First published 6/11/2010 during Elizabeth’s first trip to Chengdu for a two-month study abroad program. Unfortunately that blog site folded a long time ago so I am reposting it here.
I woke up a little bit before nine, which was a good thing because while I was lying there trying to un-stiffen myself (the mattress is a bit hard) someone knocked on the door. A Chinese lady was standing there, and after two tries I managed to figure out that she wanted to clean, so then I had to get my still lagging brain to work out how to tell her I had only just gotten up. I managed to figure it out, though, and she left.
After that I had to go to the bank to get the 100 yuan for my deposit. I decided just to go to the Bank of China, even though there was a 30 yuan fee for the ATM, since it was closest. That was really easy, and I was back at the dorms in less than twenty minutes. I spent most of the rest of the morning reading. Stephanie called me and invited me out to dinner, which was good since I wasn’t sure what to do for food. I’d eaten my second bagel for lunch, so I had to go out for dinner anyway.
I walked around campus for a bit in the afternoon, and found some on campus vendors, a soccer field, a vast sea of dorms, and the gates out of campus. There were students selling used textbooks out on the street – they just sat on a blanket and a bunch of books. Seems like a good plan to me, better than dealing with textbook buyback.
We left for dinner at 6:30, and I met my two neighbors, guys from ASU, and Anne, a PHD student at UW. Wendy (who is in the Worldwide Program and has been here for almost a year) picked us up, and we took a taxi to the main campus to meet two more students from the Worldwide program, and they took us out to dinner. They got all kinds of food, and I don’t really remember what it was now, but I tried several things that were not spicy at all, and ate a lot of rice. I should have taken pictures but I didn’t really think about it until too late.
I was pretty much ready for bed after that, but I think I read for a little bit longer.
I was woken up at 2am by people at my door. A roommate had arrived! Apparently she was so late because the two ASU students travelling with her had lost all of their luggage in Shanghai, so they had to figure that all out at the airport. But Krista at least had her stuff, and pretty much went straight to bed.
