Traveling to See Friends and a Trip to Nanjing

I just spent the weekend in Nanjing, China visiting my friend who lived there. I got to thinking about the benefits of traveling to see people you know or somehow have as contacts.


 There were a few things we did this past weekend that I wouldn't have been able to do if I hadn't had a "local" to show me around.

I met Stephanie when I was working at Concordia Language Villages this past summer. We both happened to be studying abroad in China this semester!

Right when I got in from the train station, her flatmate took us to a dinner with all her co-workers, so we had a 2-hour dinner where we had to speak in Chinese. It was also food from Jiangsu province, which was considerably different from the Zhejiang province, where I'm living.

this was the aftermath of the dinner

I think we ate the best breakfasts I've had since being here. the first morning we had the best wonton I've ever had. The soup was especially good and peppery.

The next morning, we went to this area that had a lot of street food and we got this crepe-type things. They put either fried dough sticks or fried dough sheets in a cake with sesame, chili sauce, lettuce, and egg. It's the best breakfast I've had so far (except for maybe baozi).

I never would have known where to get such nice food without her recommendations.

Other than a free place to stay and good food, I got to meet her Chinese flatmates and practice my Chinese while we all hung out and made cookies and mulled wine.

I also started thinking about all the other amazing experiences because I've had friends or family friends in different places.

One of my first trips in Europe was to Belgium to visit my mom's friends. They graciously hosted me for several days. We rode around with the top down in their convertible (in December!), went to lots of markets, and got to go to the border of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

I also got free places to stay in Florence and Rome, which was a really great trip. I got all the great gelato recommendations from Steph in Florence and we saw one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. In Rome, I stayed with one of my mom's friends, who took me to a dancetherapy talk in Italian, which I struggled to understand. I got to have nice chats with people after.

When I went to Finland, we took a day trip to Estonia. One of the friends I went with's flatmate is from Tallinn, so he showed us around. It was absolutely a beautiful day and we went all over the old town. I didn't even know how beautiful Tallinn is or what to do there.

These are just a few memories that come to mind. I highly encourage anyone who hasn't traveled much or doesn't know where to go to think about where you have friends, acquaintances, family friends, long-lost cousins, etc. It's a great way to have a more authentic experience and make great memories with the people in your life who you might not see that much.