A week off school in the middle of the semester? Music to a study abroad student’s ear! Golden Week in China is a national holiday where most are off work and all students are out of class to celebrate the founding of the current government, The People’s Republic of China. Every year, the first week of October is filled with travel, festivals, and visiting family. Beware however, with over 720 million people (about half China’s population) traveling you are in for a busy commute wherever you decide to go. Planning in advance for this week is a must. If not, you risk tickets and hotels selling out and expensive prices as the date gets closer to Golden Week. When I arrived in September to Shanghai the IES Abroad program advisors and my buddy gave me the rundown of all the traveling that happens during the week and me and a few friends quickly decided on a destination. While we were too late booking train tickets, we decided to travel to Xi’an by plane. After our short 2 hour flight, we enjoyed a week full of historic sites, local food, and embracing the extremely large crowds!
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Terrence Christian
I am a photographer, frequent instagram user, and semi-model. My travel interest and favorite shots to capture are trying new foods or any body of water (especially waterfalls!) I am the youngest of two and the first in my family to go to college and to travel outside the country. I attend a historically black university and have spent my last two summers in the San Francisco Bay Area interning as a software engineer for Visa and eBay.
