Hangzhou (Gucci? Prada? How many pieces you want?)

Soon after we checked in to our hotel, we walked two or three blocks to West Lake. It's said to be one of the most beautiful lakes in all of China. I did a short on camera spot for Larry's travel show. Finally after dinner most of us called it an early night since we were tired from a flight and a long bus ride and because I was excited for what we were doing the next day.

First in the morning we went to the Zhejiang University of Media and Communications. The campus was huge and was really nice. We got a tour of their facilities like one of twenty-three TV studios and a few control rooms. They also took us to their Animation department and Film department. Then, while the professors met with their department of international exchanges and cooperation, me and my classmates got to meet some of the local students. Everyone was quiet at first, but we started talking after a little while. I met two girls named Tracy and Grace who were really cool. We compared campus' and classes, but we also talked about what we do in our spare time like sports, music, parties, and other things like that. They were pretty cool. After lunch in their campus cafeteria we headed out to our next destination. The Zhejiang Television Station International Channel China studio (damn thats a mouthful). Once we got there we headed straight to a board room that we all sat at. It made me feel like I was at a meeting for a coperate merger or something. Honestly, it was breathtaking. At least thats what I thought, until two of their main talents, William and Angela, took us around the rest of the studio to show us where they work. I thought the studios at the University were incredible, but these studios took the cake. They were just amazing as far as the set design and the state of the art equipment. I was really impressed. After that they treated us to dinner at the on site restaurant, which was also a real treat being that we got to order what ever we wanted off th menu after having our food predetermined by the tour. We sat with one of the channel's advisors, Jack, who happened to originally be from Massachusettes. He had some very interesting stories about what it was like to be and American living in China for the past nine years. He was really chill. After that we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel so we could rest up for the upcoming evening, Karaoke! It was so much fun. It was different from what you see around here in the states. We got a private room just for us to party in which I thought was awesome because you didn't have to worry about making a fool out o yourself in front of strangers (just my professors and the friends I've made on the tour). It was probably one of my favorite nights in China.

After sleeping in, me and a few friends went walking around the city one last time before it was time to head to Shanghai. We found a sort of locals only market that was really cool from an artsy scenery perspective. But we started to get the feeling we were unwanted so we headed out of the pretty quickly. Then it was finally on to our last city, Shanghai. I was filled with excitment, but also dead tired.