The (Not So?) Eventful First Week

The first week of our program is mostly to get acquainted with our environment. We had placement exams and orientation on Monday, and the rest of the week is pretty much free. During orientation, we were given some general guidelines to adhere to and then taken around the Tsinghua campus for a small tour. The campus itself is huge! It has very much a western feel to it (apparently, parts of the campus were modeled after MIT and UVA - fun fact!); the buildings are separated by green lawns with adorable "baby grass is sleeping, please do not step on it" signs and the streets are filled with students riding around on bicycles. 

Today, we received our class assignments. IUP, the program at Tsinghua through which I am studying Chinese, has a very unique classroom structure. All of the classes either have the student-to-teacher ratio of 1-on-1, 2-on-1, or 3-on-1. There are two sets of core classes, both of which are separated into several levels; the classes that you end up taking for your core classes end up matching your skill level. The two sets of core classes are the text core class and the listening core class. For my text core class, I will be studying a text whose title roughly translates into "Talk of the Times". I was not placed into a listening class because, as a native speaker, it is an area in which I was already found adequate. instead, I will be taking a class that caters specifically to my weaknesses: reading and writing. In addition to these two classes, I have also elected to take "Business Chinese for Success" mostly because a) it would be nice to add some more professional words to my limited vocabulary, and b) I'm in China to learn, so why not seize the opportunity to learn even more Chinese. 

I'm really pumped to start classes, but this week of rest has been really helpful in terms of adjusting to the time difference. It was also really good because it gave a lot of us (the people in my program) the chance to meet up and get to know each other. My roommates and I have also been doing some exploring of the area, which is been really fun! We discovered that Tsinghua is literally right across the street from Yuan Ming Yuan, the old summer palace, and many other historic landmarks are just a few subway stops away. 

Da roomies take Yuanmingyuan!

Da roomies take Sanlitun!

But exploring isn't just about geography and sights! China has so much food. Everywhere. Everywhere you look, you can see the awnings of little local restaurants, carts selling various breakfast foods, and, as I've come to love, stands selling "lamb" and other mystery skewers. Can you say foot heaven (and gastroenterological hell)? I've recently discovered a shop on the way home from Tsinghua that makes the most delicious beef noodles (evidence below). Will definitely be making this place a regular location to visit! 

...No explanation required.

This week so far has been phenomenal; I'm really excited to see what else Beijing has to offer! Bring it ON.