Xi’an! I was very excited for this trip, even if I was dead tired. At first it seemed like my excitement was unwarranted, as the trip had an uninspiring start. At the airport, the terminal we were at was in some dingy basement (it looked more like Hong Qiao airport than Pudong airport) and the heat must have been set on max because it was excruciatingly hot. It was also really crowded. The plane ride wasn’t much better. I stayed awake for the breakfast, which I shouldn’t have done because it was terrible. By far the worst airplane meal I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting.
Fortunately, it was a pretty short flight. We were on the bus for about an hour before we arrived at the buffet lunch. The restaurant was really fancy and the food was pretty good. The fanciest part of the restaurant had to be the restroom. I wish I took a picture of it because it was absurd. Liquid soap from a teapot!
Fancy!
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Interesting note: Day 60 is the middle day of the NYU in Shanghai program. Boy, that was quick!
Got my Chinese midterm back and I did surprisingly well (a 93)! For Contemporary China, we made a trip to the new ECNU campus to attend a panel on Sino-US relations to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China opening up to US talks. The new campus is beautiful, but it’s also in the middle of nowhere (well, across from Jiaotong University). It was a pretty long ride from the old ECNU campus and we even passed a toll on the way there. The panel discussion was really interesting though. I was particularly happy that the ECNU students didn’t do everything from rote, like traditional Chinese education teaches them.
Unfortunately, we got back pretty late and I still had to go to work. To meet my four hours, I stayed until nine, again learning more Ruby on Rails and again being perplexed by it. I didn’t quite expect it to be so difficult to grasp, but it certainly proved me wrong.
Weekends have become my sleeping days. Just like old times. It’s funny how during the end of last semester, I was waking up before my alarm or waking up early even though I was exhausted. And now, I’m barely waking up to my alarm.
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