Life at Xiamen University 生活在厦门大学

Ok, I realize that I’ve been slacking a lot on the updates here, but it certainly is not easy to keep up with, primarily because of the faulty Internet.  It’s just not reliable.  However, I still am glad to be able to try to keep you all up to date a little bit. 

I’ve been in Xiamen for about 5 or 6 weeks now, I actually lost track, but I’ve really loved it.  I have already made some really great friendships with the people that I’ve met here.  Some are Chinese students here at the university.  Some are people that I have made connections with in the community, by luck really.  And some are fellow foreigners.  Particularly, I have made some great friends with three guys from Holland, of all places.

Side Note:   This is my best explanation on how to pronounce the name of the city that I am living in, Xiàmén 厦门(Mansion Gate). You basically say “See-ah!Muhn?” Since Mandarin is a tonal language, you must say it just like this in order to be understood.  It is fun, but challenging.

It seems that all my free time outside of class and being with friends goes to studying Chinese.  I felt as if I enjoyed learning Chinese before coming to China, but since being here I just can’t stop.  On an average day I probably spend about two hours of self-study on the language.  I also have had plenty of people offer to help be study, which has been great.  I even got connected with my language partner, 张娟 (ZhāngJuān -I won’t even attempt to explain how to pronounce her name correctly).  We meet twice a week for roughly three hours at a time.  Essentially, we trade language lessons.  She helps me with my Chinese, and I help her with her English, more specifically English used in business settings.  Learning has been a blast, but it also seems to be a daunting task that I feel I won’t ever be able to become “proficient” in.  Regardless, I feel as if I am making good progress.  I can almost always get my point across when I speak to people, but comprehending their responses can often be a challenge.  

Anyway, here are some pictures that I’m sure I’m over due on.  

 This is Zhong Shan Lu 中山路。It is a very popular shopping street downtown.  It's off limits to vehicles because it is usually crammed with people, especially on the weekends.  This picture was obviously not taken during a weekend.

 

 Here is the view from the highest point in Xiamen.  The university is off to the left and downtown is over to the right.  This represents just the tiny corner of the massive island that Xiamen is.  (About 2 million people live in Xiamen).

 The above three pictures were taken at the Monastery directly outside of the university.  You can see it at the very bottom of the picture taken from the mountain.  It is one of the oldest Monasteries in China.

 Here are two pictures of the main sports arena.  The first one shows only half of the huge complex that showcases the Universities primary soccer field.

 This 10 story building is where I live.  It's a huge hotel where tourists, and a portion of the international population stay.  I find it to be pleasant.

The Center for Overseas Education

On Tuesday we are heading off on what is known as “The Trek.”  First we will have a service project, high up in the mountains of the Guizhou Province.  After being there for about a week we will be touring through Xi’An, Beijing, and Shanghai as part of our History Module.  This means that at each historical site, one of us will be giving a 25min presentation on a topic that we have already read a book about.  Mine will about the First Emperor of China, when we arrive to see the Terracotta Soldiers in Xi’An.  The entire trip is almost a whole month long, so we will not be getting back until March 23^rd.  And I probably won’t be having a chance to update this between now and then. 

So thanks again for reading, talk to you all soon!

Getting Acquainted with 厦门 － Xiamen‏

It's been a few weeks since I have arrived here in Xiamen now.   I haven't been able to access this blog since then, because of censorship, but I found a way around that (don't ask me how).  So now I can continue updating this. Yippee!

Since Xiamen University is just a school, and not really a tourist attraction (or so I thought -I'll explain in a moment), I have not taken any pictures of campus, but I will do that soon.

For now, here are some pictures of where I'm sitting as I write this.  This is 厦大西村。- Or, Xiamen University's West Gate Village.  It's a mall/market sort of area where many students come to shop, eat and hang out.  I have found myself coming here just about everyday for one of these things, if not just to check my emails.  Wifi is not to common around these parts.

I don't know if you are already aware, but we just had Chinese New Year!  By the Chinese Lunar Calendar, it is now the Year of the Dragon!  The thing to do to ring in the New Year is to watch the "Spring Festival Gala" on TV with your friends and family.  Therefore, just about our entire group of 15 people gathered in my room on New Years Eve and watched the festival on TV from 7:30pm all the way until it ended at 1:30am.  It was pretty spectacular with all the different performances, but not all of it made too much sense, considering that it the entire event was in Mandarin!  I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

The next day we went and watched the fire works that we being lit off by the beach!  We found a hillside to watch them from for the entire 40 minute presentation.  Did you know fireworks were invented in China?? That should give some clue to the quality of this show.  My camera did not do it justice.

Afterwards my friend Daniel and I walked back to the bus stop via the boardwalk lining the ocean.  From there I took these shots.