While it hasn’t yet been a week full of classes, it has been a week since I’ve arrived to Beijing. I was firstly amazed by how luxurious my “room” was. ACC students are located in what I believe is a hotel, so each pair of roommates are assigned one room. There’s AC, a full bed, and our own bathroom. It’s pretty nice. I did find it surprising that I haven’t been missing home that much, despite the fact that I couldn’t stop crying when my mom dropped me off at JFK airport. The first night I was so tired that I went straight to bed, and had things assigned for us to do. ACC hosted a lovely banquet for us, and I got a chance to meet the rest of the group. After taking the placement exam, I wasn’t sure what level I’d be placed in. I knew that I left second year Chinese at Williams not feeling so confident in my Chinese abilities, and after having taken the oral part of the placement, I didn’t feel any better. So when I found out that I placed into 3rd year, I was a bit shocked.
However, after taking the language pledge and experiencing four days of ACC work, I now really believe that one day is worth a week at Williams. This place is pretty intense, and I guess my biggest worry is whether or not I’ll burn out. It hasn’t been a week and I find myself tired at 10:30 pm to the point where I go to sleep and wake up at 4:30 to finish the homework that’s due. Regardless, I’ve had a pretty good experience so far. All of the teachers here are so incredibly nice– some of them even worked at Williams before! I think it’s just that I have to get used to ACC and the work. Last night was the first time I had to memorize 113 vocab words, which left me in shock because how can a person actually do that? Maybe I’ll get used to it at some point within these two months.
Also, cafeteria food is AMAZING. It’s like 11 kuai per meal which is less than 2 USD? Incredible. I love it. Well, tomorrow I have my first test. So I’ll see how that goes. 听写 has so far not been going too well, but I expected that, haha.
Pic: I brought a friend along to China
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