roommate, Beerlao and 李明

熊鑫 (my roommate) and me

BEERLAO!

Me, 李明 (Parsons' roommate from last semester)，and Alyssa

南京—》昆明

Alyssa and I flew from Nanjing to Kunming yesterday, and I have already fallen in love with the city. It's about 65 degrees here, and our campus is beautiful and full of flowers. There is also a great street full of Thai and Indian restaurants less than a five minutes' walk from my dorm. My roommate is great. Her major is international relations, and she's obsessed with Southeast Asia. (her boyfriend is from Cambodia). She and I are currently laughing at gender stereotypes in China as well. I'm thinking she's pretty 开放, as far as it goes.

I might be tempted to complain about the fact that I don't have air conditioning in my room, but...oh wait.... the weather is perfect. Thus far, my only complaint is the fact that we can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, but something tells me I'll live.

I have to talk about it being a small world again... there are two Tulane students in my program of 15 kids. Also, Alyssa and I met up with a friend of hers from her Princeton summer program who is doing research in Kunming. It turns out his translator used to be a teacher at ACC. I will never escape ACC.

Sorry I don't have any pictures yet. I'll try to put some up soon! Love y'all!

南京（Nanjing）

I will be very sad when my vacation in Nanjing is over (on Wednesday), but I am looking forward to 65 degree weather in Kunming. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've done very little touristy stuff here. Most days consist of Alyssa, Cooper, and I walking to Nanjing University to meet up with Richard and Bibba. Then we get lunch and, if I have my way, ice cream. We usually goof off or run errands with the boys for their apartments etc.. until dinner time.

Last night we went to 1912, (for those of you who don't know) the Sanlitun/Bourbon Street of Nanjing. Within an hour, I ran into one of my ACC Beijing classmates!

Danny at 1912! Apparently he is doing the same program as Bibba this semester!

The group in Nanjing!

 I did a few things last night that I certainly wasn't proud of....such as dancing with middle-aged Chinese men (mimicking their hilarious dance moves) among others. I'm looking forward to the next two days! It's been a great vacation!

Bye Bye, Beijing.

Today around 9:00 am, Ben and I (the two remaining ACC kids in Beijing) left for the airport. My bags were overweight :) but things went relatively smoothly. I arrived in time to meet up with Richard and look at the flagship offices and stuff. It's good to see where I will presumably be in two years' time.

Nanjing reminds me a lot of New Orleans, in that it feels like New Orleans in late August right before a huge thunderstorm....all of the time. I personally prefer the humidity over Beijing's smog, though. Nanjing also seems to have a lot more character. I'm looking forward to a week of fairly relaxed exploring/ a day trip to Suzhou (maybe).

I'll keep you updated!

Margaritas

I wasn't kidding about having the best margaritas in my life. Last night it was two-for-one, but we didn't know about it until the waitress brought 8 to us.

DONE

Let's recap my summer for a moment.
I've gone from:
Hanging out with Mom in fancy Beijing.










to hanging out with my classmates in fancy-ish Beijing










to dying from the schoolwork










to eating hotpot in Datong with the Indiana boys










to dying










to being done with finals!
Seriously I took this picture as soon as I got back to my room after taking my last test. I'm exhausted. I can't remember the last time I washed my hair. But I'm done with the most academically demanding two months of my life (thus far). All I can do is smile. :) In the past 53 days, I have written over 10,000 words in formal papers. I have learned 3,000+ characters. I have given ten speeches, four of them lasting thirty minutes each. And then there's all that homework and reading and stuff.

In addition, I've ridden two ridiculous overnight trains. I finally understand Beijing dialect. I've had the best margarita in my life (in China? yes). I got to hang out with Amy all the time! I've amassed an impressive collection of wallets and bags from the pearl market and the silk market. I've met up with one friend from high school, four fellow Ole Miss students, and two Ole Miss professors- all in Beijing. I've gone out to eat with my Chinese teachers eight times. And I even rediscovered my lost love for dumplings.

All in all, I'd say that ACC was worth every penny. Also, here's a picture of all of the ACC students and teachers levels 2-4. I didn't know everyone very well though because the fourth year class only had 15 or so students, and we all know that I'm not the most social of butterflies.




What now? I'm staying in the dorms here until Sunday afternoon. I'm staying in a hotel in Wangfujin for three days, and then I'm off to Nanjing!

Love y'all!

hm...

I write like
Ursula K. Le Guin

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