The most interesting thing I’ve done with my life recently is venture to China with a few of my law school classmates for a two week study tour of Xi’an and Beijing.
Last summer I had the once in a life-time experience of studying law at Cambridge and I had gone back to a meeting to talk about my experiences to new students who were considering going to Cambridge this summer. I discussed my time with them but I also learned about this incredible opportunity to go to China and earn up to 3 credits of law school credit while doing so.
My first thoughts were “no way, I could never afford that…but wouldn’t that be the coolest experience, like ever?”. I still (of course) put my name on the information sheet anyway, but the more I learned about it the more I realized that I could totally make this work (all we paid for was airfare and credit hours to the university) so it really wasn’t that expensive, and plus I got 2 credit hours out of the way for the next year and memories to last a lifetime.
Here I am in front of the university in Xi’an, this was the law school building and where we had our lectures from Chinese law professors. We learned about Chinese Company Law, Chinese Civil Law, Chinese Constitutional and Administrative Law, Chinese Civil Procedure Law, and Chinese contemporary economy. We also had a session where former Chancellor and current law professor Harvey Pearlman had a comparative session on US and Chinese law. Overall, the classes were crazy interesting and really a great opportunity to learn about another country’s legal landscape.
The coolest part of this trip was the opportunity to see the Chinese court. We toured Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court and got the chance to converse with judges in the court (pictured here in the light blue shirts). This was by far a highlight of the trip and of my law school career. It was an amazing opportunity for cultural exchange and conversation, even though there was a language barrier the conversations we had are something I will remember forever.
One of the highlights of this trip was the food and the cultural experiences. My top favorites being the fish spa, the delicious yogurt from the street market, dumplings and the hot pot dinner we did.
There is always something fun about a challenge, we had a VERY short amount of time to climb to the top of the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, and we accepted the challenge and ran up to the top. Worth it.
Seeing the terra cotta warriors was also a highlight of the trip. For sure a must see if you get to Xi’an, downright amazing are the only words to describe this. Something you’ve gotta see for yourself to completely understand how amazing it is. Definitely a must see world heritage site.