and there are movies and television. Most of them are cliqued and boring. People like drinking and sometimes they like drinking too much. Men usually like drinking more than women.

Daily life for the average person here seems very rushed, kind of like it is for working people in the US (they call it USA or America) but there is a little more imperativeness to it. We have people begging in the US but here you wonder if some of these people will make it through the winter. We have homeless shelters and food banks. Here I don't know of anything like that, it's more of a fend for yourself attitude. This attitude is aggressive but without the confrontative nature we Americans add to it.

It was our first full day in Beijing and we wasted no time to cut to the heart of the capital. Our tour guide, Raymond, took us to the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City (pretty damn epic sounding). As we crept through the massive structure that was once the home of Ming and Qing dynasty emperors, I heard Raymond mention that the Forbidden City had exactly 9999 rooms. Apparently, the pronunciation of the number nine in Chinese is very close to "eternity" or something like that and it was the emperors number, no one else could use it.

Today is our last day in China. I can't believe that our journey is coming to an end. As I look back on our experience here I have learned to appreciate Chinese and Tibetan Culture. Before leaving I had little knowledge about what to expect here, except for thousands of years of history. I had found the language frustrating and couldn't even use chopsticks (I can now say that I have mastered the art and prefer them over a fork!). The few weeks that we have been here have opened my eyes to the struggle of keeping old traditions and trying to become modern.

So this is my last blog, on the last day, after walking in the back streets one last time to get to the internet cafe. As I thought of which of the four questions I was going to answer I realized how much I am going to miss China. I have never wanted to leave, but the situation hit me as I walked by the Forbidden City at midnight last night with one of my classmates. While we were both in pain due to the freezing temperatures, I realized that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.