The two other 名胜古迹's (historical, tourist destinations) I've visited during the month of October were the the Beijing Zoo and 圆明园，the Old Summer Palace.

The Beijing Zoo
As I said in a previous blog post, when my host family asked me what sights I wanted to see in Beijing during Golden Week, the week-long national holiday celebrating China's independence, I could only think of the Beijing Zoo. So, Reta, my host sister, and I went to the Beijing Zoo the day after we visited the Olympic park. 

The Beijing Zoo is similar to any other zoo with two exceptions. First, it's absolutely massive. It has almost every animal I've seen in a zoo and more. Also, in terms of physical size, it's much bigger and more wide spread than any zoo I've been to. The zoo is split into three sectors. The first sector, at the front of the park has many of the "publicity" animals, or the animals that people come to see at the zoo, such as the pandas and the monkeys. Another sector, northwest of the first sector, is the African Animals sector. The last sector, directly north of the first one featured the bears, elephants and other large animals. We did not get a chance to visit the African Animals sector, but we did visit the other two sectors, which already took up most of our morning. 

The second main difference is the way the zoo was designed. The Beijing Zoo seems to be designed more like a park with animals than like a zoo in the western sense. There are many more trees and grassy areas than in the zoos I've seen. Most exhibits are placed outside, where they are surrounded by grassy areas and tree covered walkways. This provides the feeling of a relaxing walk through a park rather than a zoo.

As a whole, the zoo was a fun excursion. However, when going there as a tourist, make sure you go there on a weekday, when there aren't too many people there. The lines for the boat ride and the panda exhibit that came with the ticket were extremely long because we went on a day with lots of people. Also, if the only reason you visit the zoo is to see the pandas... it might not be worth it. The two pandas there were the sleepiest, dirtiest pandas I've ever seen, albeit extremely cute. 

After visiting the zoo, Reta and I went window shopping at the shopping center across from the zoo. The shopping center is even bigger than the zoo and has smaller shops inside, each selling their specialties, which range from fuzzy panda sweaters to knock off hollister sweaters. The best part was that everything was relatively cheap because most of it was wholesale.

圆明园 (Yuan Ming Yuan) The Old Summer Palace

YuanMing Yuan is the site of the Old Summer palace that was destroyed by the British during the Second Opium War in retaliation for the deaths of around twenty soldiers sent to negotiate a treaty with the Royal Prince. Since then, it has been turned into a park where bits of history can be seen among the beautiful scenery.

When we visited YuanMing Yuan with our host siblings, the weather was perfect. It was the beginning of Autumn, when the leaves were just starting to change colors and the air was getting cooler. D, our resident director, had two scavenger hunts for us to do. The first was to be done before lunch, during the time designated for speaking Chinese only. As we ate lunch, the American students presented their answers in Chinese. The afternoon was then English speaking time with another scavenger hunt, this time in English. 

The park was absolutely beautiful and the scavenger hunts only added to the fun. In the morning, Savannah, Reta, Greta (Savannah's host sister) and I made our way to the ruins of the main building of the Summer Palace at the back of the park. The ruins were fun to explore and climb on top of. There was also a maze nearby that we didn't get a change to explore, sadly. In the afternoon, we made it our mission to always choose the least traveled paths around the park. This allowed us to find a traditional Chinese dance performance put on by a local university. We also found a small, perfectly preserved, or just rebuilt, pavilion that was on a little island with no bridge leading to or from it. 

YuanMing Yuan is positively the best tourist spot I've been to yet in Beijing. Its name translates to "Gardens of Perfect Brightness" which is lives up to. It was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. There were ponds all around, with boat tours. The vendors weren't too loud and there weren't many people. If you ever come to Beijing, this is the place to visit. However, a bit of advice, don't eat the food cooked and sold there. One of the students did try a Taiwanese sausage and it didn't exactly sit well with his stomach. Nonetheless, YuanMing Yuan was a beautiful park to relax in and just enjoy the scenery. 

(Written on Halloween)

I’ve just come back to the dorms from the Halloween party put on by the international department of Beijing No.80 and 
I'm still on that adrenaline high from it. The international department consists of three parts: the Chinese students going 
to an English speaking country for college, the international students studying for an international version of the GaoKao, 
the college entrance exam and high school graduation exam for China, and the 语言班 YuYanBan, the international 
students learning Chinese. There are about three hundred or so students in the International department and they 
were all at the Halloween party. There’s another sector of Beijing No. 80 that has Chinese students studying for the 
GaoKao to attend a Chinese university, but they were unable to attend.

All of the American girls dressed up for the dance, in costumes and/or in dresses. I managed to do both, with a dress 
and my Ravenclaw wizard cloak on the outside. Malin and Claire dressed up as twin cats, and Selene and Savannah 
simply dressed nice in dresses. Another girl, from outside the NSLI-Y program, dressed as Red Riding Hood. Manish 
dressed up in the “nice” school uniform to be the emcee for the event. David dressed as a ... Well I’m not exactly sure 
what it was, but it was very American. Cameron dressed up as something very ambiguous as well. Another American 
from outside the program dressed as a combination of Vampire (with the blood) and something else. 

After lunch, all the girls ran to the dorms to get ready. We helped each other with hair and make up. By some miracle, 
we still made it to our first class of the afternoon on time. The rest of the language students hadn’t changed 
yet, and most of the boys decided not to wear costumes at all. After our second class of the afternoon, we were lead 
in two lines to the hall where the dance was held. 

The hall was organized in such a way that there was a bit of a stage in the front and in the center, and all the students 
were organized on either side of the center section, so that either way, they were facing the stage. We all stood as the
 first event of the afternoon started: the runway show. Each class was asked to have two students to participate in it. 
For our class, Savannah and Cameron volunteered. Two of our host siblings also participated for their classes. 

After the runway show, each class sent out about five couples to dance on the floor. Before the dance itself, sections of 
each class learned a complicated dance, with chosen dance partners. My host sister was apart of this group and she 
unsuccessfully tried to teach me the dance. I have to say, she’s extremely talented to be able to do it without previous 
experience. After each class danced, it was a free-for-all on the dance floor. A few couples went out to dance, 
and some almost couples went out as well. Friends also danced with friends and host siblings with their American 
students, in some cases. 

After a while, the games began. There was a slightly confusing, traditional Chinese game that was played. The three 
losers of the game (Which ended up being one of our host siblings, our music teacher and another one of our teachers) 
had to drink a concoction of what I’ve determined to be Wasabi and warm water. The host student, Frank, downed 
the drink, but the teachers, naturally, evaded. The next game that was played was musical chairs! Cameron, Malin, 
Savannah, Selene and I participated... And of the seven total participants in the game, all the Americans lost and a 
sophomore girl won the game. It was one of the most exciting parts of day.

To be honest, I’ve never been to a high school dance in America, so I can’t compare our Halloween dance with that of the 
American high school dances. However, I have heard about them. From what I understand, our Chinese Halloween dance 
(which was ever so much fun) was much more organized than the American dances. In addition, the couple activity was 
at a minimum. The dance was more of a class activity, rather than an optional, guy-asks-girl out event. It was so much fun 
to do it, though, with friends. I think a lot of us went into the dance not expecting much, but it turned out quite fun.