Fast Days, and Even Faster Nights

Wow it feels like it has been awhile since I have last posted. I can't believe life abroad has gone by so fast. Last week was midterms, and this week is already over! Only 1.5 months and my time in Shanghai will come to an end. Sadface. On the bright side though, it has been an amazing experience thus far.

LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Before I delve into my memory to try and recall as much stuff that I've done in Xian and Hangzhou, I'll talk about how life has been back in Shanghai since its been almost a month since I came back from Xian. For one, going out to clubs and bars on the weekdays certainly makes life go by MUCH faster. Take this week for instance. On Tuesday night, after having two shots of soju and a can of Asahi, we went to Windows (a club) at around 1130pm. Luckily, they didn't have any cover charge (50kuai ~ roughly $6.50). Anyway I then had a kamikaze, as well as 4 shots of tequila. WoW. I honestly think my tolerance is increasing because I did not throw up at all despite all the dancing.

After leaving Windows at around 330am, we walked over to City Diner (this 24/7 American diner place nearby) for some food. I am not sure what time I got back to my dorm room, but i do remember seeing 4:30am on my cellphone when I was still at the restaurant! But being the good student that I try to be, at 9:15am I woke up to get ready for language class at 10am. I should mention that we have tingxie (listening/writing quiz) every morning as well as homework due. Luckily, I somehow managed to score a 9.5/10 on both, so its all good :)

This is not to say that we go out to clubs every weekday. Most certainly not. In fact, we usually don't patronize the clubs b/cuz we much prefer to just buy some drinks and chill in someone's room and play cards/watch movies. This is what my friends and I have done every weekend since coming back from Xian.

ACADEMICS
Alcohol aside, the workload is definitely intense. I have class MW 10-3, and class TTH 10-530. It also takes about 15-20 min to walk from my dorm to the classes, so my time spent in class is definitely alot. Moreover, we are required to meet with our tutor at least two hours a week. So usually on Tuesday and Wednesdays I have tutoring session after class until 5 or 6pm. Since I have tingxie and homework everyday, another huge chunk of my time is spent preparing for these things. Remembering how to write the characters is particularly time-consuming.

THURSDAYS!
Moreover, every Thursday is test day. For the first hour we review the week's material. The second hour we have partner discussion for 15min where our discussions are recorded and graded. We then have 45 min to write an essay about the discussion. After the lunch break (1hr) we come back for oral presentations. We have to talk for at least 6 min, but this usually ends up being roughly 8-10min per person. After the test, I immediately have Business Chinese, which gets out at 530pm. As you can see, I really hate Thursdays.

MOVIES!
Bootleg movies are really cheap here, 10kuai or less per copy. When I have any freetime available, I'm either watching my 24, Lost, or Amazing Race via youku or tudou (online internet sites where you can watch tv for free) or watching one of the movies I bought. I recently bought this Hindi film, entitled Ghajini. Its apparently the Hindi film that has earned the most money in Bollywood history. Excellent movie it was!

Okay, I think imma make another post on my travels in Xian and Hangzhou. This post is getting too long.

TML

I should be posting more. This week we have midterms. I have two tomorrow :(

Before I continue with the rest of my travels from the Academic trip, I had some interesting conversations with my friends during that trip.

It interesting because apparently I don't come off as introverted! I don't really know how the topic came about, but we were talking about our personalities in both of my groups that I'm in (the Asians, and the white pplz, lol) and I guess I no longer come off as introverted, and just normal I guess. yea, it interesting because my Asian friends were like, yea, i am very flexible when it comes to meeting new people, and they can see that I am fairly approachable...same with my white friends. they didn't think I was introverted or anything. so see, it really depends on the situation, I glad that I know I am approachable :) See I taking the initiative.

Okay I should be studying for midterms, I'll post later about the rest of my academic trip to Inner Mongolia and Xian. This weekend I am going to Hangzhou!

TML