Rudimentary Reflections: Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Morgan

I went to China this summer, and I would say that say that was one of the most beautiful times in my life. One day in particular, the Fourth of July, we were in Shanghai, so we went to go visit the Pearl Tower, the TV tower. We went up there and saw the city. That was pretty cool, but later at night, we went on the river in a boat. The city was all lighting up. It was incredible. I don't think I can quite describe how beautiful it was. At first it started out with a few lights here and there, but eventually everything lit up and it was like a kaleidoscope of so many different colors. The water was reflecting everything too. We passed by really colorful boats. Best Fourth of July ever. Probably the most beautiful moment of that trip."

Morgan's picture of Shanghai on the river

"What was a funny moment?"

"A funny moment? Oh man. Well, there was one time my roommate Emma and I were walking around the city, and we were stopped by a stoplight before crossing the street. All of a sudden, this lady starts speaking to us in rapid-fire Chinese. I was just like 'What's she saying?'. She started pointing at my face, and I was like 'Huh?'. I pointed to my face and she kept repeating these words and eventually I realized she was talking about my freckles. I was like 'These?' and she was like "Yes! Yes! They're very pretty!' It was pretty funny. The whole time, Emma didn't understand a single word, so she had no idea what was going on. Another funny thing was when people would take pictures of us. Emma and I are very white, and stuck out a lot with our blonde hair and freckles. One time, we were at Tienanmen Square and this elementary school-aged girl. She asked 'Can I take a picture with you?' and of course we said 'Okay!' So we're taking our pictures and her parents are like "No! Put your arms around her!' and of course, we were like 'okay!(????)' then eventually, she almost reached up and kissed my cheek. I turned around and was like "Woah!' but it was a good time."

Morgan and Emma

"What was the most emotional part of the trip?"

"Saying goodbye to everyone at the airport. I came to China with nineteen other American students and I cried so much when I was saying goodbye to all my friends. Emma and I were walking to our boarding gates and we were both crying. That was the worst. It was so sad. I cried on the plane on the way back to Iowa. We landed in Detroit before and then all branched off. When I was crying on the plane, people around me were asking if I was okay and I just responded with 'Yeah?' in the middle of crying. I cried and slept a lot."

"Do you guys text?"

"Yeah, we text and send little cards to each other."

"Any romance in China?" (This question was accompanied with some active eyebrow wiggling. The topic is one that Jacob and I frequently teased Morgan about in the past few months.)

"No????!! Not really. I had several guy friends. There was this one guy. A bunch of our classmates were teasing us so much, calling us boyfriend-girlfriend. His name was Conner (a member of her group from America). We hung out a lot. It started when we were playing chess."

"Woah there. Chess? A little erotic, Morgan."

(Jacob from the side teases, "Erotic chess?" Morgan says no, obviously, and rightly ignores the rest of his comments.)

"Yeah, I think we both liked each other but never wanted to start anything because he lives in Nevada."

"Do you still talk?"

"He hasn't emailed me in a long time.... I emailed him some stuff about marching band but yeah, I don't know."

"Were there any difficulties adjusting?"

"When I first got there it was hard, living with people that who wanted so much from me...like my mom."

"How was the domestic situation in China?"

(Jacob says 'With your boyfriend.' Again, Jacob is ignored, as he should be.)

"My host family was apparently really well off. They lived on the lower floor of the apartment building, so we had an upper floor and a basement. The basement is 'mine'. They were really relaxed.I would come home late a couple nights and they'd just be like 'Oh, whatever.' As long as no one tells the teacher, we're good."

(Jacob comments 'Erotic chess.')