On the 8th Day, God Created the Hostel

Big Chinese apologies to my good friends who are following my adventures via the blog. I realize I have been MIA for a while now. I am taking a little vacay now that class is over so I am making it goal to catch up on the blog. I left Shanghai on Wednesday morning (7/1) and took an 18-hour train ride to Qingdao (pronounced Chingdow). I am joined by two classmates, Kelly West and Mike Melanson. Qingdao is a beach town and famous as the home of Tsingtao beer (which coincidentally has become one of my favorite cheap things in China- also pronounced Chingdow). We are doing budget vacay and staying at a pretty cool hostel that used to be a church. Best of all, it is only about $8 a night for each of us. Staying in a former house of God seems to be a trend for me and my travels. I have stayed in either a former convent or church in Puerto Rico, Prague, and now China. I feel like there is a fourth on the list but it is not coming to me right now. Perhaps too much Tsingtao in Qingdao?