Catch-up Post

So I finally got internet access on my computer after days of waiting for the office to open and then for a moment of free time when I could go to get it set up.

I think that speaks to two aspects of my current situation:
1) Beijing is remarkably ghetto in many regards considering it is the capital of the most populous nation on earth. Convenience is not the rule of thumb at all - a huge difference among many from Hong Kong. In fact, my first impressions of Beijing were not that great, especially in comparison to the glitz of Hong Kong. Beijing struck me as dirty, chaotic, bizarre, sketchy, and generally hampered by communist remnants. This is partially because my first experience of the city was hopping on the subway with Lulu during our very first evening and wandering around Wangfujing Dajie until pretty late at night and then wandering the streets of Beijing until we could find a taxi - all of which in retrospect was not a great idea for two young girls in a foreign city. I think this is also the time to say, however, that on the flip side I'm also really taken with Beijing for all the same reasons. There's a constant sense of adventure, from simply braving the public transportation system to better understanding why Chinese people act and think the way they do nowadays. In a way, I find Beijing in all its cheapness and mystery to be remarkably quaint and eye-opening... and it's only the first week.

2) Life became insanely busy and stressful once classes started. The language pledge is not affecting me as deeply as it probably is for other students, but I am definitely suffering from the effects of developing lousy study habits at Yale. Also, 4th year Chinese (the level I placed into) involves a lot of "formal" language that you don't use in daily vernacular, so it's especially difficult for me to fall back on my ABC (American Born Chinese) instinct capabilities to make up for my relative lack of formal training. Add in poor memory skills and someone who prefers to get 8 hours of sleep (note: "prefers") and you get an exhausted mess. People weren't kidding when they said HBA is worse than Yale. Language classes inherently take the most time and energy, so when you try to consolidate a week's worth into a day, you get an unbearably high demand for our limited capabilities. I'm sure things will pan out as I get used to it, but for now it definitely feels like a sprinter running miles. I'm currently staying sane by enjoying the quality of the education we're getting (the teachers are truly good) and knowing that the satisfaction I'll get out of improving is proportional to the amount of effort I put in.

Anyway, on that note I really should go back to studying my incredibly long list of vocab words. Another catch-up post with pictures and contact info will have to wait until tomorrow.