Ok sooooo it is really only my second day, but I have sooo much to say already.
The flight was really long. We were in the air for somewhere between 13 and 14 hours, but I sat next to a girl that is in the TBC program so we talked a bit.
Yesterday we had our first round of orientation and met our host students. I'm not really sure if we have scheduled time with them or not, but my host student's english name is Black (yes he thinks its kinda ridiculous, but his teacher picked it out for him.) and no I can not even begin to try and spell his Chinese name. He showed me and three girls around the campus and through a little bit of the surrounding area. He speaks really good English. Apparently in China in order to get into a University you have to take an exam like the SAT, but there is an English part attached to it and you have to pass a certain level to even be considered. Before you enter a University you have to take another exam and it chooses what field of study you are going to be in. Black is a finance major and he loves it now. It's really weird to think of how much American students change their majors, but for Chinese students hopefully you like what is chosen for you. Also, Chinese students are obsessed with studying, even when they go home for breaks all they do is study. He knew more about the financial crisis than me so that made me feel like a really dumb American, you know besides the fact that he is speaking my language fluently and I can barely say hi in his. Apparently, Chinese students never go out or anything because its soo competitive that everyone just studies. Basically every time I would ask a question of why things were like this he would just say there are too many people in China. In Beijing alone there are 30 million people, which is insane.
The city is huge, its not like American cities where everything is stacked really high in skyscrapers, its more spread out. The air does kinda suck I guess the best way to explain it would be like if you are walking down a street and a city bus passes you and you inhale that exhaust. I keep waiting for that like bus to pass and take in the fresh air, but it just doesn't come. I figure I'll get used to it, some Chinese walk around with surgical masks so they don't breathe it in as much.
The food is crazy, surprisingly I am actually eating and I try everything that comes to the table. It's kinda weird too because you order food for the table and everyone just eats out of the bowls in the center and pass it around on a lazy susan. Andy was definitely right, just don't ask what you are eating until after you have tasted it. I think the craziest thing I have eaten so far is pig ear, I've also had goat. (If you know me well, you are probably really surprised by this). The goat was like chicken and the pig ear....well it looked like bacon kinda but in a skinny outline of an ear. It was really crunchy aka eating through the cartilage, not my cup of tea, but it is one of Black's favorites and I am determined to try everything even though I am seriously missing any form of potato right now. Also I am becoming quite the little pro with chop sticks even though I still think it is kinda dumb to eat with them because everyone, including Chinese people, hover over their food when they eat.
I live in an apartment style dorm. It looks kinda like a cheap hotel room. My bed is hard as a rock which I actually kinda like and am getting used to and is helping my back pain a lot. The bathroom is really tiny and its not like there is a shower you just use the whole bathroom as the shower and the drain is in the middle. You have to take out the toilet paper and trashcan before you shower. We're treated like royalty though. The Chinese students sleep five or six to a room, basically the size of a regular American dorm room with three sets of bunk beds. UIBE has the largest female dormitory in all of Asia, housing 10,000 women. And all the Chinese students have to travel across campus to a showering area. I kinda feel really bad that we are treated so well.
Ok welllllll I am sick of typing and we're watching Bolt in the internet lounge before we go to Tia'men Square today and go iceskating on a lake.....which Dylan, Cam, Erin and I did last night on our way to the bar ha but thats for a later time.
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!
ps my internet isn't hooking up correctly and I can only really get on to Gmail, my blog, and thats about it soooo skype, ichat, and facebook will have to wait -- sorry.
