Howdy! My name is Karuna, and I am interning for two months in Beijing!
Beijing, China. That is where I have lived for the?past month and will live for one more month. It’s certainly very different from the Houston suburb I grew up in. But this is an experience completely worth it. Here are a few of my observations.
When I first arrived in Beijing, I was blown away by the differences. There were obvious ones such as language, but there are so many other subtle ones as well such as the actions taken to conserve energy.
Language is a tough obstacle to overcome. I live in a very city area; it has a lot of corporate work spaces, it is within walking distance of the top two universities in this country; yet conversing in English is very rare and very hard. Therefore, I have been working extremely hard on my Mandarin. I took 3 years of Mandarin in high school, and am currently taking classes every evening. Because of these efforts, I am starting to understand parts of the conversations surrounding me; in fact, just a few days ago, I had my first full conversation in Chinese with a waitress at a restaurant. These little accomplishments are proud milestones for me.
There are many other differences. For example, take everyday clothes. At home, everyday clothes consist of casual clothing that are somewhat similar. In Beijing, most people dress extremely well, and in so many different styles. Women here are very committed to wearing wedges and heels all the time as well. In fact, when I toured the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City which consisted of 4-5 hours of walking each, I saw lots of women wear heels. Even on the Great Wall of China, there were several women wearing heels and even more wearing sneakers with wedges. It blows my mind although the commitment to fashion over comfort is almost admirable 🙂
As I mentioned before, I come from the suburbs. So to be immersed into a heart of a city was a shock in itself. On top of that, Beijing is a huge and crowded city. There are SO many people. It is always insanely crowded everywhere. Always. Because of the crowding and the lack of land, stores, restaurants, offices, and more are all stacked on top of each other. In Texas, I am used to vastness of land, now I am acclimating to the immense height of the buildings. The city also has a very nice subway system which is clean and efficient. Successfully using the subway system (using one for the first time in my life in general) was another personal milestone for me.
Yet, the thing I am the most impressed by is despite the massive size of the city, there are so many small common practices to be environmentally friendly. For example, the lights outside in the hallways of my apartment are motion sensitive. They only turn on when someone is in the hallway which means electricity is not unnecessarily wasted. Or the trash system in my apartment complex: the dumpster has several options which includes recyclables, kitchen waste (compost), trash, and more. Two nights ago, I went to a restaurant where half of the restaurant was blacked out because only one side of the restaurant that was currently being used (and it did not take away from the appeal of the place). These little measures add up to a lot of wastage being prevented. It has me pausing and asking myself, if a huge city such as Beijing can make these measures common practice, then why do we not have these measures in the US?
But overall, I’m having so much enjoying new experiences and taking in what Beijing has to offer.
