Well, our trip to Japan didn’t exactly start off smoothly. We missed our plane and it was totally my fault. I couldn’t believe it when the gate agent calmly pointed out the mistake. “But, miss…...

It was a bittersweet ending to the semester. I eagerly awaited our final banquet as a chance to celebrate with my friends, but I dreaded the goodbyes that followed. Chris, our program director, had announced...

Well we finally, successfully made it to Beijing and it was quite the experience! One jam-packed weekend was all we needed to see the major sights. Friday night we gleefully raced out of the jia to the train...

Beijing: the seat of Chinese government, home of the Great Wall and the site of the 2008 Olympic Games. The ornate Summer Palace, historical Tiananmen Square and numerous other national treasures. In all,...

Just like every other holiday we celebrated this semester, Thanksgiving at the Jia was celebrated a few days early in order to allow for everyone to travel immediately after classes on Wednesday. So as Tuesday...

Listening Summit is a three-day event held in order to facilitate cultural exchange and encourage bonding. Ten Pepperdine students — five boys and five girls — are selected to be paired with 10 English-speaking,...

Remember that eight-hour bus ride I mentioned in my last post? It was one of the most beautiful, and bumpy rides of my life. At first it seemed that the bus ride would be a normal, tedious ride. We drove...

Oct. 31 started very early for those of us in the Shanghai program, but no one complained. At 3:30 a.m. we stumbled half-awake on to the bus that was to take us to Pudong airport and eventually to Cambodia....

Halloween. Ironically, one of the few American commercial holidays not exported to Shanghai. In fact, not only is Halloween not celebrated in China, but many people haven’t even heard of it. The concept...