Wo dui ACC de Pingjia

I've been putting off writing this post for way too long! Sorry about slacking so much. Today in class we filled out evaluations of our teachers and program. I was the last one to finish writing my evaluation because I actually took it very seriously and I had a lot of suggestions to make. So I thought I'd share some of those with you now.

• "Conversation Class" homework always asks us to include in our answers certain grammar points that we haven't yet been taught. Sometimes it's easy to figure how a certain structure should be used, and other times there's a lot of overlap between the ACC lessons and what I already learned over the summer, which makes for good review. But it isn't until after lecture the next day that I can truly understand some of the things we were asked to write on the homework.
• Da ban ke ("big" class, or lecture) is definitely my least favorite class. Sometimes a teacher will ask the class to say a sentence along with her, and because she speaks so quickly the result is mumbled and totally wrong. But the teacher will just say "Hao" and move on.

ACC definitely has its strengths though. Each student has to do an independent research project on the topic of his or her choice. Mine is about the growing popularity and influence of American television on young people in China. It allows (forces) me to interview Chinese people in the cafeteria or on the street and do research online. We write the report in increments with the help of our advisers every step of the way. I'm really excited about it and look forward to the one-on-one sessions every week. Another of ACC's strengths are the daily quizzes, which are harder and include more information than the ones at my summer program.

I also think ACC is every more time-consuming than HBA was... how is that possible? Maybe having a roommate pressures me into putting off work. I stay up very late almost every night, feel exhausted in class the next day, and have to take a nap in the afternoon which just makes me delay my work even more. Procrastination is a disease.

Some students find the time to go to bars and clubs on week nights. I really don't understand how they do it! I wish I could go with them, because I don't feel very close to my classmates here at all. I like my roommate a lot and we usually go out and have meals together, but besides him I don't have "friends" at ACC yet. I am friendly with a lot of people, and get along great with everyone when we go out in groups on the weekend, but no one I'm close to. Then again most of the people who go out during the week speak exclusively in English whenever they're not in a classroom. I guess I'm guilty of breaking the pledge too. At least I my roommate and I still speak Chinese in the room.

I've grown accustomed to life here. It's become routine. I don't want it to be routine. This weekend I am determined to do something new and exciting. At least one Chinese experience instead of instead of just going to the bar districts that are full of foreigners. Maybe I'll try one of the field trips our teachers offer us on weekend mornings. I still talk to my friends from back home often, and I still submit articles and drawings to the Yale humor magazine. I want to make the most of my time here. Next week we have a field trip to the city Xi'an, famous for its terracotta warriors. That'll be fun.

Also:

My host family this semester is super nice, and boy are they rich. They live in a brand new beautiful house within a gated community, and took us to see Inception and gave us gifts on the first day. They're in Paris right now on vacation.

I'm also taking a painting class as my extracurricular. It's very mellow. Maybe I should have signed up for a language partner. The language partner I had over the summer wasn't of much use, and seemed like she was in it for the money. I met some Minzu students here, all minorities, and they treated my roommate and me to dinner. I'd like to develop that friendship more.

Lastly, we went to the Great Wall again! We went to a different section this time. The temperature was nice and cool, and I had no problem climbing it. It was a totally different experience.

Until next timeee