Gwen in Qingdao

June 15, 2014
We're staying at the dorm on the Qingdao Agricultural University campus, We got to visit some orchards today sort of near Yantai City, way out on the tip of the Shandong peninsula. It was super interesting - and cool to see some of the stuff I researched for my econ project in real life!

Julia & I are giving a presentation to the professors here on our proposed research plans in about an hour and a half, but I'll fill you in a little though.

We've been staying in really nice set of rooms in the international housing of Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU), and have spent the last couple days getting acquainted with the pomology department students and professors here. As usual, everyone's been excessively hospitable, taking us out to lovely dinners left and right. Qingdao is especially known for seafood and Tsingtao beer, so that's been the centerpiece of many of our meals. Sooo much good fish! I've also added jellyfish and silkworms to my roster of interesting Chinese foods I've tried.

I've really been impressed with Qingdao (although I technically haven't really been in downtown Qingdao, just the Chenyang district to the north, where QAU is) - there's lots of public parks and green spaces, so in that sense it really reminds me of Hangzhou. Actually, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not going to be here for four months, because it feels so natural to shift back into Hangzhou mode - I feel like I need to get to know the campus, master the bus system, and generally set up house here, when in fact we won't really be here that long. Working with the horticulture department here also really reminds me of being at PKU and working with Dr. Kang - I'm also toying with the idea of trying to visit PKU if we have a couple days in Beijing before flying out.
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Like I mentioned earlier, over the weekend we visited Wendeng and Weihai, near Yantai City, on the Shandong peninsula, and spent some time at two apple orchards, one that grows traditional varieties of apples and one that grows dwarf trees. It was a good introduction, and helped Julia and I think about what questions we want to ask in our surveys/interviews; which we'll flesh out more in today's meeting, I'm sure.
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Speaking of which, I'd better go now, but I'll try to send another update soon!