Orientation in Beijing, Arrival in Xi'an

A lot has happened these last few days (almost a week, actually). Orientation started in Beijing. I arrived at the dorm at about noon, and came across the directors (Darren and Han Bing) and some of the students in the lobby. Darren is the coordinator for my program. Almost all the students were part of the Beijing program, which was being led by Han Bing.

We had lunch together in a Muslim restaurant, where one of the Beijing students, Jade, told me all about the Xi'an program (she had done this program last semester). Then we went to the airport to pick up the other students. There are seven students (including me) in the Xi'an program: Sean, Crystal, Chris, Joe, Patrick and Malcolm. There were a lot of students in the Beijing program, and I had trouble remembering names, although a lot of them seemed really interesting. We might get to see them again later.

That first night, I went out with some of the Beijing students. We ended up at a club called Propaganda, which is the same club that I went to my last night in Beijing the previous semester! It was weird being there without the SIT group.

We went through a lot of orientation talks, none of which are particular interesting to recount (however important they were). The Xi'an group got good pizza at Pyro Pizza (and a giant, warm gooey chocolate chip cookie with ice cream on top - I'm taking advantage of the free orientation food while I can). Crystal and I also went to the donut shop in the mall. I love that place.

We also went to the Great Wall. I was a little...meh, about it at first. I'd already gone twice (one of the times being only about two months ago). Still, it's not like I could skip. And I'm so glad I didn't! It was amazing. We took a van way outside of Beijing and stopped at a farmer's house, from which we hiked about an hour or two to the wall. Sure, it was freezing, snow everywhere, and my shoe ripped open midway (that was NOT fun) but it was amazing to see. I don't have photos unfortunately. Hiking up that hill with the SLR would have been a very bad idea - I fell over at least ten times on the way back. It was part of my descent strategy.

Then, we ate at the farmer's home and the food was so good! Green beans, mushrooms, donkey, beef, and lots of other yummy stuff. Also, tang yuan, which I recognized as being the same stuff that I made and ate for New Years (the little balls of...stuff with sugar inside). They also gave me a dry pair of clean socks, which was really nice. Mine had completely soaked through (what with the giant tear in my shoe...) and it was really cold.

That night (Saturday) we took a train to Xi'an. It was a hard sleeper, but honestly not too bad. I was in the middle bunk and slept fine. But I sleep on almost anything. And I really, really like sleeper trains, which kind of lull me to sleep.

We arrived in Xi'an on Sunday and checked into our dorm, which is actually a hotel. And it is very, very nice. I feel very fancy. There's heating! And my very own bathroom with it's own shower stall! Yay! I have the room to myself for about a week before my Chinese roommate moves in. As much as I enjoy the space and privacy, I can't wait until I meet my new roomie.

Our first day (Sunday continued) we saw the Wild Goose Pagoda and a fountain show with lights and, of course, epic music. For dinner, we had hotpot that was a little different from what I'm used to but still so very good. Lots of mushrooms. Love mushrooms.

Today, we had more orientation stuff (like goal setting: memorize tones more effectively, pick a capstone project that I am passionate about and will have fun doing, be prepared for senior year - among others). Then, we had lunch with our language teachers, who seem really nice. We went to a Yunnanese restaurant, which I was really excited about but unfortunately it did not have erkuai (nobody even knew what it was...Xi'an really is completely different from Yunnan). The teachers asked me, "你喜欢辣字吗?" (Do you like spicy food?). 我非常喜欢辣子。(I really like spicy food). So I was ordered a really hot bowl of noodles. It was so spicy and so good! I thought my mouth was going to burn off. Everyone kept saying my face was getting really red. Chris got the spicy noodles too and sweat started pouring down his face.

That's all for now. More stories, more adventures but I'm tired and classes start tomorrow. Just got my books and a new sim card a few minutes ago from Darren. Also, just got thin mints from Sean. Ahhh, I've missed girl scout cookies. Yummy.