Final Post

I promised one more post… here it is!

I'm back in America now, and am slowly adjusting to the time change and to the realization that buying eight stuffed pandas in the Beijing International Airport may not have been a great use of my last 300 kuai.  I'm gearing up for next semester and seeing all of my friends from home.  I'm eating a lot of pancakes.

As far as summers go, this one has been a pretty great one.  The pre-trip to Shanghai/Suzhou/Hangzhou was really cool in a touristy sense, and I also really enjoyed going to the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Olympic square, and other sites.  The Yuxian weekend was fascinating, if a little sketchy on the plumbing front, and overall I really feel like I've "done" China. 

But the main point of studying in Beijing wasn't to take jumping pictures outside the Lama Temple.  I signed up for it knowing that a lot of the academic program would be intense and, quite frankly, not fun.

This proved pretty true.  I mean, our teachers were great, the syllabus was really well-constructed, and my classmates were for the most part amazing.  But it's hard to sugar-coat daily 70-word vocab quizzes, and I spent a lot of time this summer more than a little stressed out.

However, after eight weeks of that, I'm glad I soldiered through.  My Mandarin—spoken, written, read—has improved five-fold.  I feel competent, if not fluent, and my new skills gave me a chance to interact with a lot of Beijingers outside of the classroom.  Without the knowledge and confidence that my classes gave me, I never would have been able to do cool independent projects like fencing or flute, and I wouldn't have had such a great relationship with Sunny, who's so far been my favorite roommate I've had in college.

So, overall, I'm really pleased with the way this summer turned out.  And although I'm not sure I agree with the cliché that Studying Abroad Changes Your Life (especially because most of the people I know who tout this have spent a semester binge-drinking in Europe), I can definitely say that China was a great experience.

I hope you've all enjoyed this blog!  As a parting gift, some resources:

CET, the company that arranged the program in Beijing:

http://www.cetacademicprograms.com/

 

Details of the program on the UNC website:

http://studyabroad.unc.edu/programs.cfm?pk=1049

 

The Phillips Ambassadors program that funded my trip:

http://studyabroad.unc.edu/phillips/index.cfm

 

My best photos from the summer:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047933&id=1398780206&l=5f000d5614

 

Zai jian! (See you later!)

Day Sixty-Nine

Hooters last night was, well, a hoot.  The waitresses did a dance routine in the middle of dinner that involved sparkly hats.

Short entry now; I'm leaving for the airport in two hours and flying out of China in five.  The next (last) post I make I will be able to do from (legally) unblocked blogger!

Days Sixty-Seven and Sixty-Eight

Days Sixty-Seven and Sixty-Eight:

 

Yesterday was pretty busy, and I've also caught the 300-level cold (so named because it's already taken down Nate, Brandon, and Chris) so I didn't update.

That morning, I got up kind of late.  The night before, a group of us had gone out to Houhai to eat expensive and tasteless pizza and then when we returned to CET, we suddenly realized that we could TALK IN ENGLISH.  So what started out with hanging out on the steps turned into a two-hour discussion.  Although I stand with what I've said before—the language pledge never made me feel as if I couldn't communicate with my friends—being able to speak our native language certainly made things a lot easier.  In the 48 hours or so since the English ban was released, I feel like I've gotten to know some of the CET students better than I have the rest of the summer! 

Although the best part about not having to 24-7 speak Chinese is definitely being able to gossip loudly about people on the subway.  ("Homeboy to your right is wearing a great Chinglish t-shirt.  Check it out!)

I still spoke a lot of Chinese Saturday because I hung out with Sunny most of the day.  I helped her move all of her stuff back home and then the two of us went out to lunch at this really cool restaurant that had sofas instead of seats.  They also had miraculously good food; I got a club sandwich and Sunny, who was a lot less worried about using her mom's credit card on our meal, ordered a steak.

Afterward, we got our nails done for 20 kuai (almost three dollars) each and took the bus back to CET, where we planned to do a bookstore/movie outing with some friends.

Unfortunately, before we could do that, we somehow all got roped into bringing Jimmy's stuff back to his apartment and then were force-fed fruit and sketchy-looking energy drink that I think contained amphetamines by his tiny mother.  Eventually we disentangled ourselves and rushed off to Xi'dan to go see "Up" (Chinese name: "The Flying House Floats Away").

It was in 3-D and I know you've all probably seen it already but it was really great.  Highly recommend.  Worth the fifty kuai of a student ticket.

We ate dinner at a Chinese fast food place where Emily and I ordered the exact same dish but received very different looking plates.  We also did a bookstore run where I bought Peter Hessler's memoir "River Town" for the plane ride back.  It's about this guy in the Peace Corps who comes to the Sichuan Province to teach English and yes I did want to buy a book that did not relate to China but the selection was very limited and it was either this or Gossip Girl.

We had to say goodbye to Jimmy and Sunny last night after dinner; the shifu wouldn't even let them stand inside the doorway after they'd moved out!  Sad.

This morning, Emily, Brandon, Chris and I went to the zoo (again).  The pandas were pretty cute and somehow a litter of white kittens had gotten into their cage so we spent about ten minutes watching the tiny cats sniff the sleeping bears and then meow and run away.  We also saw wolves and gorillas and a monkey came very close to pooping on Brandon's head.  Fun times.

This afternoon, I went to fencing for the last time.  I fenced a couple of saberists that their coach had yelled at to suit up in foil gear to fence "the foreign auntie."  I told the coach that I would give him a call if I were ever in Beijing again and he told me when he comes to America he will come to North Carolina first.  Overall, fencing this summer's been a really good experience and I'm glad I was able to find a place to do it here.

I haven't started packing yet and probably won't until tomorrow; the gang has decided that on our last night in Beijing, we are going to eat at the Hooters at Sanlitun.

Day Sixty-Six

Day Sixty Six:

Today's CET commencement was the first graduation ceremony I've attended where I haven't been forced to hear—or play—Pomp and Circumstance.  A major plus.

After this morning's koushi (which went very well mostly because my randomly-selected topic turned out to be "Changes after the Open Door Policy" and not "China's Topography" or "Confucian Philosophy"), we all changed into the Chinese equivalent of "semi-formal."  For some people (me, Emily, most other girls), this meant wearing our qipaos, nice shoes, and doing our hair.  For other people (whose names may or may not rhyme with "Schmrandon"), this meant wearing a *nice* pair of jeans.

We ate "international-themed" food at a hotel buffet—some good stuff (sushi), some bad stuff (Irish lamb?), but mostly okay.  After some speeches from each of the classes that progressed in grammatical complexity, we received diplomas and then proceeded to take approximately one million photographs.

300 班, as a gift to our teachers, made t-shirts that say "jia you!" ("add oil (to the fire)!"—it's something you shout at basketball games).  Since Nate, Chris, and I had unfair help in the planning process, they are all Carolina blue.

Probably the most fun part of the afternoon was the countdown to English.  After we had reached "ling" (zero), the room erupted.  Even still it's a little hard to transition and I keep saying mangled half sentences that start out "Hey I was wondering if ni he wo de tongwu yao bu yao…"

Because Picasa has failed me (for the last time), here are a few shots from Photobucket:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/parmandiriel/IMG_2496_edited-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/parmandiriel/IMG_2538.jpg

Day Sixty-Five

Day Sixty-Five:

After my test today (which did not go too poorly), a group of us took the subway over to the Yehonggan (sp?) Lama Temple.  Although it was a lot like the places I visited pre-trip in Shanghai, Suzhou, etc, it was still very cool.  Apparently this place holds a Guiness World Record for the largest carving of a Buddha made out of a single tree.

We ate lunch at a very sketchy restaurant.  Although I was pretty sure I ordered pork in my noodles, all I could taste was garlic.

This evening, after an afternoon of not-quite preparing for my oral test tomorrow, I watched "Not Another Teen Movie" with Chris and his roommate Jimmy.  Which was a poor choice, not only because it was a terrible movie, but also because it was essentially a roller-coaster ride through American pop culture.  Jimmy's English is very good, but about every minute we'd have to explain the cultural significance of "The Token Black Guy," or "The Angry Football Coach."  The part that really confused Jimmy (and Sunny, when she showed up to watch the end) was the Prom scene.  They were both clueless as to why American high schools would hold such a bizarre, expensive function and why the Token Black Guy could dance so well.  Oh dear.

Afterward (still procrastinating my oral final), we watched a video of the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremonies, which was significantly easier for all of us to understand.  It was interesting, though—when we got to the part where the little girl lip synched the traditional song, I worked up the courage to ask Sunny what she thought about that.  (Remember the whole scandal?  They had some other kid pretend to sing because the real singer was supposed to not look "cute enough"?)  I usually stay away from politically-sensitive topics, mostly because Sunny has always said she hasn't been interested and because I don't want to seem like I'm imposing my views on her.  But this time I kind of wanted to know.  "So…do you know what happened?" I asked her.  "With the girl singing?" 

I don't know what I expected, but Sunny just laughed.  "Of course!" she said.  "Another child is on stage because the one singing is too ugly!  What is your question?"

 

Anyway, after tomorrow's oral test, no more Chinese class for, like, TWO WEEKS.

Shoutout

So today was really cool because I got four letters!  One from Allison in Chicago, one from May in New York, another from Jay back in Chapel Hill and one from Tim... well, he was biking through Canada when he sent it but there's no telling where he is right now. :)  

So a big thanks to you guys!

Day Sixty-Four

Day Sixty-Four:

 

If I do poorly on my Chinese final tomorrow, it is probably because my roommate spent the afternoon watching dubbed-over "Yonggan xin" (Braveheart).  I was too distracted by the dramatic music and weirdly-translated lines to focus properly on my vocab, which was much less interesting than what was happening on screen.  Every time I'd look down at my book, they'd start screaming "ZIIIIII YOUUUUUUUU" (you can guess/translate that yourself).  Bizarrely enough, the main character was voiced by someone who sounded just like my fencing coach here.

Not much else going on.  I went to Ito Yokado this afternoon to buy gifts for my teachers and I think the florist cheated me when I bought wrapping paper. 

Qi mo kao shi tomorrow!