Dear blog,
Thursday was a pretty eventful day. The rest of the gang had tons of laughs at the expense of Zach and myself after we messed up our dialogue during Chinese class. We went to hear more presentations from the professors that we will be working with this summer. Although I might seem biased, my professor definitely had a very funny presentation. I think Tom (my colleague from Rochester) and I will have fun in the lab this summer. We went to the pearl market after that and bought stuff for folks back in the U.S. I also bought a couple polo shirts and a backpack (possible fakes?). Tom, Xu, and I went back to our apartment while the rest decided to go to a nightclub. Apparently we can bargain on taxi fare. But I didn't know that and almost made an ass of myself. Off to language class again...
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Week 1 adventures
Sorry for the lack of updates since last week. PKU wouldn't give us internet access until we were officially registered with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. So here's a summary of the last 5 days:
Fri/Sat: I didn't particularly care for the flight from Detroit. A flight attendant bitched at me for walking around the plane after using the lavatory. I think the seat belt sign was on 75% of the flight. My feet swelled pretty badly during the flight. I met a professor from E. Tenn. State (30 minutes from my house) taking a group to another university in Beijing. It was cool talking to him. Customs in Beijing is nonexistent.
Sun: We went to the Forbidden City that afternoon. It was 95 degrees (record high) and it was quite miserable. Our tour guide showed us all the important places and showed us how the emperors lived. There's quite a bit to look at in that place. We ate dinner and watched the military conduct the nightly lowering of the flag at Tienanmen Sq. That day was fun!
Mon: We had a Chinese lesson and a cultural lesson that afternoon. My Chinese is terrible. We met the students from PKU that are traveling to Michigan next month to study there after their semester ends in Beijing.
Tues: More Chinese and culture lessons. We met out professors for lunch that afternoon. Went to a pizza place that evening and had a screwdriver. I wasn't able to drink very much of it before my face turned red. My friends finished most of it for me. We also learned how to use the bus to get to/from campus to the apartments.
Wed: More Chinese and culture lessons. The professors presented their current research for us at lunch. We went to a shopping ctr. down the street from the chem building. We returned to campus for dinner. We had to wait 30 min for a bus to take us back to the apartment.
Pictures should be posted sometime soon. We will be going to Great Wall Sunday and visiting the terra cotta soldiers at Xi'an next weekend.
Fri/Sat: I didn't particularly care for the flight from Detroit. A flight attendant bitched at me for walking around the plane after using the lavatory. I think the seat belt sign was on 75% of the flight. My feet swelled pretty badly during the flight. I met a professor from E. Tenn. State (30 minutes from my house) taking a group to another university in Beijing. It was cool talking to him. Customs in Beijing is nonexistent.
Sun: We went to the Forbidden City that afternoon. It was 95 degrees (record high) and it was quite miserable. Our tour guide showed us all the important places and showed us how the emperors lived. There's quite a bit to look at in that place. We ate dinner and watched the military conduct the nightly lowering of the flag at Tienanmen Sq. That day was fun!
Mon: We had a Chinese lesson and a cultural lesson that afternoon. My Chinese is terrible. We met the students from PKU that are traveling to Michigan next month to study there after their semester ends in Beijing.
Tues: More Chinese and culture lessons. We met out professors for lunch that afternoon. Went to a pizza place that evening and had a screwdriver. I wasn't able to drink very much of it before my face turned red. My friends finished most of it for me. We also learned how to use the bus to get to/from campus to the apartments.
Wed: More Chinese and culture lessons. The professors presented their current research for us at lunch. We went to a shopping ctr. down the street from the chem building. We returned to campus for dinner. We had to wait 30 min for a bus to take us back to the apartment.
Pictures should be posted sometime soon. We will be going to Great Wall Sunday and visiting the terra cotta soldiers at Xi'an next weekend.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday update
Sorry for the lack of updates. We can't get internet access at the apartment until we complete registration with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. It should be resolved this evening. I will post another update once that is resolved...
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