First Day of Classes!

Today was the first day of classes! I felt just the way I did freshmen year at Wofford going to my first class- NERVOUS! My first class was supposed to be at 10:10pm, but they sent an updated schedule out last night and two of my classes were at the same time. So this morning I had to go to the CIEE office at 9:05 to straighten it out. Chandler (When he introduced himself he was like, "My American name is Chandler- YOU KNOW CHANDLER FROM FRIENDS.. HA HA!) brought me upstairs to the PKU adminstration office so he could explain to them what was going on. It was pretty cool because I understand almost everything they were saying. It's funny because when they talk to each other, they don't talk, they YELL. Sort of like some people in my family :). They ended up putting me in a higher listening class, which of course started today at 8am! When we left the administration office Chandler told me to go ahead and go to the class and explain to the teacher why I was late. Of course I was so nervous... walking to class all by myself on this huge campus, and I was late.

So I walk into my listening class, and try to explain to my laoshi (teacher) what had happened. Thankfully there was someone in there that spoke great Chinese so she eventually understood and told me to go sit down. I understood bits and pieces, but really was clueless as to what they were doing. All of the sudden I hear a bell- I look up at the clock and its 9:50- class is over. They use bells in China! It's just like Middle School and High School.

After my listening class I went straight to hanyu 汉语, which was downstairs. That class was actually pretty easy. I have it with Laura and Katie and we are all trying to move up. It was the first time any of us has ever actually understood everything the teacher was saying. Definitely should not be the case when I am in China.

When class was over we got lunch in our favorite cafeteria. Everybody has lunch between 12 and 1. So you can only imagine how insanely crowded it is. People just sit down wherever they can find a seat. We had to fight these Chinese guys for a table. They were not very happy that we won.

After we finished lunch I went back to my room to do work until 3, when I had my last class of the day.. finally! This class is much harder. It is spoken chinese kouyu 口语. If you didn't understand something our teacher would then explain it another way in Chinese.

I haven't mentioned this yet but my classes are completely in Chinese. We all had to sign a Language pledge that we would only speak Chinese while we were in class, in between classes, with teachers or in the CIEE office. I could not imagine doing a language pledge for 24/7, I am pretty sure I would be mute for at least a month.

Right after class I met Laura, Katie and Heather and got baozi (bigger dumplings) to go since we had the Acrobatic show at 5:45. The Acrobatic show was awesome! 

We got back at 9:30, so I have a long night ahead of me! I already have two quizes tomorrow. And I have to prepare for my classes too. Preparing means knowing all of the words in the dialogues (new and old), reading it over, pronouncing it right (or trying to) and knowing exactly what is going on. As I said... I have a LONG night ahead of me after having 6 hours of Chinese today. 

Miss everyone!