Here's a blogpost about our entire class trip to China, Korea and Japan!!!
(this post is super picture heavy)
On March 2nd, we all met up at Oslo Airport Gardermoen and the excitement was extreme! The one thing we had prepared for all year was about to happen!
First off was Beijing. Even though I had traveled the distance between Norway and Beijing a number of times on my way to Japan, somehow, this time it felt shorter! I had only transferred from Beijing, so I was happy to be able to experience China outside the airport! My first impression was amazement over how the new, shiny skyscrapers stood in total contrast to the tiny, run-down brick houses and small and old store-buildings. Our hotel was... interesting. We were living at a fairly cheap hotel, outside of the biggest tourist spots, and the hotel was marked by this fact. Our hotel room was extremely dirty at all times, even when the cleaning ladies washed there! Well, we did survive in there, at least. And apparently there was a small rabbit-farm in the other side of the hotel building.
We saw and did so many things in China! Among the highlights were The Great Wall of China, Beijing Zoo, Acrobatics show, Beijing Opera, the various parks and the tiny shops behind our hotel.
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| Chinese food was super yummy! |
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| The Bird's Nest! It was huge, and amazing! |
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| We did a traditional Chinese studio photoshoot, in which we were dressed and made up by professionals! |
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| I found Rain in a Chinese cosmetics-shop~ haha |
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| My hotel-roommate Marie posing with our hotel breakfast: Dumplings |
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| Panda bear in Beijing Zoo!!!!!!! |
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| Me and Siri posing at Beijing Zoo ~ |
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| Still water with a picture of Lee Hom, Mango-juice and Disney-princess yoghurt! Me and my hotel-roomie always had this in our hotel-room. <3 |
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| Starbucks coffee and coffee aroma cheese cake. I LOVE STARBUCKS! |
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| THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, GUYS. Yes, I climbed it. |
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| We fooled around at The Great Wall. lol |
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| Beijing Opera :D I didn't understand a single word, but it was interesting and I understood the entire story from the acting. |
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| We met a bunch of Japanese guys at Temple of Heaven and we played feather-ball(traditional Chinese game in which the point it to kick a ball with feathers from person to person and try to keep it in the air as long as possible). We failed. But it was really fun!! |
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| A huge, outside flea-market. There were A LOT of interesting stuff there and I bought a lot of suvernirs for my family and friends there~ And I haggled hard. lol |
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| Me, Elisabeth and Mia taking awesome photos right before watching Bejiing Acrobatics Show~ |
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| I didn't get any good pictures of this, but there were 7 motorcyclists inside that cage AT THE SAME TIME! It was the final act of the show and it blew my freaking mind. The entire Acrobatics Show was just amazing. |
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| Siri and me at the Airport in Bejiing, leaving for Japan! |
In Tokyo we went on a Grand Full Day Tour which included Tokyo Tower, Asakusa, Meiji Shrine, Buddhist and Shinto style parks, and dinner in Ginza! It was so much fun, since I had never been on an actual guided tour in Tokyo before! I learned a lot, and were able to visit places I had wanted to visit last time I was there, but couldn't! I was really happy to be able to speak Japanese again and to go back to the places I recognized~ we went to Shibuya 109 and walked around Ikebukuro, took purikura, ate delicious Japanese food and had so much fun!
On the day off, I took the Shinkansen alone to Shin-Osaka, to meet my Yuto. It was great to be able to combine the class trip and meeting my boyfriend!
I had only taken the Shinkansen once before, to Fukuoka with Yuto, but I managed to find my way and get on the right one. I first took the Yamanote line(loop line) from Ikebukuro station(where we stayed) to Tokyo station, and found my way to the Shinkansen-place navigating from the signs in the station. But I have to say, if I hadn't gone once before with Yuto, I might have taken a lot longer time to find the right place and figure out what to do. It was nice to get back to Shin-Osaka, and I was so happy to spend a day with Yuto, even if it was only for that day.
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| We talked to some Japanese schoolgirls who were on a class trip too in Tokyo Tower! |
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| Tokyo Warm Light in Tokyo Tower <3 |
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| We found a ninja in Asakusa!! XD |
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| Prayers in Meiji Shrine~ |
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| Early blooming Sakura blossoms in a Shinto-garden |
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| The beautiful contrast of the city and garden in a Buddhist garden. |
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| Us girls in front of Hachiko statue in Shibuya! (From the left: Tonje, Kjersti, Marie, Me. Back: Julie & Eli) |
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| Shops in Asakusa. We went to the Buddhist Shrine at the end of this shopping street. |
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| Classmates in front of Studio Ghibli Museum!!! (From the left: Eli, Marie, Emilia, Siri, Tonje, Margrete, Kjersti & Kristine) |
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| I found Kimura Takuya 8D haha Seoul was amazing and we had a lot of fun there too!! We visited parks, shopped cosmetics and Kpop, went to a cat café and ate great Korean food! Also, we went to Lotte World, and to DMZ - at the border between South- and North Korea! And some of us went to the recording place of Kiss The Radio - a radio show hosted by Ryeowook and Sungmin, members of the Korean boyband Super Junior, which we're huge fans of! We also visited the cafés run by some of the family members of the band, Kona Beans(run by the mothers of Leeteuk, Kyuhyun and Sungmin, and where Sungmin's younger brtoher also works) and Händel & Gretel(run by Yesung's family members). Now, me, Kjersti and Marie had prepared mittens for each member of Super Junior(they are 15 members, lol) and we delivered them to their families at the cafés. ^__^
This was truly a trip of a lifetime, and it wouldn't have been this epic and fun and amazing if I hadn't traveled together with my awesome classmates and teachers! I have so many fantastic memories! <3 |
