Ni Hao!

Ni Hao! I can't believe it has almost been a month since I arrived in Beijing. Here are some of my favorite photos so far to help showcase my experience.

The first two nights I stayed at an adorable guest house along a Hutong, a traditional Chinese alley.  The family, who was very helpful and generous to this newbie in China, was super excited to have a model living in one of their rooms. They wanted me to stay longer and offered me a very discounted price which I had to turn down. I do, however, get to go back soon and be their guest for a family dinner!

The third day I met with my agency Fusion Models and signed a two month contract.  I moved from the  guest house to a model apartment close to my agency.  This little guy insisted he help me carry my luggage to the taxi.  

A few hours after the contract was signed, I jumped in a van and joined the rest of the models for 6 castings that day with the last one ending at 10pm.  I realized quickly that its not going to be easy to fit in all the things a tourist gets to do. But it will be done! And I am thankful to be going on so many castings every day.

And at least I get to go see beautiful places on photo shoots, like this one below. I'm not sure where this was, but it was breathtaking and my camera did not do this landscape justice.

I sure lucked out and have some really great roommates from Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. We walked around the outside of Forbidden City . The Chinese often times approach us and want to take photos with us. This particular session lasted for 20 minutes. We couldn't get away from the crowd!

At Jingshan Park we relaxed outside this temple and enjoyed the view.

Walking back and catching the border of Forbidden City at night gave this destination a completely different feel.  

Beihai Park was peaceful and I loved the all the lily pads floating on the river.

Summer Palace was amazing. I spent hours walking around the entire park until the sun set on the lake.

After I had my afternoon tea of course :)

And this bridge was just so lovely....

I'm not going to lie. The first few days I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay. Beijing is not an English speaking city at all. I was having difficulty navigating the city by myself. Where I was staying initially was very dirty and a lot of the food grosses me out. I didn't really eat the first week.  However, once I was settled in my new apartment with the other models I began to enjoy Beijing a little more each day. Now I am loving it and I know that the next month will go by way too fast. 

Which of course means I have a lot more things to fit in because the clock is now ticking!