Paul Montoya

Paul Montoya

Beijing:


O.K… so the initial shock of being in China and being horribly jet lagged is finally wearing off..


We met our tour guide Tony at the airport. Tony, by the way, is the Man! I’m sure you will be hearing about him later seeing that we are most likely going to start a business together…


 We arrived at our hotel which was bawler to say the least. Thank you Eckerd for hooking us up! The first place we visited was Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden city. I was expected to give an oral report about T square which led to a more awkward moment then a learning one. We were in the middle of the square, surrounded by thousands and I began too relay my research to the group. As I did so, I noticed how Tony began to shy away looking more and more uncomfortable. I was talking about a specific massacre that took place at T-square and how apparently the Chinese government had hushed the incident making it look less severe then it was… When I picked up on Tony’s body language I suddenly became very aware of our surroundings, noticing many officers giving us the evil eye and other Chinese nationals giving Tony a distrust worthy look. The situation getting tenser when a member in our group asked Tony to articulate his beliefs on the matter. Tony, as I saw it was put between a rock and a hard place. It was insensitive to ask Tony to give his opinion on such a shady matter that put into question his countries pride and dignity. Tony looking down at the floor, brushed off the question with a couple of murmurs and quickly ushered us to the Forbidden City..


O.K I’m sure a lot of you have seen Disney’s movie, Mulan.


Quite adorable yet horribly inaccurate. 2 inaccuracies that stood out:


#1.No way in hell that the forbidden city was filled with “common” people; regardless of whatever festival or celebration that was taking place. “Common” people were “Forbidden” entry, thus the name of the city.


 # 2. Mulan, as cute as she was, equipped with the ninja skills that she had, most certainly did not kill Attila the Hun with some fireworks… MMM pretty sure Attila was successful in his invasion.

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About Paul

My name is Paul Montoya and I'm from Honduras. I am a sophomore at Eckerd majoring in International Business with a minor in International Relations and East Asian Studies. I love to sing and dance while watching Harry Potter. The singing, not so true, the dancing and the Harry Potter most definitely! I am a huge fan of music, movies, politics, silly adventures, and taking over the world. Speaking about taking over the world, next semester I plan to study abroad in China through Eckerd. I am extremely excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity. Two years ago, when I moved to the United States, I decided to make Eckerd my home away from home, I think that was one of the best decisions I have ever made.