Ｓｔａｙｅｄ ｕｐ ａｌｌ ｎｉｇｈt watching the World Cup

So as I'm writing this blog I'm surviving on basically 1.5 hours of sleep (with 4 hours the night before that and climbing the Great Wall) but I'm surprised as to how un-sleepy I am.

Last night the US vs. Ghana game was on at 2:30 a.m. so a couple of friends and I met up to watch the game. We ended up at one of those small restaurant with a TV and tables outside. The tables were split between the US fans and Ghana fans. Our US table consisted of some IUPers and two　ｏｌｄｅｒ　ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　ｍｅｎ (one of which bet on the game for USA　ｔｏ　ｗｉｎ．Ｔｈｅｓｅ　ｔｗｏ　ｍｅｎ　ｄｉｄｎ＇ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｂｕｔ　ｒｅｆｅｒｒｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ａｓ　大哥（ｏｌｄｅｒ　ｂｒｏｔｈｅｒ）　ａｎｄ　ｗｅｒｅ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｔａｌｋａｔｉｖｅ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｕｓ，　ｗｅ　ｗｅｒｅ　ａｌｓｏ　ｔｏｌｄ　ｔｏ　ｒｅｆｅｒ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅｍ　ａｓ　大哥．　Ｎａｔｕｒａｌｌｙ　ｃｏｎｖｅｒｓａｔｉｏｎ　ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ　ｓｏｃｃｅｒ　ｆａｎｓ　ｓｔｒｕｃｋ　ｕｐ。　Ｔｈｅｙ　ｔｏｌｄ　ｕｓ： No need to go to class, just come here every night, we'll teach you, and said to 一边喝一边学 (to learn and drink at the same time).

By the end of the night we learned two new 成语 （Chinese idioms), had many many empty bottles of beer and promised to come back the next night to watch the England vs. Germany game. One of them was especially adamant about us coming back and asked one of us for our phone numbers and address!

When we were heading home it was already bright out and people were already waking up for the day.
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First Week of Classes!

After arriving in Beijing for a week, classes have finally started and I would say it's been easier than expected. For the past week, all that has been required of us it attending an orientation dinner and taking the placement test, the rest has been free time. I would say this is mostly due to the fact that most IUP　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｒｅ　ｇｒａｄｕａｔｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｎｄ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ａｐｐｒｅｃｉａｔｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｒｅｅｄｏｍ，　ｗｈｅｒｅａｓ　ｍｏｓｔ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｐｒｏｇｒａｍｓ　ｈａｖｅ　ｍｏｓｔｌｙ　ｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅｒｅｆｏｒｅ　ｔｒｙ　ｔｏ　ｆｏｓｔｅｒ　ａ　ｓｅｎｓｅ　ｏｆ　ｃｏｍｍｕｎｉｔｙ．Ａｆｔｅｒ　ｃｌａｓｓｅｓ　ｅｎｄ，　ｍｏｓｔ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ｓｅｅｍ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ　ｈｏｍｅ　ｒａｔｈｅｒ　ｔｈａｎ　＂ｈａｎｇｏｕｔ＂which is what I would have expected to have happen. Though the graduate students and college students do talk and mix, the large age differences dampens the sense of community that we can build, we're in different stages of life (some are married, some even have kids).

Academically, although we're not allowed to look at the textbook during class, I would say that the workload is pretty light. The lack of tingxie (small listening quizzes) makes things a lot easier and the textbook material doesn't seem to be very difficult (many other IUPers also feel like their textbooks are pretty easy). Other than that, classes have been pretty fun because most of the teachers are young so they like to joke around with us.

I'm looking forward to going to the GREAT WALL this weekend! (except for the fact that I'll have get to school by 9am)
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Settling In!

Hi everyone!
So I've finally found an apartment and started settling in. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and I'll probably be busy doing homework so I've uploaded some long overdue pictures! (The fourth one is the train that I rode on for 24 hours straight!)
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Warning: Do not stop for those people selling you things on the street

Chinese people are soooo good at selling you things that you don't even need. I thought I've been warned enough times to be immune to them, but guess what, I'm NOT. I was happily walking back to my hotel when someone stops me. They tell me they're not trying to sell me anything but just doing a promotion and giving people advice but after two hours I paid 200 yuan for a haircut that I didn't even need, my hair was already short in the first place and I got a hair cut a month and a half ago -_-

Ughhh, so watch out for those of you coming to China. They were super nice and say all the right things, but unless you need it, say NO!
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14 days, 7 cities

It's been a crazy two weeks, traveling to so many cities in such a short period of time is actually pretty tiring. Especially when you end the trip with a 24 hour train ride. (I'll upload pictures later of the train, it didn't turn out as bad as I expected since you get some sort of a bed to sleep on when you're tired)
So a few things I've learned on this trip:

-Chinese tour guide groups try to suck all the money out of you, they bring you to tourist attractions and make you buy the tickets to enter, and try to sell you the "local specialties." And of course I fell for the trick and bought a silk blanket and some chrysanthemum tea :( But they weren't expensive, I guess I don't really regret buying them. A good thing that came out of this tour was meeting two college girls from Guangzhou that kept me sane (the rest of the tour members were 50+ in age, lol)

-Chinese people love to push and run to be the first ones. Even if there is nothing to gain by being first everyone rushes to the front, especially old men and old women!

-Though millions of people come to New York to see the lights of Times Square the lights of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong are just as amazing, especially when these cities have lights all over the city and along their riverside!

Visiting Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai has shown me how developed and advanced some of these cities have become. The subways are amazingly clean (especially when compared to the old New York subways). Hangzhou even has a bike share program that allows anybody to conveniently use bikes (free for the first hour and then they charge a really low hourly price).

As for the Expo, it was packed! Some places took 3 or 4 hours to get in (I avoided those places). While some countries were pretty amazing (ie the high technology ones) I would say the content of most of the countries were kind of plain. But the outward structure, shape and overall style of each country was unique and made me ooooh and ahhh a lot.

Now that the traveling has ended, I have to start getting serious about getting a place to live and going back to school. I went to a real estate agent today and he said he'll call me when he finds a place that is 4000-5000 rmb a month for a two bedroom apartment and several other IUPers who are also looking for a place to live will be arriving in the next two days, so I'm not too worried.

Too lazy to upload pictures now, will do later!
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