Making it

Today, most of the student sin our program. It was refreshing to see them, and for most of our time together I got the feeling htat some great friends will be made. Really, while a lot of people tend to be held by false ideas of popularity, and while lost in illusions they carried on from high school, being away from what you find comfortable (except, of course, for the UNC students who have Chinese passports) really allows for people to connect with one another as individuals, and not just by outside artificial conventions (i.e. the image we've worked so hard to create our entire lives, like everything else, will fade away into the dust).

I'm myself here in Chinese because there are few reprecussions to my actions, and I'm not held to the same social standards and obligations that might keep me bound at home. In additions, knowing what little I know of Chinese culture and language affords me more freedom that, say, the backpacking foreigner who thinks everything that glitters of foreigness is inherently better than his own culture, and most be fawned over so he will appear cool in conversations with people from home. Knowing a thing or two about the culture you're visiting lets you be more independent, less reliant on people, although all the Chinese I once knew appears to have vanished along with my notion of trying to lose weight. I'm already sexy enough.

Our rooms are like hotel room. Two beds, a TV, a water heater, a vanity, two phones connected to the wall. It's all nice and sterile, like they're telling you politely that they don't want you to stay "fo' real real," but "jus' fo' play play." I have to keep that in mind myself, that this place is not my new home. Yet 3 months... I think the time is really starting to hit me. 3 months is a long f*cking time, especially since I can't hop in my car, Bertha-Nellie, and get to places in case something happens.

Anyway, the campus is GORGEOUS. If you walk to one side of the dorm, you can see mountains, and on the other side is an ocean view. The architecture of the buildings demonstrate a key lesson in life and fashion--don't do something you know you have no business doing, but enhance your natural beauty. The buildings have the characteristic sloping Asian roofs, red tiles, great placement of rocks and bodies of water, and has a supermarket, bank, several gyms, and is a mile long. Its like UNC, only everything is cheaper and instead of a sea of white people, there are the Chinese.

The city is so beautiful and a lot more peaceful than the capitol, Beijing. There are lots of great restaurants just outside of our gates and other shops. A highlight is a vegetarian restaurant just around the corner, or the 1-kuai-1-bao-zi resturant with its sweet pork bao-zi (think of a dumpling, but puffier).

Our guardian here is Li Yan-bo, and she's a super sweet gradstudent, so generous, who has taken great care of us. I havea number in Chinese now, a debit account, and othe rammenities all to her doing. Without her, I'd be lost and more lonly than ever. All I need to do now is focus on that damn Chinese :-(

Cute guys are here, but they're short like I feared. I need a Beijing-er to show me some love.

My hair is cute, and I look clean, slim, professional, and regal. When my stomach normalizes, I'll be ready to take on the world.

I'm optimistic, and I think I will live more naturally since I'll be here for a semster. As long as I don't get sick, I thin k I'll do well here.

FYI--I wanted to write in an essay format, but if you have ADD like me, then I'll continue to write in list form. If you happen to want anymore details about something, just ask~!--

Cute alert: there's a certain someone from another country here who wears size 14 shoes, has dinner-plate sized hands, and has a long torso. While Mike is in England, I believe, busy with aquatic shit, I think this person will do just fine. I chatted him up really well, so lets see how it goes from here.