Leaving Beijing

With the end of our time in Beijing means the end of our internship at the China Academy of Urban Planning. I’ve learned a lot about China’s governance structure and how planning is done. Though at times it felt like my work here wasn’t that meaningful since the Academy is dedicated mostly to design and I’m more of a policy wonk. But I prepared a couple of presentations before leaving and was able to share some knowledge that I’ve gained from researching watershed management in the States. On the last day of my internship I presented to my team with the help of Gui Ping as my translator. I even got a cake as part of my send off.

As for saying goodbye to my fellow interns and Beijing we enjoyed a final meal of the Dai food...mmm deep fried potato balls. And Andrea, Stephan and I hit the town. I finally got to use that bottle of tequila that I had brought with me. Fortunately the clubs don’t pad you down when you enter so we made our own mixed tequila drinks all night long.

Also click here for a short video on our night on the town