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.

At this point in my life, I go about things in a very individualistic fashion. I come across new things everyday, experiences that I attempt to ride through, getting jarred by turbulance along the way. This study away course I feel hasn't done more than change my perception as it changes everyday, but I do feel It has changed it in a much more descisive way. Instead trudging about Salem, Oregon or the PLU campus, I'm in China where my surroundings are as confusing as a labyrinth.

There are many rather negative stereotypes of asian culture. Many westerners regard them as bad drivers, wild about westerners, and humerously bad at english. Our perception of them is so because of a massive cultural difference, we just dont have anywhere near the same roots as them or vice versa. The communication barrier that exists continues to perpetuate asain-english language complexities that are flashed all over the place in movies, tv shows, etc. When it comes to any stereotypes they hold of us, as far as I can tell our presence hasn't dwindled them at all.

The question asked of the J-term trip to China is, "Do people in your host culture share PLU's stated commitment to educating for justice, health, sustainability, and peace?" Having not exactly been their yet, I know no exact details. Many could say through biased mouthes that any country opposed to another countries supposed set of definitions for those afore mentioned factors of education that the country does not share those commitments. But I expect to find at the base of things that they do hold such goals as important.

Goals such as justice, health, sustainability, and peace are rather general pillars of order for any society and I believe are the goals that every individual entity (be it a nation or single human being) strives for, often indirectly.

For the past I don't know how many years, my family has traveled about, to various states and countries. To this day, I've been to Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Ireland, and I'm not sure how many different states. I think it's safe to say that I've kind of grown fond of it, being able to travel to a distant, alien enviornment and being dropped straight into it with little knowledge of what to expect from the experience.

As a freshman student here at PLU interested in Music and Communications, Its absolutely terrific that I get to travel abroad to China my first year in college. The course will cover any number of topics of the emerging super power but will concentrate on cultural past to present. I became interested in this trip through Prof. Youtz's Music/Culture class in which I was taught about the history of musical tradition in China. Being the music nut I am, I could'nt really pass up the oppritunity to travel to one of the worlds oldest nations and study their experience with musical expression. Also, I am eager to travel to a country that isn't governed democratically and discover how they live their lives.