Stepping foot on sacred ground....

First thing, it was Friday Night last night! We had our first REAL partying experience in Beijing. A group of us decided to finally see what Propaganda was all about. Propaganda is one of the many clubs in WuDaoKou... The club was really pretty cool. This is my first experience going into a club that is not in Oxford. So, of course... I was pretty excited. I know, I know... partying and clubbing really isn't a part of the whole Chinese culture. Many of the Chinese people that I know have not even been to a club in China. Clubs and bars are associated with female prostitutes and.. basically very bad people. I also know that I am only enforcing the American stereotype of 'partying' and 'drinking'... (I only got one drink..! Really! oh, and my first tequila shot.. haha) Now that I've been in America for like what.. almost 3 years, dancing (not drinking) really is a form of release and fun for me. So I guess yeah, I am enforcing the American stereotype in a foreign country... but but but (!!!) I definitely do not enforce the American stereotype of alcohol-drinking.

This is AnnikaTheRoomie and me on the bus..

The whole group of us in Room 513 (our room) taken on timer.

We had our CIEE trip to the Lama Temple, Confucius Temple and the Imperial College very very early this morning.
The Lama Temple is really one of the most impressive temples that I have ever been to ever! I felt like a really bad Buddhist when at the temple. I was at awe with everything in the temple, the strong beliefs and intense prayers the Chinese people were making... the statues, the monks, the architecture... EVERYTHING! I kept looking at everything and going WOW!

This is the sign right in front of the Lama Temple, that's written in Manchurian, Mongolian, Tibetan and Mandarin (Chinese). Isn't that so amazing?

This is the entrance into the Lama Temple.

And this is one of the many pictures that I took of the Lama Temple. Did you know that the temple has like the largest wood Buddha statue in the world, it's in the Guinness Book of Records? Standing at the foot of this Buddha was very very humbling. The tree that it was made from was from the border of China and Tibet. I'm only sorry that I could not take a picture of it.

This is the Imperial College and a brief history of it. The Imperial College was a university used in the past for real teaching purposes and for major Chinese examinations.

This is the 'throne' that the emperor used to sit on to give out his teachings to the students of the university.

Wouldn't you like the entrance of your school to look like this? This entrance alone would seriously totally inspire me to go to school everyday!

This is the Confucius Temple. And that's Confucius, with Stephanie and me.

The scriptures of Confucius, in the temple.

Musical instruments in the temple.