Week 10 Posts Due May 1

As sad as it may seem to all of you, this is actually our last week of posts. For this week, take a moment to share your favorite quote about traveling with your fellow China Tour participants. In addition, explain why the quote is so meaningful for you. To get things started, here's one of mine: "Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road/Healthy, free, the world before me/The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose...Strong and content, I travel the open road." (From Walt Whitman--"Song of the Open Road")

Week 9 Posts Due April 17

The second time I traveled to Thailand, I went to attend a traditional wedding ceremony in the rural Thai village of Ubon, near the border with Laos. We traveled for most of the night by bus from Bangkok, arriving at 4 am and then passing out on pallets in the loft of the bride's family home, while her extended family partied and continued preparations below. After a two hour nap, I was advised that the shower was available. Now, I had traveled in Thailand before and considered myself pretty open minded, but if my friend hadn't stopped me on the way downstairs and said, "You do know it's a traditional shower, right," I would have been confused and probably embarrassed myself by returning unshowered to our hostess. "Shower" in my experience has always denoted an overhead faucet with water running down; never has it conjured pictures of a dripping mid-waist high pipe filling a large garbage can with a smaller bucket and pail beside it. A traditional shower means that you stand close to a hole in the bathroom floor, pour water over yourself with a pail, soap up, and then rinse off with another few pailfuls of water, all the while attempting to keep your dirty water from getting in the large garbage can. Incidentally, the same pail is used to pour water into the toilet for flushing--no handles.

Consider some experiences you have faced while traveling, either in the US or abroad, in which you found yourself forced to expand outside of your normal experience. How do such circumstances affect us, both short term and long term? Why are they valuable for both ourselves and the people that we meet along the way? What advice can you offer your classmates for how to enjoy, rather than feel intimidated by such experiences?

Week 8 Posts Due April 10

Well everybody, we're moving quite quickly towards the end of the semester. Our journey is just around the corner. As you look ahead to the trip, consider how you plan to make the most of the coming opportunity. All too often when travelers return from time spent overseas, they come back with regrets about time spent watching TV, surfing the Internet, or even sleeping in rather than taking off to explore and interact with the country and people they are visiting. What can you do to make sure you return from your trip without these kind of regrets?