Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Our desks; the tables fold down  

Today was another normal day with classes, classes, and more classes. In Chinese class we practiced making appointment. I realized I haven't showed you what our classroom looks like. It is actually really nice. It's in the Foreign Language building which is newly renovated, except they must of forgot to update the bathrooms because they do no actually have toilets, just holes....



We were supposed to have another Green Cleanup but since we went traveling tomorrow and walked a lot, they moved it to tomorrow. I also had E-Portfolio this morning in between breakfast and classes. Don't ask me why it's called E-Portfolio because it's basically like support group. So once a week each team talks with one of the chaperones about their feelings regarding our experience with cross-culture immersion. Today we received a packet discussing culture itself and self-identification.

The tunnel cafe sign
After classes were finished all the team leaders had a meeting with the chaperones to discuss their teams behavior and feelings about the trip so far. Apparently Team 5 is in the lead for this week. I think it is rigged because Team 4 (my team) definitely got the most points. Like I have been carrying everything for the chaperons all week for points, but that wasn't enough. :(


The tunnel
We finished eating dinner and Maddie, Skylar, and I (Cami was going to come but she was too tired) went to the tunnel again to check out the 厦门芙蓉隧道 (Xiamen Furong Tunnel) coffee house. Yes it is coffee shop inside the graffiti tunnel. It is so cool. I had seen it last time I went to the tunnel but we didn't go inside it. Anyways it is filled floor to ceiling with post-it notes that people wrote in Chinese. It also sells cell phones, books, t-shirts, magnets, postcards, and more. They also sell coffee, frapas, cold drinks, etc. It was awesome!!! I got a 厦门 tshirt and a phone case.

Cool new graffiti 
My new phone case

Today was fun and chill and I had NO HOMEWORK!!!!



七月十三号
July 13, 2016

七月十三号

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Maritime Silk Road Museum 
Today, July 12, all of the 32 NSLI-Y 厦门 participants traveled to 泉州, an ancient city that was part of the maritime Silk Road. Our first stop was at the QuanZhou Maritime Museum. Walking into the exhibits was breathtaking with multiple real ruins displayed as well as replicas. Also because of the breeze coming from the air conditioning machines. Skylar and I have decided that next we must visit the Chinese Museum of Air Conditioners because we always tend to huddle around them when we see them.

Skylar and I sitting in front of a boat replica 
The Cross-Culture Exhibit was very impressive. What impressed me the most was that 泉州 is the only city where Hindu ruins were found. These ruins included temples and altars that have very distinct carvings on them that attracted many tourists and experts. Hinduism was a very prominent religion in China which was first introduced by immigrating Indians in the 13th century. This suggests that there was a large Hindu community in the Fujian province. This was very surprising to me because Eastern China is known for its                                                                                     very Buddhist and Muslim community.
Replica with the map of maritime silk road
The "World of Chinese Ship" exhibit was fabulous as well with its countless real boats in display. There was a raft: boat that was completely made out of an ox hide. Crazy right?!?!? Other part of the exhibit that I really liked was the miniature replicas of ship building with little plastic people figures. It reminded me of "Night of the Museum" with all the tiny people that come to life at night. I wonder if the figures in the Maritime Museum come to life when the building is closed...
After visiting most of the exhibits inside my group went outside to the Oyster Wall which is exactly what it sounds like; a wall made of oysters. Later 杨老师 told me that some houses around the area are built out of oysters as well.

For the rest of the day we traveled to three different temples. First we went to the 通淮关庙 (Tonghuai GuanYue Temple). It was stunningly beautiful and was built by the third student of Muhammad. Sadly, most of it was destroyed during Son and Yuan dynasty because of the war. We also went to another temple where a “superhero” type figure was worshipped by three different religions including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Toaism. People would come to and pray, light incense, leave gifts, and feed the gods food.
Sorry, there are no actual pictures of the inside of the temple because it is against the rules. There was actually a sign that said "No photographing" haha

Second temple we went to. Look at those dragons 
Maddie and I with our new friend :)
The last temple was my favorite because of its extraordinary architecture and history. The 开元寺 (Kaiyuan Temple) is a Buddhist temple. Although it is formally known as a Hindu-Buddhist temple, the main hall shows off the main Buddha, Vairocana Buddha. Built in the second year of Chuigong Reign, Tang Dynasty (686), the two towers located on the East and West of the temple grounds showed off their phenomenal structure reflecting early Ming Dynasty architecture. The East, regarded as Zhenguo Pagoda, was built in the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1238-1250).  It’s solid, octagonal wooden structure draws the attention of many. The 16 Buddhist figures carved into the wood from top to bottom is jaw dropping. The West tower, called Renshou Pagoda, was built during the same time period as the East tower. These two towers are, to this day, the tallest twin towers in China, reaching 45.06 meters high. Also fun fact: there was a tree in the temple that was 800 years old!!!!

One of the two towers 
Main temple building
Sky and I
All in all, today was a success in my opinion. I loved being able to learn more about the history of China and the city I will be staying in for the next five weeks.
泉州
July 12, 2016

泉州

Monday, July 11, 2016

View from the boys dorm hallway
After a regular morning schedule, we took an hour bus ride to 厦门外国语学校 (Xiamen Foreign Language School). It was crazy, their school life is so much different than ours. For example, almost every middle and high student lives on a school campus, sort of like a boarding school that is close to home. Even my teacher, 杨老师, went to a boarding school type middle school. I could not imagine that; being 11-12 years old and being put in that type of environment. 杨老师 said that she used to go into the bathroom and cry when things were too                                                                                    overwhelming or she missed her parents. 

At 厦门外国语学校 the students focus on studying foreign languages, given the name of the school. Almost all the students study English but if you studied another language in middle school you could take a high school examination and be put in a Japanese, German, Spanish, or French.
Building to the right = boys dorm
When we first arrived at 厦门外国语学校 we sat in a conference type lounge area while the president of the high school welcomed us. After that individual students talked about their experience in that school. Afterwards, each team was assigned one 厦门外国语 student who gave us a quick tour of the school for 25 minutes. Our "tour guide" was super smart and completely fluent in English. But her passion was in Japanese but she was not in any Japanese classes at 厦门外国语学校 so she studied independently. She thrived so much that was able to pass the examination and this following school year will take a formal Japanese class. She said she wishes to major in Japanese studies in college. 

The first stop on our mini tour was the boys dorm building. 6 guys share 1 room! And the rooms are not the big. We could not go into the rooms but we were able to walk inside the building. Also the guys dormitory has balconies while the girls dorms do not. The school greatly frowns upon using technology for anything other than school and education; therefore, there is no electricity in the dorm rooms. In order to charge your phones, one must lock it up in a small cupboard like box and plug it in. 

Typical classroom
Next she showed us the classrooms. Unlike Americans classes at 厦门外国语学校 the students are assigned a single classroom to stay in all day. They stay in the same seats all day while a new teacher comes in to teach class. I don't know if I could sit in the same place all day. On average, each class has a minimum of 30 students! In my schools if there are 30 students then the administration makes a new class. Also the rooms are assigned to students based on their academics. For example, for seniors there are 15 classrooms. Classroom 1 is dedicated to the highest preforming students in the arts and humanities field while classroom 15 is assigned the the highest preforming science students. Then classrooms 2 and 14 go to the next highest preforming students and so forth. There are also certain classrooms and locations around the campus that are dedicated for students to study for the 高考 (gao kao/ college examination).

Study area for 高考 preparation 
Fun fact: students cannot use the internet in the school, they cannot even bring laptops with them to school. The only time they can use the internet in on their permanent computers that are in the hallway.

Next we walked around campus and saw its beauty and ended up at the Confucius statue. If you do not already know, Confucius is a philosopher whose views have dramatically shaped Chinese and even American culture throughout the years. He was born on September 28, 551 BCE in a poor family but built himself up and eventually had over 3000 followers. It is said that if you bow and wish at the Confucius statue, you will receive a high 高考 score.  
Bad translations are so funny
After touring the campus we joined their orientation program that was being held today as well. They were recruiting new students to apply for 厦门外国语学校. First they introduced us to the crowd then we had a quick "talent show" type performance. A few of the NSLI-Y students sung "Viva la Vida" while another participant, Rachael, played the guitar. Next 2 girls, Joy and Samara, danced a modern dance. Following them was my favorite. Maddie, Skylar, and I invited Chinese students to come to the stage to dance to a very hip and popular song in China, 小苹果 (xiao ping guo/ small apple). It was so much fun because half way through the song all the NSLI-Y students joined us on stage to sing and dance which encouraged more Chinese students to come on stage. 

After dancing and having fun we played a few games with the Chinese students which was fun but sometimes confusing. Following that we went outside and took a group picture with the 厦门外购与学校 students in front of the Confucius statue. I would post it but they haven't sent it to me yet. Check my page named "Pictures from the Journey" to see it later. We had a few minutes to chat with the students which was really fun, we even exchange WeChat usernames. 

We then hopped on the bus for an hour long ride back to 厦门 which during the entire ride I thought I was going to pee my pants. We finally made it back to campus but we didn't go back to our dorms, we actually went outside of campus!!!! We went across the street to a shopping/ food court area where we all were given 100 元 to spend around the mall for dinner. I wasn't too hungry so I ate at KFC. It was fun having American food again. I then got chocolate bubble tea which I would highly recommend. Just don't drink all the bubbles at once like I did because it is so sweet and too much for your stomach. I found a makeup/ convince store where a bunch of us bought nail polish and makeup for super cheap. After shopping I walked around the mall with Skylar. He was dedicated to win the "claw" game that are in the mall arcades. But after spending 20 元 he was out of coins and still did not succeed in getting a teddy bear holding a duck. 

Walking to the shopping center



All in all, it was a very fun but tiring day. Today we are going to 泉州, an ancient city near us. I'm excited but mostly because that means we won't have classes!!!




Visiting 厦门外购与学校
July 11, 2016

Visiting 厦门外购与学校

Sunday, July 10, 2016

One week done, 5 more to go.

They also threw in a surprise: classes every single day. Yes that's right, Sunday through Sunday. It's crazy, this program is so laid out with every single minute scheduled that it is starting to get boring really quick. People are getting annoyed and frustrated really easily because they are not used to this strick of a schedule. Everyday we have Chinese class from 9-12 which is followed by an hour and a half for lunch and leisure time which almost everyone used to study for a quiz or nap. Next is Dr. Chen's culture lesson. So far we have been talking about Confucianism but today we started actually talking about Chinese culture. Following that is my favorite, interest groups. Today started new interest groups, Chinese western dancing but our teacher wasn't here today so we sung, very off key, a Chinese song instead. Then my least favorite, tutoring. All the other kids, in higher levels, love tutor time because they can talk to the tutors I'm Chinese but I don't know enough to carry on a conversation, yet. 

After classes and dinner we all went to a piano concert at one of 厦门大学 (Xiamen) building. It was a beautiful stadium. The concert was endless. The man, who was part of the first orchestra to tour China, played 3 beautiful songs before intermission. After the 10 minute intermission, he played another set that seemed like it would never last. It sounded beautiful but my only request would be to shorten the program.

Skylar, me, and Merrick
The piano hall 
During intermission 
Today was another normal day except we had our first community service activity: picking up trash around 厦门大学 campus. It was actually fun because they made it into a competition. During our trip, they encourage us to "strive for excellence". By using a point system they create competitions to hype us up. Then at the end of every week, they announce the "team of the week" with the most points. And guess what the prize is? TO LEAVE CAMPUS AND GO SHOPPING!!! Orange Team ( 橙队 ) came in second (by 3 points) last week but since there was a big typhoon that was going to hit Xiamen that night, the winning group (team 3) is going shopping this Friday with the next winning team, which will hopefully be us.

Anyways back to our Green Clean Up. We didn't collect the most amount of trash so we didn't get points but we didn't see a lady collecting water bottles to earn money so we gave her all of the water bottles that we had found, which was more than a trash bag full. It was amazing helping someone else out. I guess it is true when they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Spotted cat (on top) is the pregnant one
After clean up we had dinner which was nothing special except now, on weekends, we can go downstairs to the forbidden part of the cafeteria and get "make your own noodles" which taste heavenly. Once dinner was over, my favorite teacher, 杨老师, fed the wild cats with me. She had some left over fish and chicken that she gave them. Apparently she is not only fluent in Chinese and English, but also Cat. Who knew?!?! She would call out "meowwww" and all the cats would huddle around her waiting for food. I learned that one of the wild cats is pregnant and will most likely give birth while we are still here. Can't wait!!!



One week in...
July 10, 2016

One week in...

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Today was our first actually day in the program. That translates into, classes, classes, classes ALL day long. Starting at 8 am we had breakfast, then directly after that we headed to our Chinese language classes. Since I am in intermediate 1, I am with Yang Lao Shi but other students have different teachers. We had class from 9-10:30. Class was not as bad as I thought it would be, I actually remember a lot more than I thought I did. 

Since it was our first day, we also had orientation. After classes we went to the building next door for orientation with the Xiamen University president. On the walk over I learned that Chinese people don't use umbrellas for rain. Although many people think they do, they actually use them to shield themselves from the downpour of cicada pee that falls constantly from the trees. I am not exaggerating, you can literally see it falling from the trees in front of you. Yesterday I had thought it was rain but no my teacher confirmed that it is 100% cicada pee hitting my head. Lovely right? Anyways after running for my life away from the trees and into the comfort of a building, we had orientation. It was pretty boring since the lady was only speaking in Chinese, really fast Chinese. But we did receive our local phones for program use only. They aren't anything special. Just think, if I traveled back in time to the 1800 and had this phone, I'd be popular. It's one of those phones with teeny tiny screens and the keyboard along the number board. We only picked our interest groups at orientation. These are "classes" that we sign up for every week that we are interested in. For example there is Chinese calligraphy, folk dancing, Chinese instrument, paper cutting, and more. I would tell you what I signed up for but I don't remember; but you'll find out when I write about it later. 

After orientation was lunch. Usually I don't really look forward to eating because the food isn't my favorite but I was surprised today. I had rice, chicken, cauliflower, tofu, and noddles. It was delicious. My friends and I gave it an 8 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best lunch we had ever had and 1 being the worst. 

Guess what we did after lunch, more classes. This time it was culture class where Dr. Chen, the director of this program, lectures about Chinese culture and geography and so forth. It was interesting but I am not excited for his everyday quizzes that we will have. 

After Culture Class we returned back to language class for an hour which was followed by tutoring with local students. It was fun talking to them in my broken Chinese and them trying to respond in their broken English.

Sorry, no pictures today :(
Classes have begun
July 05, 2016

Classes have begun

Monday, July 4, 2016





Today was our most adventurous day so far. It was also the hottest day. Today, to celebrate the 4th of July, we went sightseeing all over Xiamen. Our wake up time was 8:00 am which clearly did not give me enough sleep. We had breakfast at the University cafeteria which is very odd. The first level is apparently forbidden to us for some unknown reason; therefore, we always eat on the second floor. Which would been fine if the food was the same. On the second floor it is more "Americanized" food, which generally I would be very happy with, except their version of American food is not really American food. Downstairs they have tons of "cha shao bao" and upstairs they had fried fish and questionable eggs and potatoes. But they did have this fried bread things that I should know the same of but I don't. So for breakfast today I stuck to the bread.

After breakfast we hopped onto our bus again and drove to this ancient Buddhist temple that dates back to the 800's. It was stunning. The architecture is so unique and incorporates Chinese characters into the walls. But, it involved A LOT of walking in the hot and humid air. At first I thought, "this isn't too bad" but then you round the corner to see an endless flight of stairs that seem to touch the sky. Each couple flight of stairs led to another temple of some sort. Sometimes it would be small, sometimes it would be massive. At the top was the prettiest view I have seen so far. It was the perfect panoramic view of Xiamen, including mountains in the distance and skyscrapers creating an epic cityscape. Once we took our photos we hurried off the rock because boy was it hot up there. Then we were faced with the impossible task of going back down all the stairs we had just climbed. And the stairs weren't evenly spaced and level like they are back home, they are crooked and jagged. But do not fear, all 32 of us survived.

After climbing through old temples we gladly got onto the air conditioned bus. Our next stop was an old, unused war fortress which was about a 15 minute bus ride away. It wasn't as interesting as the temples but by that time I think our bodies had adapted to the insane heat because it didn't feel as hot even though we were out in the open. So that's an improvement.
Me and Catherine eating pear ice cream

We didn't stay at the battle fortress for long. After about an hour we got back onto the bus and headed to lunch. This time I claimed the front seat in the second level of the bus. This had a perfect view of the road through the bubble like window that surrounded us. Lunch was interesting meaning it was mostly seafood. But mom you would be proud of me because I tried squid. And no, the squid was not like calamari, it was a full squid with tentacles at the end. For those who don't believe that I would do something crazy like that, here is a picture.



 After eating a little bit of squid and mostly rice we headed to the founded of Xiamen University's hometown which was on the continent which meant we went across the bridge and off the island. We went to a "Turtle National Park" which makes no sense to me because there were no turtles whatsoever. But it was pretty and since it was right by the ocean there was a fantastic breeze. After we spent some time in the park we had 45 minutes to do some street shopping. Even though I didn't buy anything I did help my friend Catherine bargain a fan down to 8 RMB instead of 15.
Turtle Park
Cool architecture in the Turtle Park



After shopping we headed to dinner which again was mostly seafood but it was okay. Because a majority of our day was spent in the bus, we had a lot of time to talk to one another. For example we came up with 3 necessary things you must know how to say in Chinese to survive in;

 1) Crank up the AC
2)Where is the real toilet (rather than the holes in the ground)
3) I don't eat seafood

 Know these 3 phases and you're good to go. We also got to observe Chinese driving with has virtually no rules what so ever. Our bus driver would tailgate the car in front of us to the extent that we thought we would hit it. Also I only saw one driver us his turn signal and he turned on the left blinker but changed lanes to the right. Also the pedestrians walk anywhere and everywhere, no matter if a bus going 35 mph is blaring towards them. And don't even get my started on the bikers and motorcyclists. It's like they close their eyes when they drive and hope for the best. They drive the opposite way in traffic and drive straight through an intersection regardless of the stop light. Some crazy things happen in China.
Happy 4th of July!
July 04, 2016

Happy 4th of July!

Sunday, July 3, 2016







The first day we were at the Newark Hilton hotel was dedicated to PDO (pre-departure orientation). We went over all the rules and logics as well as take another placement test. During orientation we were also split up based on the color paper in our folder that we received. I got pink, but my team insisted on naming ourselves the "Orange Team" because 2 of our group members like oranges. My team consists of 2 girls, Sydney and Catherine, and 3 boys, Skylar, Merrick, and another Skyelar. I really like the people in my group which is good because we are together all the time. We also had a little competition between the 5 groups (each consisting of 6-7 people). We had to act out a certain word to each other and the last person had to say the word in Chinese. Our group, Team Orange, got the fastest time which gave us the prize of the latest departure time. So the next day, we had to be down in the lobby at 8:10 compared to the losing group who had to be on the airport shuttle at 6:50. After we got our breakfast from Starbucks, we took the 5 minute shuttle ride to Newark International Airport. We had our own section in "group checkin" where all the other groups were waiting for our arrival. We all checked in our bags and went through security. At first there were no problems in security but a couple people had their bags searched which made the process a little long. We arrived at our gate 20 minutes before boarding started. Most everyone, including myself, bought snacks and water bottles for the plane ride which would last 13 whole hours. I was in boarding group 4 of 5 so I got on the plane before many other participants. I was placed in row 37 E, in between a Chinese couple. Luckily another kid in my program wanted to practice his Chinese with people and switched seats with me. Then I was sitting with 2 other girls from NSLI-Y, Catherine and Cami. We binge watched tons of movies and tried sleeping on each other's shoulders. Unlike most people, I was able to sleep on the plane for the first half of the trip. The second half of the flight to we very bumpy which made my stomach upset, or maybe that was the food. Anyways, I survived that long, brutal flight. 
Once we arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport we got all of our luggage and went through customs which was a little stressful for me because I was worried they would ask me a bunch of questions in Chinese that I wouldn't know how to answer, but thankfully they didn't. We had planned and had a scheduled flight for 6:00pm China time which gave us a 4 hour layover. However, when we tried to check in for our domestic flight we learned that it had been canceled because of thunderstorms. So while our chaperones tried to figure everything out and schedule us all another flight, we waited on the dirty but clean looking airport tiled floor surrounding our luggage. Chinese natives walked by staring at us and sometimes taking pictures. Around waiting 6 hours, our chaperones made it to the front of the extremely long line of angry travelers and fought for us to be put on a flight A$AP to Xiamen. But all the Xiamen flights had been canceled until the next day (Sunday, July 3). So as they collected all of our passports and booked us for another flight the next morning, we scavenged the airport for decently priced and decently tasting food. I ate at Star Restaurant and had dumpling soup for dinner (only 10 RMB). Then we waited some more and more and more until finally our chaperones finished booking us all for flight #9535 which would leave the next morning from Shanghai Hongjiao airport. If you were paying attention you would notice that our flight from Newark arrived in Shanghai Pudong Airport and I just said that we were flying out of Shanghai Hongjiao airport. So to answer you question, we took a bus to the other airport. It costs an extra 1500 RMB and an hour and a half later we were in the airport hotel. Because it was so last minute and there are so many of us, some people got smoking rooms. The hallway outside of my room was filled with the smell of smoke but my room was normal smelling. I passed out the minute we entered the room on a tiny bed that wasn't too comfortable. 
Our plane to 厦门
We got our wake up call at 3:45am even though it was supposed to come at 4:00am. I changed slowly, still half asleep, brushed my teeth and dragged my luggage down to the lobby. We loaded the bus, hopped into our seats just to have to wait longer because the bus' licenses plates only permitted it to drive from 5:00am to midnight. So we waited till 5 and then we drove off the lot. After a 15 minute drive we were at the airport. The only word I know that describes it is crowded. It took us a while to figure out where "check in" was located but once we did we realized how long the line was. There was no way we could get checked in, go through security, and find out gate in an hour and a half. So Dr. Chen (the director) talked to the security guards who were very nice and allowed us to go into the "priority" checking whose lines were practically empty. But it still took time to check in 30 plus students who have limited Chinese abilities. I went to row 3, which was a mistake. Apparently it was half broken but they still tried to check me in. I assume they tried to till me it might take a while but it went in one ear and out the other. So I stood there waiting while everyone around me was being checked in super fast. Finally Dr. Chen came over and told me to go to another line. After that I was checked in in less than 5 minutes. I went through security being one of the last kids in line. They checked my bag over and over looking for something the size of a rectangle. They torn it apart but still could not find what they were looking for. After the 3rd scan they realized it was just the binding of my photo book. After that I ran to our gate and was one of the last people onto the tram that took us to the airplane. It was awesome to walk onto the airplane via stairs instead of a runway styled entry. Once we got there we realized we had no chaperones and not all the students were there. They must of been held back in check in or security. So one of the girls called the chaperon and told them. They instructed us to still get on the plane. A few minutes later one of our chaperones arrived and told us that the other chaperones and participants would be on another flight later that afternoon and would meet us at Xiamen University when they get there. The flight felt so quick compared to the 13 hour flight we had taken the day before. We got a bread roll and chocolate bar and of course a drink on the plane. 


We landed in Xiamen around 8:30am. Xiamen is not what I expected it to be. It is filled with palm trees and makes me feel like I am not in China, but in Hawaii. The only thing different is the temperature. It is humid! Very very humid. You stand in the shade and the sun and there is no difference because it is not hot, but only humid. We walked for what felt like forever to the opposite side of the parking lot to a double decker bus that would take us to Xiamen University.
厦门大学
Once at the University, guess what we did? More walking. We marched through tons of tourists who stared, and we weaved through cars that seemed not to be worried that there was a high possibility they would hit us. Through the buzz of cicada and our dripping sweat, we could barely hear and see each other, but somehow we made it to the international dorms. Thank the Lord there was an elevator but you still had to climb 2 flights of stairs to get to it because the lowest level of the dorms is a restaurant. So I dragged my luggage up the stairs and nearly cried when I felt the AC hit my face. After that they collected our passports and we picked our roommates. I am now rooming with Sydney Chin. We got our room key and headed up to room #510 to rest and eat (our lunch was going to be delivered to our room). At first we weren't too thrilled with the room arrangement but once we kicked the AC up to full blast, cleaned the room with wipes, and unpacked, the room felt nice and cozy. 
Wild kitty cat

At 2:00pm we had an "optional" but strongly suggested "meet and greet" with our classroom TA's. I talked with a freshmen college student named Lexie (of course that was her American name, but I have no clue what her Chinese name is). Her English was very good and she was very nice to me by talking slowly so I could somewhat understand. After talking for a while, a couple of us played cards games like Crazy 8's, BS, and ERS. After 3 and a half hours of struggling to communicated and playing thousands of rounds of card games, we went to dinner at the University Cafeteria. I had rice, chicken, and veggies. After dinner we were free to wander and tour the University. Three of us decided to go with Lexie to see the infamous graffiti tunnel. On our way to the tunnel we stopped to pet a stray cat and dog, but do not worry, many people were touching them so I was not the only one. It was about a 2 minute walk from our dorm, but the tunnel seemed to be endless. Maybe it was the fact that they were walking so slow, but I felt like we were walking for hours and hours. We didn't even make it to the end of the tunnel because we got to tired and decided to head back to our dorms. When we made it to dorms I headed straight for my room, particularly aiming for my bed. That is where I am: in bed with legs that feel like spaghetti. It's like I just ran a cross country race. Dr. Chen was right when he warned us to get in shape for this trip. :)




China China China
July 03, 2016

China China China