Jessica Thorning

After a very comfortable train ride, the group arrived in Essen on June 18th. We settled in to our new wg, or wohngemeinschaft in the Unperfekthaus, and enjoyed a nice meal.

This is not my first experience in Essen and the Ruhrgebiet, as I visited for a week with my Spring 2019 Studio class in March. The area itself is very interesting, as it is the largest urban area in Germany and the third-largest in Europe. It also once was home to the largest industrial area in Germany due to the coal and steel boom. Nowadays, you can walk around this area and experience these industrial areas yourself, either through parks, museums, tours, and art.

It is extremely important for our major to learn about how to design with industrial and contaminated areas in mind and how to deal with a growing population amidst declining land.

We have also ventured a bit outside of the Ruhr area, exploring Dusseldorf. This is a beautiful city with pockets of historical buildings and of course, the beautiful Rhein River.

Some highlights from the first week include: exploring Dusseldorf castles, gardens, and old towns, Nordstern Park in Gelsenkirchen featuring the Emscher River, taking a tour of Zollverein, a UNESCO world heritage site and old coal mine turned into a museum  and park, going down into the Emschergenossenschaft’s new pumping station in Oberhausen, visiting the Tetrahedron in Bottrop, and visiting our new project site for the upcoming studio charette in Bochum.

Covering a large amount of area in a week, I feel like I got a sense of how diverse the region is within such a small area. I am enjoying learning more and more about the Emscher River and the Ruhrgebiet, and how to design specifically for this unique area, which is very similar to many areas in America. These observations will be very useful for landscape architects in New Jersey!

Photos attached:

Berlin is a really wonderful city and I’m so glad I was able to spend two weeks here. I wish I could stay here for a bit longer. I feel like I got a good feel for the city for the short time I was there. I would definitely visit this city again, and probably will during my internship, since its only a 4 hour train ride.

Here are some pictures from Berlin. We went to a number of places, including the Spree River, many parts of the Berlin Wall, the historical Parliament area, the Tiergarten, Grunewald Forest, Tempelhof Park, the city model museum, the Potsdam castles including Sanssouci Park, Berlin Botanical Garden, and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

The concentration camp in particular was a very jolting experience. I think many people have a certain expectation of how they may react when they go to a concentration camp – and it’s definitely not what they expected.

Sachsenhausen was represented in a way that was not masked by anything or overshadowed – it just was. There were information panels, but mostly it was about experiencing the physical features of the space for yourself.

 

After Berlin, we travelled to Essen by train, which only took four hours. In comparison to America, both Germany and China have much more comfortable trains. Essen is much more suburban than Berlin, which is an interesting change. I personally enjoy the ease of going outside of the apartment and having everything you need right there in Berlin better than Essen, but it is still fairly easy with public transportation.

Auf Wiedersehen, look out for an update in a few days!

5/30/2019

After only two short days in Beijing, it was time to go to Xi’an. After visiting Tiananmen Square in the morning, I went to the Beijing West Train Station, which was more confusing than I thought it would be. I took a long time to find out where I can pick up my tickets, and I was running very late to the bullet train. I really had to run to the train with all of my luggage, and it was very stressful.

Once on the train, I had very enjoyable time viewing the extremely complex landscape of China. From the train, I could see the rapid regrading and reshaping of land, construction of new cities, steel plants, shacks, new farms and old, rivers and mountains – all in one glance. It really is amazing how rapidly China is changing, and I don’t think I would have realized the extent of it if I didn’t view it from the bullet train.

The bullet train itself was very comfortable – it was very easy to move around, lots of snacks, and the ride was extremely smooth. I would suggest a bullet train tour around China for a long term stay. It went about 300 km/hour, which I thought was very interesting and amazing really.

• 

Getting to Xi’an, I immediately felt more comfortable. The subway system was laid out the same way, except with a nicer station. The transportation in China is exceptional. Throughout this stay I have mastered the subway and busses, and even Didi (Chinese Uber), all with paying by Alipay on my phone. Baidu Maps is great for telling me which subways and busses to take and how long it will take, and it is very easy to use.

After the train ride and subway, we met the AirBnB Host who agreed to help us to the apartment. He actually brought our luggage on his little motor scooter and led us to the apartment, which looked pretty shady at first. It was down a small alley, not too far from the main road, but far enough that it gets quite dark at night. He helped us learn how to use the features in the apartment, which is very nice inside and equipped with a Chinese version of Amazon Alexa – Xiao Ai Tong Xue. She can open and close the curtains, turn on the lights, projector, AC – you name it, as long as you name it in Mandarin to her :).

The beds are really hard, and the bathroom has no separate door for the shower, but this is very typical for the average Chinese home. Overall the apartment is very nice and I had access to all of Xi’an, being located near the center. There are a number of convenience stores and restaurants within a minute walk, making life very easy here. Of course, sometimes it is a little hard to find the way home, but Baidu maps helps, and after a few times in and out of the apartment, finding it was easy.

• 

• 

I have experienced a number of tourist and local things alike; whether it is sightseeing, food, daily activity, etc. A big part of knowing about the places I have been to is attributed to the friends I have made here. My AirBnB host helped with Alipay, many people helped me with directions, and my good friend Yuan, introduced to me through Holly Nelson, Han Yan, and the Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Professor Zhang, has really helped me with so many suggestions for places to eat and see. I have spent a great time with Yuan and her friends exploring Xi’an, and I am very grateful for her help.

The night markets I have seen are amazing – they all have their own twist on what it means to be a night market. For example, some are strictly or partly halal, because of the large Muslim population. One is available right outside of the University, just for students. One is very commercialized, moving away from the true night market feel into more of a spectacle for tourists, with an expandable branding system. Many depend on the type of food they serve – one night market only really sold seafood, all stands laid out exactly the same, offering the same foods, all of which could not be found at another night market. Some night markets only locals know about, while other invite locals and tourists (but the locals know where the actual good places to get a snack are). And they don’t just ruin at night either! The idea of a night market is currently evolving in China – I am very excited to share my findings on the night markets in just Xi’an – there are tons all over China that are still out there for me to explore in the future. These photos are all from the biggest local night market to my apartment, Huimin Street / Huimin Jie / 回民街。

• 

• 

• 

Tomorrow, I will be visiting the Xi’an Jiaotong University of Architecture and Technology with Chair Zhang, and I am very excited to see the Department of Landscape Architecture. Afterwards, I will be catching a plane to Beijing for one night, and then to Berlin!

再见！

After three flights, the longest being thirteen hours, I arrived in Beijing. Right from the airport, you can take a taxi straight into the city. The address I had for the hotel didn’t make sense to the driver – he started driving while also looking back at my phone. Many taxi drivers here have a cigarette in one hand and their phone in the other – many times they have multiple phones. I finally found a phone number for the driver, and he found his way to the hotel on Wangfujing street with a call.

The first moments in China were overwhelming. The airport is far from the actual main part of the city, and I was not expecting a drive on the highway to get there. The driving and traffic is crazy – cars, bikes, motorbikes, scooters, and people are everywhere, going as they please without much attention to pedestrian right of way or traffic lights. The taxi driver sped by on the shoulder, while texting and driving stick! While it is exciting and interesting to watch, you have to be ready to dodge a vehicle if you plan to cross the street.

My Mandarin has come in handy for the trip. Since I haven’t been keeping up with classes for the past three years, my skills are obviously a little rusty, but I can get around and make minimal conversation with people. My grandpa came with me on this trip, because I thought we would have a great experience together, and to have a traveling buddy for safety reasons. From his point of view, he would not be able to navigate China without some knowledge of the language.

Many people are fascinated that I am walking in their neighborhood, and it’s a little weird. For example, the first night in the Beijing Duck House, one of the waiters stared at me for awhile and brought us extra food (we already had too much). Other times many people ask to take pictures, or practice English.

While I didn’t come across any official night markets in Beijing, I realized there is a lot of controversy over them. The most popular night market in Beijing was closed in recent years, as were many others around China, due to food safety concerns. This brings a new facet to my research, and it is interesting and perhaps to see what may be a dying typology in China. The night market culture still shows itself through different ways – walk down any alley or residential area in Beijing, and restaurants and vegetable markets are visible. While not technically a night market, the culture of outdoor food and gathering, easily accessible from home, is still somewhat present and will always be there. I have been incorporating this into my report.

Peking Duck 北京烤鸭

I wanted to start the trip off right with some authentic Beijing food – specifically Peking/Beijing Duck 北京烤鸭 (bei jing kao ya). I looked up the best Beijing Duck prior to the trip, and picked a place close to the hotel, 利群 (li qun) – I tried walking there but Google Maps was very confused (Side note – a SIM Card with a VPN has been very helpful for navigation and googling quick things here. Otherwise, there is no Google in China). I called a taxi, which took us to some strange dark back alley. I thought I really screwed up on the address, but now in a place I could not find a taxi. So, I just walked straight. I ran into a few people walking around this neighborhood consisting of alleys, and asked them if there is duck nearby – sure enough, they brought us there! It seemed like a hole in the wall. The waitress kept bringing out more and more food, which we couldn’t finish, and also had to show us embarrassing Americans how to roll up the duck in the pancake correctly. The duck was crispy and delicious! I don’t think it would have been a Beijing Trip without it, including the crazy adventure there.

• 

• 

• 

Great Wall at Jinshanling 金山岭长城

The second day in Beijing was dedicated to the Great Wall, and it really was another adventure getting there. I decided beforehand that I wanted to go to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall – it was relatively close, but not as touristy as some of the other sections. I knew which bus to go on, and was set, until someone came up to me and was talking with me. She told me the 980 bus goes to the same place, but is so much faster, and I really fell for it. We got on this bus, which took 1.5 hours to get to a transfer spot – I then had to pay a driver to get us to the wall. This was a very stressful time for me – I was looking up how the 980 gets us there, while finding out this is a common scam, and wondering if we will be able to get back to the bus stop in time for the last stop of the day. After the bus debacle, the drive to the Jinshanling section (the bus didn’t even take us to Mutianyu!) was actually very enjoyable. Our driver even stopped at a corner store to buy us some ice cream pops, and was really a nice guy. He waited for us while we climbed the wall, and brought us back to the bus station.

Jinshanling is really a section visited by mostly serious hikers – it is a difficult wall to climb. Most of it is restored, but is a rigorous walk. To even get to the wall, you must climb a long and winding path up some of the mountain. Forget about railings – if you slipped at some points, you were gone. We got up to the first tower, and had to climb on some stairs and over a rock to even get in the tower, again no railings, on the ridge of a mountain. We passed a few people on the way up, but not many. I didn’t even see anybody while we were up there. It was a great adventure through the beautiful park to the top of the wall, and even though the trip was stressful, I still got to see one of the seven wonders.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Tian’anmen Square 天安門

The third day was perfect for a short trip before the train to Xi’an – we ventured out to Tian’anmen Square, a very historical place. On the way there, I met a woman named Feng Xi Xi, who showed us a special way to the square away from all the tourists, through the emperor’s garden in the back. It was very peaceful and serene – trees that were hundreds of years old stood over interesting rock formations and traditional Chinese architecture. I honestly enjoyed the park walk more than the Tian’anmen square. Tian’anmen square was very interesting for me, given its peculiar history, which many Chinese people don’t know about. Afterwards, I found out that military control was actually taking place in the very place we were exactly 20 years ago. After a quick look, we went on our way back to the hotel and grabbed our bags for the train, which I will talk about in my next post.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

再见！