So, what are you doing in China?...

My mother asked me last week why I am in China as a Spanish major and what I am doing here. I hung up on her. Just kidding. But it did get me thinking that I have done very little on my blog to talk about my day to day life.

I am in Chinese boot camp. 25 hours a week of Mandarin instruction, plus a strict language pledge requiring all students to only speak Chinese with threat of expulsion if broken. And my roommate is Chinese. And I don't really speak the language.

The program I am doing is called CET, which is an American based study abroad program. I have 49 American college students in my program. Several students didn't speak a word of Chinese when they came, which made for extremely one sided conversations. During the first week of classes, Carmen asked me if one of the girls was mute as she didn't respond to my questions. No, she just doesn't want to be expelled.

I have a group class in the morning and one-on-one in the afternoons. After (usually) getting my homework done, I'll work out (on dilapidated equipment), take a nap or plan for an evening on the town. As Beijing is an amazing international city, I frequently meet Carmen for dinner at a fun restaurant. In the past two months, we've had Indian, Brazilian, Nepalese, Tex-Mex, Italian, Greek, Xin Jiang, Japanese, and Mexican food. And it's good. Beijing is so cheap that it's hard not to go out to eat. A three course Western meal at a good restaurant runs about eight bucks a person. Oh, and Beijing has Chinese food too.