Days 4-6

I won't be able to remember the numbers of the days from now on, probably. Maybe I'll be able to start coming up with witty titles to my blog posts, but don't get your hopes up. Because I am the least creative person I know.

Tuesday was the ACTUAL scavenger hunt. We were given a piece of paper with 26 tasks to do on it.   Each task you completed would get you an amount of points, and the group with the most points at the end would get free dinner and a movie courtesy of the RAs. My group didn't get that far. We documented a trip on the subway for 15 points, found a restaurant that sells 北京烤鸭 - Beijing roast duck for 15 points, and another 45 points for getting the restaurant staff to show us how cook it. We didn't actually end up eating it though. We eventually ended up at Peking University, which was absolutely incredible.

We met this really cool guy who was writing poetry with water on the ground. He had these two water dispenser brushes in either hand and he was writing a different character with each brush. How do you even do that? And it looked so beautiful too! When I try to write with both hands at the same time, not even different letters, and DEFINITELY not in Chinese, it always turns out to look hilariously awful. Like a newborn infant tried to write their name that they don't even know yet. Ergo, I was super impressed with this guy.

That's my Chinese name!

We got lunch in Wudaokou, which I guess is popular for nightlife. I am seriously the only college kid who doesn't party, so I guess I won't find out what that's like. During the day though... I guess it's okay. Large. Expensive. Our lunch was tasty at least.

When we got back from that there was a panel on what the community is like. That was pretty interesting. We met one of the RA's old host mom. After that we chose which two week trip we wanted. I got the one I wanted with all of my friends, just by the skin of my teeth. So that was a relief.
After that, a few friends and I went to one of the largest shopping malls in the world. It was ENORMOUS. Six floors, jam packed with stores.

There was an HSBC there!! Which was great because it's only a ten minute cab ride away=10 kuai. Which is $1.57. I guess I can count that as my service charge. Not bad! The converse are more expensive here than they are in the US, though. I didn't buy anything.

This is the view from the bridge over the street in front of the mall (3 prepositions in that sentence!).

When we got back, we got ready for convocation. The Chinese professors had a skit prepared for us. It was adorable. We had a speaker, Kaiser Something. He was extremely interesting. He's the guitarist in China's first heavy metal band, and is a journalist for several of the really big news sources/blogs in China. He's super important, as it turns out. Cool guy too. We went back to campus and I can't remember doing anything else, so I probably just went to sleep early. Again, party animal.

Yesterday kicked off the start of the language pledge. As of right now, we have to speak exclusively Chinese from 8am (7:45 yesterday morning) to 4pm while we are on campus. It wasn't as difficult as I expected it would be! Hopefully this won't be that bad for the first few weeks. I know my Chinese will improve immensely, which is the goal. Hooray! We had Chinese classes this morning from 8 until noon. Weirdly enough, four hours of Chinese went by really, really quickly. We went out for lunch at a noodle place right after we got out.

This was what I ate. Cold noodles, spicy, delicious. Can't be bothered to rotate the picture. Sorry.

After that my friend and I went to the supermarket to buy school supplies, then I did homework/studied for the rest of the day. We have tests every day we have class! Woohoo!

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday. Chinese classes in the mornings, lunch, and then back to do homework and study.

This was my lunch today. Donkey meat! Super delicious!

I have my first area studies class in half an hour. It's called "Globalization of China's Environment". I'll let you know how it goes when I post next!

再见!

UPDATE: Globalization of China's Environment was not my cup of tea. Switched into Chinese-English Literary Translation. Challenges! Apparently the guy who teaches that class is a linguistics nerd. Woohoo!