Summer China Trip 2017 (part 2/2)

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Our first meal in Yangzhou.
 Believe it or not this is only a fraction of the meal served us
Arriving in Yangzhou and Yangzhou University

This will probably be the longer post of the two, because we stayed here in Yangzhou for a whole week. On top of that, we were doing several fun activities every day.  Not to mention, the campus itself had a lot to explore!

Settling In
When we arrived, we got our room assignments in the international student dorms, received a brief orientation, and then set off to the school cafeteria for lunch. We also got to meet a few of the buddy students (college freshmen, mostly from the English department, who would be assigned to each student from the U.S.). After lunch, we went to a party/talent show that the buddy students had chosen to throw just for us.

New Acquaintances
We were served refreshments and seated in a small lecture hall as pop songs played in the background. A few speeches were made by the program directors, as well as the U.S. group's chaperone, followed by the exhibition of talents. When the majority of the talent-displaying was over  (which included a very badly harmonized performance of Adele's "Hello" on our part, and some truly impressive violin, calligraphy, and dance performances on theirs), the process of random-buddy-pairing commenced. Each of the U.S. students went up to the stage, made a brief self-introduction, and drew a piece of paper with a number. The number corresponded to a Chinese student, who came to the stage to present a small gift and have a picture taken.                                                                                                                                                        
My Buddy: Right
Me: Left
First Impressions
In all truth, when I first met my buddy, I was convinced that my buddy was either extremely shy, or extremely disappointed, in having me as her buddy. I could find no other explanation in my travel exhausted brain for our awkwardness with each other.

This made me quite sad, because I was also convinced that my buddy (who's English name I learned, was Sine) was the cutest person I had ever met, and I desperately wanted her to be my friend. I resolved that I thought she was great, and that no matter how she felt about me, I would do my utmost to show her that.




Full group of U.S. students and Chinese buddies

The day ended with a celebratory dinner with our buddies, and a healthy amount of excitement for the next few days spent in Yangzhou!


The Rest of Our Stay
  The majority of our days spent at the university consisted of attending Chinese classes in the mornings, and then free-exploring time in the afternoon. Unfortunately, because campus we were staying at was located outside of the main part of the city, most of our free time was spent inside the dorms. We only got to go there twice.

However, our buddy students planned a day so packed with fun, that I can't complain. Our group of students and buddies toured a beautiful garden, visited a local Buddhist temple, and finished the day with an amazing hotpot and experience. 

On top of that, we also had some great on-campus experiences: watching a famous chef cook fried rice (which Yangzhou is famous for, evidently), making dumplings (actually rolling out the dumpling dough into circles to be stuffed), and learning how to paint a bamboo scene with ink and calligraphy brushes.

The people at the university put in so much effort to make us feel welcome and share their lives with us. I will always remember how amazing my first trip to China was.


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