After a full day of learning about culture and history, we finally got to stay in a hotel — our first hotel in China.

We all went to dinner in a small local restaurant. After we finished eating, we sat at the table as Sarah (Halter) and Jake (MacLean) discussed their articles.

I was pretty tired, but when we got back to the hotel, I just wanted to explore the city to see what was different between Tai An and Zibo. So we all piled into a couple taxis and headed for the closest shopping district!

But we ended up at a supermarket/mall that was exactly like the one in Zibo. Once inside the store, we split up into two groups. I went with Sarah and Ariana (Winder) to look for shoes.

We took a little longer than expected as we searched, and as a result, the rest of the group moved on without us. Once we left the store, Ariana saw KFC and we decided to check it out.

To my surprise, they had a designated English speaker in KFC to help all of the Americans who craved American food.

I only got french fries, and they tasted just as good as any I have had in the U.S. I quickly gobbled them up. I hadn’t realized how much I missed American food until that moment.

We walked around on the streets a little more, just looking at all of the venders and then walked back to the hotel. I went to sleep around 11 p.m.; but looking back, I should have gone to sleep as soon as we got back from dinner, because he next day was much more than I expected.

— Deanna Barnes, junior art history major