Day 14: Classes and Mexican Food

Monday, May 21, 2018

Today marks exactly one week since we started classes here at 川大 (Sichuan Universtiy) but honestly, it feels like we've been here for much longer! Each school day starts at 8:30 am and ends at 12:00 pm, with a nice 30-minute 休息 (rest) separating our morning and afternoon classes. This morning, my roommate, Francesca, and I woke up a little later than normal and had to rush over to quickly eat breakfast before biking to class. Most days, we walk to class, but we decided to switch it up and bike there, which was much faster. It's interesting to see the number of bike sharing options available here in Chengdu, but to me, it seems the yellow OFO bikes are most abundant, followed by the orange Mobikes, with the various other colors trailing behind them. 

Within our高一班 (Advanced I class), we have 2 different teachers who teach our morning and afternoon classes. 高老师 (Professor Gao) teaches our morning class, which focuses reading, writing, speaking, and generally learning the lessons from our textbook, while 陈老师 (Professor Chen) focuses more on using what we learn in fun games and activities, allowing us to apply our knowledge more freely. During our 30 minute break, I like to walk around near the school's 小北门 (little north gate) and grab bubble tea or snacks from the 超市 (supermarket). Today, I got lucky and caught a peek of the nearby primary school children out on a walk and I had to snap a photo because they are all so little and cute!! 

After class ended, we were hungry for lunch and decided to bike over to a Tex-Mex place near the 西门 (west gate). I love Chinese food a lot, but after a week of eating at the same few noodle shops for most meals, cheese and sour cream were a nice break. After our nice little lunch, we biked back to our building to meet with our 语伴 (language partners), who we see twice a week, around 2 pm to review information from class and improve our listening and speaking skills. Around 3 pm, we parted ways with our language partners and some of us really wanted fruit. After walking around contemplating the various locations that sold fruit, we finally pick one and bought some. I ended up eating fresh pineapple on a stick which was really cheap and really delicious. The heat of the late afternoon called

for a short nap, and by early evening we were hungry again. Also near the west gate, we went to a family-style restaurant that serves tasty dishes and lots of rice. I think after two weeks of being here in China, I can confidently order food for myself, which I definitely couldn't do before this trip! After dinner, we walked around campus a bit more, and the rest of my night has consisted of reviewing past words, learning new ones, and writing this blog! Thanks so much for reading!!!

Taylor K.