I managed to get up and make it to the bus on time this morning. We left the apartments and drove for about half an hour to the railway station. After waiting around the station for an hour, we took our tickets through the checkpoint and made our way up to the platform. While we were waiting for our train to arrive, the preceding train passed through the station at full track speed, simultaneously surprising and amazing most of our group. It was rather amusing to watch. A short while later, our train rolled in, and we boarded. A few minutes later, the train began gliding smoothly out of the station, and some of our group who hadn’t been paying full attention were surprised to find we were moving. After the first station stop, I made my way to the cafe car and worked on circuits, which I got almost all done. An hour out of Suzhou North Station, we stopped at Suzhou East Station. I was informed that there is a different tone marking on the “Su”, of course. Around 11:00 I ate the remaining food that I’d bought from Tous les Jours as a small early lunch. We arrived in Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province, on time around 11:45.
After our arrival, we boarded another small bus and were taken to our hotel near Shandong University’s campus. We checked in, dropped our bags in our rooms, and then headed to lunch at the hotel’s restaurant. It is a buffet restaurant, and we all found many good things to eat.
After lunch, we grabbed our class supplies and headed to Chinese culture class from 14:00 to 17:00. Our lecturer went rather quickly through his lecture. He gave us a quick overview, and then launched into his topics. He talked about Chinese history, traditional food, geography, ethnic groups, and religions and philosophical schools. In the middle we took a 40 minute break (that was supposed to be 20) and went to a nearby coffee shop. He also gave us the requirements for the paper we have to write. We have to write a 300-500 word paper on “what did you learn from this course”. I’m probably going to sit down and write it tonight, because it’s just BS-ing 300 words. If I can BS a 2000 word English paper analyzing a short novel, then this is just tiddly-winks. Easiest A ever.
After class, we returned to the hotel for dinner before going back for another three hours of class from 18:30 to 21:30. We had a different lecturer this time. A lady was in to talk about Chinese traditional calligraphy and painting. So we got a little calligraphy history and learned a little about some of the different painting styles.
After Round 2, we went back to the hotel and I Skyped my family and relaxed before going to bed.
After lunch, we grabbed our class supplies and headed to Chinese culture class from 14:00 to 17:00. Our lecturer went rather quickly through his lecture. He gave us a quick overview, and then launched into his topics. He talked about Chinese history, traditional food, geography, ethnic groups, and religions and philosophical schools. In the middle we took a 40 minute break (that was supposed to be 20) and went to a nearby coffee shop. He also gave us the requirements for the paper we have to write. We have to write a 300-500 word paper on “what did you learn from this course”. I’m probably going to sit down and write it tonight, because it’s just BS-ing 300 words. If I can BS a 2000 word English paper analyzing a short novel, then this is just tiddly-winks. Easiest A ever.
After class, we returned to the hotel for dinner before going back for another three hours of class from 18:30 to 21:30. We had a different lecturer this time. A lady was in to talk about Chinese traditional calligraphy and painting. So we got a little calligraphy history and learned a little about some of the different painting styles.
After Round 2, we went back to the hotel and I Skyped my family and relaxed before going to bed.