***Tianjin***

hi guys, 

i'm still trying to adjust to living here in Tianjin. wanna hear my daily schedule? ok. 8-12 i have classes monday through friday. i learn characters and how to pronounce tones correctly. it gets overwhelming sometimes, but it's totally worth it. Then i have lunch at the cafeteria with friends. some days we have culture classes at two where we learn about random stuff like the peking opera and how to make chinese crafts (my mom would be so proud). (mom-- i'll show what i made when i get back!) and then i hang out with friends, do homework, eat more baozi, watch chinese cartoons, write in my journal (yes i have a travel journal. it's cool ok.) and then pass out. some days are good, some days are bad. im having bad luck with the weather. yesterday it was raining super hard and i was wearing a tank top and shorts. today i wore long pants and a shirt and it was so frakin' hot. WAH! overall, it's been a lot of fun. i'm not really homesick which is awesome (no offense you guys, i love you all, but i needed this hiatus), but we'll see. 

no i lied: i'm homesick for cheesefries. they don't believe in cheese here and it's killing me. 

{Chines noodles. yum!}

{me, mimi, darren, dina, stephanie}

{they won't let you walk or sit on the grass. i do because im a rebel}

{rawr}

{they have hipster beer! ;)}

{yes, i went to walmart in China. Judge away.}

{my chinese speaking partner, Apple}

{they have this section in Tianjin with all the museums surrounded by a little lake}

{they have the coolest architecture here}

{main building at Nankai University}

{map of the campus. it's huge.}

{my homework from last night. i had to explain my whole family. fml.}

i'll write more i promise. 

if you have any suggestions, let me know. 

love you all!

XOXO

abby

Baozi is my boyfriend {Bāozi shì wô nán péngyou}

This post is dedicated to the love of my life, Baozi. Baozi is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me besides Lady Gaga. It all started when I was in Beijing for a day and we had lunch at a little place on the street. My friend ordered baozis for us and I was like “ooooo? What’s that? Is it going to be disgusting?” oh no, my friends, no no non no non non onononononooooooooo. Pork or veggies wrap up in warm fluffy bread…I’m salivating it’s so good. I could eat them everyday for every meal. I actually just ate six baozis just now: hence, the post. I’m probably turn into a baozi I love them so much. Anyways, baozi, I love you. Thank you for letting me eat you.

 People, find me a place in salt lake that has these. KTHX.

Love, Abby

Beijing, you’re fun, let’s go out sometime.

The next day, my friends Nikki, Darren, Mimi, and Andrew went out and explored Beijing before we had to take a bus to Tianjin. Is it weird to say that even though Beijing is very big, I felt very safe and comfortable walking around? Well, I did. First we went to McDonalds. Don’t judge me, it was all Darren’s idea! I just got a coffee! We went to this amazing high-quality chopstick store (I was too afraid to take pictures). We walked around, I bought a Mao cigarette case and a dress and Darren bought these beautiful silk paintings from a dude that claims he is the “Picasso of China”—not true, but he was still very talented. We sat down on a street and had Baozi—meat dumplings that were sooooo delicious. I just want to eat all the food here! I want to go see the Forbidden City. Luckily our hotel was super close, so we just walked literally two blocks and we were there. We saw the palace, which was HUGE. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to actually go into the palace, but we are definitely going back! Instead, we went to a garden, which was right by the palace and hung out there. It was beautiful and peaceful and a nice resting point. For some reason they had a section for Sweden where they had tulips, a windmill and wooden clogs. Don’t ask me why because the sign was in Chinese. After our excursion, we took a bus from the airport to Tianjin where we are studying at Nankai University. I’m so stoked you guys! Anyways, I’ll def keep you posted on what is yet to come! Cheers!

{i made a friend!}

{picture-ception}

{Forbidden Palace}

{Hobbit door}

{Nikki was born a panda}

{bamboo forest}

{this guy was taking a picture of me so i took a picture of him}

{Ni hao, Mao}

Love, Abby

XOXO

***I hate flying***

 hi guys, so, like i’ve said many of times, I hate flying. It makes me anxious and irritated. But, fortunately, my flight to Beijing was actually not that bad. I took some Xanax, felt a little like Kristen Wiig on Bridesmaids, watched “Silver Linings Playbook” in a drugged out haze and when to bed. I only had one layover in Seattle and then went straight to Beijing, but once I got there it was a completely different story: my friend said that there was a shuttle that goes from the airport to the hotel. Well, THERE WASN’T. I spent a shit ton of time at twelve at night trying to find this imaginary shuttle. I had the characters and the pinyin of the hotel, but eventually I gave up the mission and sucked up my pride and took a taxi. oh, but it goes on. I got into a taxi, got all settled in, I told him the place, and he had no idea where it was. WTF?! I used the little mandarin that I knew to help; yet it made no difference. WAH! Anyways, I had to take another taxi, got to my hotel where my friends were staying at 2 in the morning. That’s my flight story. At least I got to Beijing in one piece right? HUZZAH!

{on the plane somewhere}

{map}

{a mural in beijing airport}

Love,

Abby

XOXO

***CHINA***

Hello everyone, 

it's been awhile since i've posted anything, but since i'm going to CHINA it's prolly a good idea to start up with piece of random blog again. So, i'm going to china. I'm studying at Nankai university for six weeks where i shall attempt to improve my mandarin. i'm afraid that i'm just going to start yelling in french just to prove that i can speak other languages. hopefully i won't. After the program, i shall be traveling around Beijing, Xi'an, Dunhuang, and Shanghai. wish me luck you guys! i'm super nervous and excited for a new adventure. i've been craving an opportunity to leave SLC forever now, and here's my chance!

{the red is where Tianjin is. duh}

{city of Tianjin}

{Tianjin bridge...how romantic!}

{Nankai Univeristy}

i'll keep you updated, i promise. 

XOXO!

New York, I Love You

{HIYA!}

i know it's been awhile since i've written on my blog. but im just so busy being in GRAD SCHOOL and stuff. I went to NYC for fall break a few weeks ago and it was sooo much fun. I met up with some friends that are makin' it happen in the big city. i loved it so much. in years to come, i shall become a new yorker and wear black all the time...wait, ive already started to do that...

{liz}

{melissa and me}

{beautiful isabelle}

{shopping with liz}

{vic and is}

{melissa and the brooklyn bridge}

{HOTDOG!}



i'll try to write more often. i said try.

Love Thyself

Had to write a paper for my Art History Class. it's probably really bad but this is my ode to Lady Gaga:

In our third reading assignment, I decided to write about something that I have become fascinated with ever since I was a teenager: Lady Gaga. I am just going to come out and say: I am a huge Lady Gaga fan. She calls her fans ‘little monsters,’ well I am a ‘little monster.’ Specifically, I have decided to write on a specific photograph of lady gaga as her alter ego, Jo Calderone. Last year, lady Gaga tweeted “you will never find what you are looking for in love if you don’t love yourself” with a picture of herself as a man. It was her single cover for her new song Yoü and I, a song she wrote about her ex-boyfriend. Lady Gaga is known for her extravagant fashion and performances (she wore a meat dress), but dressing up as a man, whether for coping for something that had happen to her in the past or for a publicity stunt, is genius. It is a black and white picture of Gaga wearing a men’s white under-shirt and a black suit jacket. Her hair is short and coiffed/greased-out to look like something James Dean or Kenickie from Grease would do to their hair. She is smoking a cigarette and while the smoke is gracing her face, she is glaring off to the left of the camera lens. The most haunting thing about this picture is that her eyes are so menacing, yet she looks so tired: like a hung-over rock star. Even thinking about it now the picture reminds me of a video that Andy Warhol took of Bob Dylan in the early 60s: an uncomfortable singer who just wants to make music and get stoned. It is a persistent picture that has stuck with me for a while. The first time I saw this picture I thought, “this is the weirdest thing that I have ever seen in pop culture and, somehow, I am eerily in love with it.” This pop singer, who is known all around the world, is dressed up as some greasy man with a New Jersey accent (she gave a performance dressed up as Jo this past September). It is something that I have never seen in pop culture in the sense that it is so raw, but at the same time, it is all fake. Lady Gaga is not a man, even though many claim that she is. If we look sat other stars such as Britney spears, Katy Perry, Madonna, etc., we see that these women are the epitome of beauty and ‘superficialism.’ Yet, Gaga is unattractive, in this photo, wearing makeup not to enhance her beauty but to make her look like a beaten down man. At first it was hard to understand her tweet in conjunction to this picture: to find love you have to love yourself. Ummm ok. Gaga, you look like you are hung-over as hell and the night before you cut off all your hair in a psychotic-break rampage. How does this have anything to do with loving yourself? Over time, I watched the Yoü and I music video and watching her performance as Jo, I somewhat understood what Gaga was saying in her tweet: You have to be able to take all the good and the bad of yourself and embrace it with open arms. This is her alter-ego whom he admittedly calls himself an “asshole.” No one is perfect and that not one what one should be striving for in life. It is about loving who you are. I know this is extremely cheesy but it is true. For someone who has gone through a lot of heart break in my life (and I am only twenty two) it is nice to have someone who is a little crazy, yet has gone through the same stupid-love experiences. This picture is very meaningful to me because, not even looking at it, I can see it ingrained in my head of this beautiful woman that is dressed as a very real-looking man. People can have a lot of “ugly” inside of them, but you embrace it and strive for the “beautiful.”

It's super cheesy i know but I hope that you enjoy!

HAVE A FAB WEEKEND BECAUSE I KNOW I WILL!!!

YAY