Class Time and Pizza Hut

My Chinese classes have officially started with today being the first day. It seems like it will be quite intense. We cover two lessons per week and have a dictation every class. I can tell that these 3 hours of Chinese class will be pretty tiring, but I am sure my Chinese will be getting better quite soon. There are only five students in my class so we get plenty of attention. Another nice thing is that I have already studied quite a few of our vocab words so not everything is completely new. I already spent about three hours today doing homework, and this was only the first day! 

Since I last wrote quite a few things have happened here. First of all, I now am living with my Chinese roommate. Her English name is Sara and she is really nice. Her English is also really, really good. Everyone in the program is paired with a Chinese student and it has been great to interact with all of them. For a bonding activity, our director held a dumpling making competition. It was a lot of fun, but I must admit that I am a horrible dumpling maker. Luckily the Chinese roommates knew what they were doing. Somehow we ended up in second place!  

It’s been really fun to walk around outside the campus with the Chinese students. They love showing us different stores to shop at and explaining the names of our favorite dishes.  

Speaking of food, I really feel that this trip is going to revolve around all the wonderful food I am eating. Every day my friends and I stop by different restaurants. Luckily most of the restaurants either have English on their menu or have pictures which we can point to. From beef noodles, to dumplings, to eggplant there is always something new to try. I’m also falling in love with milk tea. Thus far the caramel flavored one has been my favorite. 

I did finally get a cell phone and it’s great to be somewhat connected again. I ended up getting another HTC phone that is very similar to the phone I have at home. It is great because it is unlocked so I can pretty much use it anywhere in the world. Even better, I got it at Walmart! Walmart in China is so much cooler than in America. First of all its three floors and its reputation is much higher with its goods being considered pretty good quality. 

Tonight was one of my friend’s birthdays and in true American fashion we decided to go to Pizza Hut for dinner. We were lucky to fit our group of 15 into one corner of the restaurant, and on Valentine’s Day no less. It was definitely a great way to relax after our first day back at school! Cheese is something that is not really part of the Chinese diet. It’s a real treat to have it one in a while. When we sang Happy Birthday I think the entire restaurant must have been looking at us.

On a side note, the cold outside is continuing and it even snowed for a bit today. One of my favorite purchases thus far has definitely been my big fluffy earmuffs. They are a great way to keep warm while walking around. My friend Madison and I have matching pairs!

This really is a great group of students and I can already tell this is going to continue being a great semester. Hopefully the actual studying part of this study abroad won’t consume all of our time. There is just so much to see!