Isshin's Blog

The first in a series that tries to bring out some of the lesser-known areas of William and Mary, this post attempts to decode the mystery of Barrett Hall's fourth floor.

The last day of the conference started actually the night before, as the ACP sponsored a newspaper "critique" and cereal eating session Friday night. So while various others went out to enjoy the Austin nightlife on 6th street, others were getting their newspapers opened and torn apart by experienced journalists.

I think today, it really made me wonder what it means to have a newspaper on campus. What do we do? Why do we exist?

When someone talks of the city "Austin," the first thing that comes into people's minds might be quite different depending on what kind of person you are. But just to confirm it to all the readers, Austin is indeed in the Lone Star State of Texas, and it is also the location of the Associated Collegiate Press's annual College Media Convention.

Just because we don't act like secret agents all the time, doesn't mean that we can't have the gadgets equal to James Bond's caliber.

I think that it was about two weeks before today when it finally hit me that I'd be leaving Beijing soon. It finally occurred to me that this great adventure, which started out with a simple blog entry from Tokyo and took me to, quite literally, the tops of mountains and the foot of mansions, would finally come to an end.

When many Chinese individuals get married, they tend to spend their honeymoon among the clouds of Huangshan, and it's no surprise why. Being located at 3,250 feet above sea level, simply walking through the UNESCO World Heritage site makes you feel like you're flying in the air at some points.

If you ever visit William and Mary and happen to see me walking around, ask me about my flute, I'd be happy to play you a song or two.

Our first stop along our study tour landed us in historic Nanjing, China which by far was probably the most ironic and surprising destination out of all of the cities we visited.

Waking up at 3:30 on a Saturday morning, especially after going to sleep around 1 a.m. is quite the feat to some, but to William and Mary students on a mission, it's was just another day experiencing the many faces of Beijing.

It's been over a week now immersed in this intensive language-learning environment, and I've got to admit, after a couple weeks, what was at first mindless droning when people were talking Chinese, at least to me, is slowly becoming to be bits and pieces of words here and words there.

If you walk or take a taxi along the Suzhou River down to where it intersects with the Huangpu River, you'll immediately come across the last remnants of semi-colonialism in China.

Shanghai is a sprawling metropolis of high-rises and skyscrapers, and it seems that wherever you walk, you can always hear the sounds of jackhammers and construction cranes. This is the sound of progress.

An hour and a half outside the city of Shanghai, the barren, flat landscape of rural China suddenly turns into the factories and high rises of modern industry. 30 minutes later, and you can see nothing but towering skyscraper apartments and construction cranes, working to build the next new tower, the next new office building, the next new construction effort. Welcome to Shanghai.

Beijing may be known for the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven, but what many people don't realize is that along with the emperor's residence, comes the fame of the emperor's playgrounds. Beihai and Jingshan Park are just that.

Today, we hiked the Jinshaling and Simatai sections of the Great Wall of China. On a walk totaling near 8 km (approx. 5 miles), both sections of the wall represent the wall in its un-restored, raw state after years and years of wear and tear by weather and human forces.

For those of you unfamiliar with what a night market is, imagine a whole city block with stall upon stall of food vendors, all selling their wares for less than 10 RMB (about $2 US). Kabobs are the name of the game here, though there are other types of foods like dumplings and shumai.

One look down Nan Luo Guo Xiang (literally South Nanluo Road) and you can immediately see that it's a local hotspot for native Beijing residents. Just ask the Chinese drama stars and professional photographers that constantly tour the street.

I guess my loss is your gain as a lack of Facebook and Twitter is currently forcing me to write my journal entries for a change.

Jazz music. I'd forgotten how much I love jazz music. As I sit here in this café, sipping on my cup of French vanilla coffee and playing my Nintendo DS, I realize that the French really do have something going with the whole idea of a brasserie. I've also realized that I'm deathly addicted to coffee.

The ball comes rushing towards me. For a second, my body stops as my mind believes that the ball will hit the net. Heck, he's hit the last five into the net, why not this one?

Well, while I'm slacking off and holding off on the studying, might as well tell you what I've learned today. Here's good ol' Isshin's simple list of things to do if you're ever in Swem and you just need that simple study break.

Sitting here the in the University Center (people who've read my blog by now should know I'll forever call it the UC) gorging on my BBQ riblet sandwich, I suddenly realized just how diverse this College is.

Tonight, I sit in a fluorescent-lit office in the basement of the Campus Center, staring at a screen of letters and numbers arranged on a page. I slowly look at the built in clock on the iMac and find out it is near 3 a.m. Deadline's in three hours.

When I first saw the student blogs on William and Mary's website, I never thought I'd be sitting here writing one. In fact, I didn't even know what a "blog" was until one of my friends explained it to me after a state of bewilderment.