The Bird's Nest and Olympic Park

 Ni hao!

 In the afternoon/evening of our last Wednesday I finally managed to visit the place I had been most determined to see: The Bird's Nest Stadium. 

 It was genuinely amazing to actually be in the presence of this building in which I had seen the amazing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony, and where Usain Bolt broke two world records; as well as the Aquatics Center where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals.

 The Olympic Park has its own ambiance; it felt quite calm when we were there, kind of other-worldly. We had to rush around seeing the main places, but in future if I ever get the chance I would love to go back and spend more time there.

Cauldron

Seats!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

A wintry day

 Hello!

 On our last Wednesday I took some photos around campus as the light was very beautiful. I also found some Azure-winged magpies and took their picture as I wanted to have some photos of these lovely birds that I saw so often on my trip.

Me in a mirror

Beautiful trees

The blue of the houses in this little square went so nicely with the golden leaves on the trees.

Poor bike

I think this is the sports centre

Beijing!

 You may recognise the first character above from Mahjong tiles, this is because it is "north." Beijing means "Northern Capital." Hence, Nanjing means "Southern Capital."

 As you can see from the pictures, it was a really nice day, and the magpies are so gorgeous.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

The Great Wall of China

 Ni hao!

 We had all been looking forward to New Year's Day when we would be visiting the Great Wall of China. We set off by coach in the afternoon.

 I brought some cereal to eat for my lunch on the way: I had recently discovered cereal on sale in the Students' Supermarket and it was nice, although slightly different in taste to the cereal I'm used to - slightly sweeter, I think.

 We drove into the mountains and the scenery was lovely; also, it was striking how fast the landscape changed once we got out of the city, from busy and metropolitan to wild and sparse and rugged and beautiful.

 Here are some of my photos of the Great Wall excursion  some are of the Wall itself and some were taken from the Wall looking down into the valley. Enjoy!

Graffiti

The lovely April

 I bought a lovely wall hanging of the Chinese Zodiac at a little shop at the base of the Wall, then we went back in the coach to BNU, very cold but so happy to have seen one of the most incredible structures in the world.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x