The days just keep going by faster and faster. The beginning of the week consisted of my normal class schedule. I can definitely tell my Chinese is improving by great lengths. On Thursday I went with my program director and some friends to get a traditional Chinese massage. It was an hour and a half full body massage for the equivalent of 10 U.S. dollars! That night I also went to the longest running English Corner in Kunming. English Corner is where people of all ages can come to speak and improve their English with one other. The English Corner I went to was a minute walk from my apartment and it has been running for 40 years. It was great because I could speak with people in Chinese and they would reply in English so we both could get some practice in. On Friday instead of regular class, we went to one of our Professor’s house and learned how to make 饺子(dumplings) from scratch! We made so many both fried and boiled, I couldn’t believe how simple it actually is to make them. Later that day I did a 2k in my apartment on the erg. I definitely have a lot of work to do in order to be in peak shape this spring, but it’s pretty neat to have the chance to test myself while in China! On Saturday my landlord took my friend and I to Kunming’s Wholesale tea market. Her friend owns a tea house so we got to taste many varieties of tea including, Pu’er tea, black tea, and green tea. The tea culture in China is fascinating and I’m hoping I can bring some of it back with me to the states. On Sunday I went out to dinner with my host family and my host sister’s friends to celebrate her 12th birthday. We had a delicious meal and ate an exquisite cake decorated like a succulent garden. This week is my last week of classes then I will be traveling for a week and a half. I can’t believe how fast everything seems to be flying by!
再见！
魏伊俐 (WeiYiLi)
So many 饺子!
My living room is just the right size to fit an erg!
The Wholesale Tea Market has over 5,000 vendors!
Celebrating Betty’s 12th birthday!
Hey everyone! Sorry I didn’t post last week, I was extremely busy with midterms and an essay that I had to finish. It totally slipped my mind in the chaos that was happening both here and in the USA last week. 
I 100% agree with what Bethany said in a post last week, GO STUDY ABROAD (or at least travel). This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Even when I feel uncomfortable or miss home, I am so glad I chose to do this. I mean, I got to go to AFRICA this weekend. I’ve been able to travel, meet people that live across the country (which I’m learning is like a different world), and improve my Spanish so, so much. With only a little over a month to go here in Spain, I realize how lucky I’ve been to be here.
Let me fill you in on what I did for my last weekend of break. I met up with a few friends in Barcelona after spending 24 hours in Lisbon. The first thing we did was go to see the Sagrada Familia, which is soo much bigger than I expected it to be. Also, it’s not even finished! Throughout my semester in Italy, I have been visiting a lot of churches with my art history class and on other school trips. The Sagrada Familia is so different than anything I have ever seen before. From the outside it looks like a drippy sandcastle, which is very different from the marble facade of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Walking into the Sagrada Familia, it felt like walking into a hollowed tree. The columns and supports near the ceiling reminded me of branches. I thought it was really interesting how there were no paintings on the walls. The stained glass windows were just different colors that seemed random and not arranged in a way that were images. We had better weather the second day in Barcelona so we went to Parc Guell. Instead of paying to take a picture on the bench with the overlook, we decided to climb to the top of the park. It was really windy and definitely not the best time to be wearing a dress, but the view was worth it! On the last day in Barcelona, we walked to the Arc de Triomf and spent time in Citadel Park. The park was crowded with people out for a Sunday morning stroll, kids playing, and street performers doing tricks! It felt very tropical with palm trees everywhere (and there was definitely a big temperature difference compared to Prague a few days earlier).
