In Good Company

So it's been almost a solid two weeks now at HBA, and let's just say when previous Light Fellows tell you the workload is a lot, they mean it! I'm getting about a solid 5-6 hours of a sleep a night after trying to memorize all the vocab words and doing the homework. Nonetheless, it's a work hard-play hard environment, much like how Yale typically is. Friday was both heaven and hell: we had our first zhou kao (weekly test) but no afternoon class, and our xiaoban teachers also took us out for lunch, so after a miserable thursday evening (it wasn't too bad actually...but it was pretty rough) we got to sleep on Friday before going out to explore Beijing at night.

This weekend, we went to the Great Wall and more specifically, SiMaTai. Rather than the more touristy and popular BaDaLing part of the Great Wall, SiMaTai was relatively empty and was a really enjoyable climb to the top. We had to pass 12 towers to reach the summit and although it was quite exhausting it was thoroughly mind-blowing and exhilirating. Here are some pictures from the climb:

This was at the beinning of the hike, when everone still had energy...

The Wall itself made for fantastic shots.

Uh...Yalies, go figure..

Here are a few random ones. The first is a shot of our classroom: my friend was returning my camera, and I managed to snap a shot before the teacher turned around. The second is what happens when you don't study enough for your daily quiz!!

What's going on???

Yes, it was out of 10 points...so it's really bad. But, luckily, they drop 2 of your lowest quiz scores, and I got a 10 today so it can't be too bad!

As for the weather, it's been really hot and humid the past few days and it's actually just begun thunderstorming in the past half hour and lucky for me I get to go to afternoon tutorial now, so I shall update you soon.

Oh China!

大家好！

I know I haven't written in a few days, but I just got my internet set up - finally. HBA has been extremely tiring yet surprisingly enjoyable. Though it's only the third day, I feel like I've been here for at least a few weeks. I guess that's because we've covered three weeks of material already! So a quick rundown of the past few days...

Saturday - I arrived in Beijing at 3 PM but waited for my luggage until 4:30. Turns out I ended up missing the HBA shuttle at 4 PM (they'd waited for me for an hour...) and so I took a taxi to Bei Yu, which is the university where HBA is hosted. The ride was about 45 min and was only 94 kuai (equivalent to approx $13, much better than NY taxis, etc.). On the way, we passed by the Olympic stadium that's being built. It was pretty exciting, and the taxi driver was more than eager to talk about fun stuff to do in Beijing (although I missed about 75% of what he was saying.) I arrived at HBA and found my way to the conference center. Luckily, Ming yee, Lulu, and a few other Yale students happened to be coming out of the elevator. I quickly stashed my luggage in my room before coming back down to the lobby and sharing our first night out in the city. We went to a touristy place called "Hou hai," which is actually a large lake with lots of shops, restaurants, bars all along the banks. We had some delicious Beijing food then decided to go paddle-boating on the water. There was one, as we later learned, infamous bridge where all the boats get stuck under. The passage under the bridge was only large enough for one boat to pass through at a time, but being impatient people, everyone was trying to edge their way through the tunnel = DID NOT WORK and took forever. That was quite an adventure, though somewhat frustrating in the end haha.

Sunday was orientation day. We got introduced to all the teachers and signed the language pledge - no more English! An interesting note on this policy later on...

Monday was the first day of class. 8-12AM, then another 50 min one-on-one session in the afternoon = intense stuff. I was quite overwhelmed Sunday night with the workload as I didn't start until quite late at night... Luckily, everything is manageable as long as you put in the hard work.

So, today is Wednesday and I have yet to start preparing for tomorrow's lesson. Grrrreat. We also have an essay due Friday, not to mention a debate and a weekly quiz on the past 3 lessons. Once again, even better. Even with all this work, however, HBA has already been an awesome experience. From the ridiculously cheap Chinese food to meeting those disgusting (joking) yet actually cool Harvard kids to not speaking English to your friends! We've decided that sometimes, speaking Chinese is like charades. We can't say the word in English, so we make up English words. For example:

Facebook: face = lian, book = shu, so we get lianshu
Youtube: you = ni, tube = quan, so we get niquan
Preppy: pu + er + pi (phonetic)

and the best of all...

Hole-in-the-wall (when referring to a restaurant): qian li mian yi ge dong (literal translation)

Anyhow, Great Wall is this Saturday, and I can't wait! I just have to get through this week first; speaking of which, I should probably get on this next lesson. For now, ciao!

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

So tomorrow is June 15, meaning it is departure for China from L.A. day. Today has been a frantic amalgam of errands, getting everything together, and packing, and it's been really tiring. I have a 7 AM flight tomorrow, so it is going to be tragic morning realizing I didn't get my 10 hours of summer sleep haha. Beijing, here I come...get ready.

T minus 6 days...

wow i can't believe i am leaving so soon...my entire summer! And I suddenly just realized that I'm not using proper capitalization so I will start that from now... Yesterday, I went to Monterey Park with family. If you're from Southern California, you'd know what I'm talking about - it's like the new Chinatown, but much larger. I had lunch there and looking around, I realized that I couldn't read a lot of things on the menu or on the posters and signs in the restaurant. Furthermore, I am sure that I've learned some of those words before, so this made me realize that I actually might need to brush up on some vocabulary before I take that placement test haha.

On another note, I checked weather.com and it says it's 95 degrees in Beijing. That is disgusting, adding the humidity. It's a dry 80 here in sunny socal right now, and I can't imagine the sweltering heat...and the mosquitoes...but I am trying not to think about that. Reading some of the blogs from last year's Light Fellows got me really excited for the trip, especially seeing pictures from the Inner Mongolia trip. It'll be nice stepping out of my comfort zone and seeing what happens. A lot of Light Fellows are already in China, and their blogs are getting me even more excited - can't wait til next week!

Ahoy!

So I guess this is my first post on blogger. 2nd semester of freshman year was pretty much a blast and it was pretty sad to see it all come to an end, but summer awaits!

I actually just got back from a Europe trip last night and am still quiet jetlagged as I went to bed at 4 but got up at 10AM. In any case, it's nice to be back home in Los Angeles, and I can't believe I am leaving again so soon, in 12 days to be exact. I really don't feel prepared for China yet as I'm still settling back down at home finally. Nonetheless, I'm still really excited to continue globetrotting, meet new people, and experience something I've never encountered before - 9 weeks without English!

I am still unpacking from Europe though, and so I guess you guys can indulge in a few pictures from my trip.

This is the Colosseum in Rome. It was probably the most remarkable thing I've ever seen and reminded me of Gladiator, one of my favorite movies.

The Trevi Fountain rakes in a lot of coins everyday but all the money goes toward charitable causes.

This was up in the Swiss Alps. We had to take 3 lifts to reach the top, and it was ridiculous to see skiers and snowboarders because it was so high.

This was in Lucerne, Switzerland. If you haven't been, you should definitely visit Switzerland. Even though they don't use Euros (which is annoying), it is probably the most beautiful country you will ever see.

Guess where this is?

This was in Monaco, a tiny (but extremely wealthy and warm-with-spectacular-views) country in France.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It's right along the Seine River and is another breathtaking attraction.

Okay, this will be the last one. I guess I am still pretty Europe-happy right now and still reliving the past two weeks vicariously through these photos. Enough of Europe though, let's switch continents...

So, Harvard-Beijing Academy 2007. I was pretty excited to get accepted into this program, because it was my top choice. I applied to two others because both the Light Fellowship directors and my Chinese teacher suggested that these programs are becoming more competitive and to keep the chances of getting into at least one program greater. LISTEN TO THIS ADVICE. I actually got waitlisted from the other two programs before getting accepted by HBA, so like college admissions, getting into a program is somewhat of a crapshoot. A small background on the application process for the Light Fellowship. It was relatively easy as you just have to fill out the application, get one letter of recommendation, and submit a resume. The only drawback is that it's due quiet early (in January) so you should be on top of your game over winter break to complete it. A quick note about the application on Word. They have gray textboxes that expand as you type your responses to the short answers, and at least for me, spellcheck didn't work for those textboxes. It wasn't until a week later that I'd realized I'd spelled "television" wrong as well as made a few grammar errors, despite my proofreading. Just be careful...

In the end, I was actually awarded the Greenberg Award rather than the Light, but they are equivalent in terms of funding. Both Kelly and Adam as Light Fellowship Coordinators have been extremely helpful in answering questions and preparing us for our trip. Now, I just have to read through all those guides and handbooks to prep myself for the few weeks to come. In any case, this should be enough for now, I'll keep you guys posted.

Cheers,
Stanley