ABROAD IN
6/24/17 I woke up in the hotel room in Nanjing (I roomed with Mae), and even though it was such a sketchy hotel room, we had a pretty good view of Nanjing! One thing that's different in China is that the showers don't have a tub so when you shower it literally is like a flood in the bathroom and the toilet gets drenched with water from the shower. Anyway, I think that night (the night of the flight to Shanghai and our bus ride to Nanjing) was the fastest I've ever fallen asleep, I think I fell asleep in 2 minutes or something. Mae and I woke up at around 6 am naturally (weirdly early) and we got ready for breakfast. Breakfast was actually really good, I had my first 油条 which is pretty much a churro without sugar and cinnamon, but it's better. Breakfast was a lot of Chinese food like fried rice and noodles, etc. One thing that I already miss about America is ice water. In China, all water has to be boiled because water here isn't very clean, so for breakfast lunch and dinner, we are served hot tea or hot water in restaurants. Anyway, after breakfast we had free time so a some of us and I (Jessica, Anushka, Alexander, Ben, Mae, Peter) went out and walked around. Nanjing is so cool, it's bustling and it's just a city that is so fun to walk around in. We tried to go to this boba tea place, but to our dismay, it was closed. I am determined to go there soon though, maybe tomorrow. After walking around and buying some water at the supermarket we had orientation. At orientation, the teachers of our classes introduced themselves and then we got some schedules and a Nanjing University swipe card for free meals. Right after, we were told we were going to have a "test", and were put into groups and our future classes. I was so surprised that I was put into 高级班 (advanced class) , I thought I was going to be in intermediate. The Nanjingers are split into 3 different classes: advanced, intermediate and beginner. I didn't know this, but the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) that we took about a month before we left for D.C. determined our class! I talked about President Trump and the Paris Climate Accord for part of the interview and I forgot how to say a lot of it in Chinese so I thought I did terribly, but I guess it turned out well. Our test was pretty much speaking with our teachers and them making sure we were in the right level. After orientation we went out to lunch. I am fuming though because at the Nanjing University cafeteria, Alex, Ben and I got ripped off and prices were raised wayyy too high just for us because we are foreigners. Alex was charged 10 yuan for a bowl of rice, and I was charged around 15 yuan for a bowl of rice and some mediocre sweet and sour pork. The lady scaled our food, and the price on the scale was not the same price that she charged me, but I thought that was normal. It was only after that we realized that we got ripped off. Margie (our Resident Director) went up and had a conversation with them, but I am definitely not going there again. After lunch all of the Nanjingers walked back to the conference room in the main International Studies building in Nanjing University to meet our host families. The room was filled with parents, children and grandparents all sitting in chairs. We all walked in and everyone looked at us. After a little introduction by Margie, we each walked up to the podium and gave a short introduction about ourselves and then went to our host families. After my host family stood up and waved their hands to indicate they were my family, I went over and met YuChen and YuXin, my host 妹妹s (sisters) who are in 8th grade!! They were a little shy at first but once we got in the car, we were all laughing. The mother was also there (the dad was in the car to pick us up) and the first things she said to me was that I was pretty and that she was so happy I was in her family. My family is so sweet. I also met my other host family, with a younger sister who is in 7th grade, and an older sister about 20 years old. The 20 year old is super funny and stylish. She came up to me and said in Chinese "I'm super glad we got you" and she gave me this huge smile. The 7th grader is talkative and started talking to me right away which I thought was super sweet and she seems really nice. After dropping my stuff off at the apartment my host family took me to their middle school where they had a surprise reception/party for the NSLI-Y students who had host siblings at that middle school. There were 4 of us (Josie, Anushka and Ines) and the middle schoolers introduced, in English, their school and walked us around. It was super well planned and organized and we were all super honored to be there. The middle schoolers had scripts in hand and they spent 2 days to work on introducing the school in English. Also, near the end of the reception the students sang songs for us in Chinese then asked us Americans if we wanted to perform a song. We were all a little rusty but we decided on singing Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" and it was funny because some of the middle school girls immediately joined in. After it finished, a bunch of the middle school girls came up to us and asked us for photos individually with each of the Americans. I kinda felt like a celebrity haha. After, we went back home and then my family and I went to this really famous Nanjing restaurant. The food was amazing and really authentic. There was his dish that we ordered that my family was trying to explain to me. They were trying to explain the meaning of “鸭血” which means duck blood. I was so confused for about a minute, because I was wondering what血 was. Once I realized, it totally made sense because blood duck soup is really famous in Nanjing, and it's actually tastier than it sounds. We also ate some really good 饺子 (dumplings),豆腐 (tofu) ,and some good dishes. It was kinda funny because whenever I would look up from eating, there was always a new piece of meat or vegetable on my plate. My host mom would just keep saying “再吃” (keep eating). The restaurant itself was beautiful and bustling too. It's hard to describe in words but it had lanterns up everywhere and it was filled with people, 春联 and red/gold decorations. I love Nanjing. We are currently just about to go to bed. Both my host sisters and I are both really tired. Tomorrow, my host mom said she would take me walking, and to buy some clothes that I mentioned "Oh, those are cute" in Chinese. She also said she was going to buy me a wardrobe thing but I said that she really doesn't need to (My host mom is so cute - she also took a selfie with me). Tomorrow also is my first day of class, so I'm super excited :) YuChen and YuXin, 我的妹妹 Streets of Nanjing
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Andrea 施安雅17-year-old XC runner and boba tea lover living in Seattle but studying abroad in China. Also, I have a cat! Archives
August 2017
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