Settling In...

Sorry to everyone for not hearing from me and not replying to emails for a while! I finally got hooked up to the internet here in my dorm. Turns out the school will not give internet to just anyone. You have to give a copy of your passport and prove that you're a student and then wait until they can give set you up with internet that is far from unfettered. Many sites that I've tried to get to have been "broken links" and will have to work around that. Also the internet isn't so fast. But I'm bloggin' on!

It's hard to sum up the last week in a few words. For the most part, it has been differing stages of settling in. The week started out with the lovely jaunt to Hangzhou which was made a little more stressful because of my two big suitcases and my ignorance to where I was supposed to end up. Also, the farther I got away from the airport, the less English I could count on for help. I feel bad using other people and their English as a crutch, but at this point I don't know enough Chinese to survive on my own. It's still quite hairy in the language department, but I'll write more about that later.

The next couple days I just got settled in to my dorm room and started meeting the other students on the Central abroad program. I have my own dorm room on the fourth floor of the International Student Dormitory. It's not very big, but works just fine for me. It's small, or cozy as I like to call it. The bed is hard but the pillows are soft! I have my own bathroom and shower connected to my room so I am enjoying that. Also I have a TV from which I can imbibe some dizzying Chinese TV. I think I'll have to acquire a taste for the soap operas and movies. They are full of alarming and dramatic moments that mean very little to me at this point in my language development.

There are 8 other students on the same program as I am on. Six of us are actually from Central and there are three others from Drake, Carthage and Austin College. We've been having a lot of fun these days. There's always the awkward first meetings and getting-to-know-you's but we've really bonded through our common experiences here in China. It's nice to have some people to compare thoughts about China with, otherwise you start to go crazy not being able to share all the surprises, frustrations, and enjoyments with people who can relate almost exactly. For example, we have been enjoying the adventures of foods together. It's been a little hard to get used to everything, always having rice and not much bread but we've been sticking it out. We've been eating at the cafeteria in our dorm and various restaurants around campus. It's very affordable. Most of the time a good-sized meal will range from $2 to $4. Of course, we've been trying lots of new things. Some of my favorites have been duck, bamboo shoots, noodles, and plain old fried rice.

Later I'll have to write some more about our sight-seeing over the past few days. I've learned that Hangzhou as a city around 6 million people can be very hectic as well as very relaxing. The streets are busy and bustling while not too far away, there are many peaceful gardens and paths. I think there are a lot of these kinds of contradictory instances in Chinese culture too. I'm just starting to see glimpses of this as I get settled in. Like with ancient Chinese history and growing modern culture in China, there is a lot of interesting happenings. I'll be sure to keep exploring the city and its many facets!