Made in Macau

The festivals were crowded, but it was a very fun time!              At this time, my 2 week Chinese New Year break is coming to a close. It is genuinely crazy to think about everything that has happened in such a relatively short amount of time, especially for someone who hasn't done any extensive traveling before now.  Our Airbnb host had been so wonderful to us; she picked us up from the airport, gave us help when figuring out travel plans, offered to cook for us, accompanied us on a couple excursions, helped me get a SIM card (which is SEVERAL times harder to get here than other places), and driven us places where she even spent an entire day doing just that!  It's been a wild time, but I'll honestly say that it's nice to be back in the familiar (albeit hard) bed and get back to my routine for a bit. So for the time being, I'll be happy to not worry too much about flight times, packing suitcases, spending money, etc. I'll share some of my favorite photos

             I've been off from school since last weekend and I've been trying to utilize this time to travel outside of Macau. So far, I've spent a few days both in Hong Kong and Beijing, and while there is much to talk about in terms of my adventures, I first want to talk about this time of year in China and the cultural experiences I've had over the past week. This was near Senado Square, all very festive!              All of the schools in China have been off since last week and most if not all will stay off for at least another week. This is because of Chinese New Year, which happens on the 23rd day of the 12th month on the Chinese lunar calendar, was February 16th and the celebration can last several days. Most people go home and celebrate with their families and fireworks, festivals, parades, and big dinners are the minimal expectations during the holiday. If you need a comparison, this celebration is as big if not bigger than Christmas, especially to the

             Hello readers! This week I decided to have a topic-focused blog instead of just what's happing in my life, but don't worry, I have some big BIG plans coming up! More details at the end of the post 😉 . I bet most of you can guess by the title what this post is about: FOOD. My favorite topic. I've mentioned what I've been eating from time to time over this past month, but I suppose I'll go more in depth.              The food offered by the residential colleges is, to be brief, not that good. For lunch or dinner, you can pretty much predict what it is going to be every day. For the meat, it's typically some sort of combination of chicken, pork, fish and/or the occasional organ 😷 . There's The usual lunch/dinner also the vegetables which can be a mix of corn, peas, carrots, and meat (beef? I really don't know), cooked cucumbers and carrots, or some weird fruit that looks like potatoes but are not potatoes, and a lot, I mean A LOT, of bak