Yay for the intellectuals

Today was very nice. I didn't have class until 1:30 p.m. My alarm went off at 9 but I didn't actually get up until 10, showered and did my laundry. I still have some left, but at least I got my jeans done and one of my hoodies and my fleece. Now I just have to wait for them to dry and either do another load or do the rest by hand. Then I read for a little bit and went to get lunch. I went to one of the food stands and got a Muslim burger and I got a Sprite from the convenience store a little ways down from the stand. I purposely went early so that I could have time to just dawdle if I wanted or to read some more. I ended up sitting on a bench near my class building and reading outside for a half hour. It was a little windy though, and by the end I was happy to head into the building for class.

I LOVE the book I'm reading right now. It's a history of China, but it's so interesting. I'm not even in modern times yet. I'm in the early A.D. era, right after the Han Dynasty. I wish that in America I had had more opportunities to study Eastern culture and history, but it seems that they skim over it for the most part. At least I'm getting to learn about it here. Today I had my history of Chinese religions class. I'm pretty excited about it. We're going to be covering a lot of material, from the religions that were born here to Western religions and their presence here. Plus, our professor has tentatively planned quite a few field trips to religious places in the area. I really hope that we get to do at least a few of them. The one down side to this class is probably the oral presentation that we all have to do. That in and of itself isn't necessarily terrible, but the killer detail is that he'd like each presentation to be about 30 minutes long. That's considerably longer than anything I've ever had in the way of a presentation. FUCK! I've got some time though. One pair has to go next week. I definitely don't envy them.

Tomorrow I have my last first class. It's 'Discovering China through Film' and I'm cautiously optimistic about it. So far, so good really. I don't think there's ever been a semester where I've liked more than one or two classes. I've already got that beat because I like Chinese, Cultural Revolution, and Chinese religions. China through Film would just be icing on the cake. I'm really excited to see how the rest of the semester develops. It's very different from classes at home. Four of my classes only meet 13 times the whole semester. Now that we've had the first class, only 12 more until finals. It's bizarre for me to think of it that way. Still, lots of exciting stuff to look forward to. A few of us are already tentatively planning a trip to the Great Wall in a few weekends. Actually, we're planning two; the first to the touristy area and then once it's nice weather out, the second to a more local area of the wall. This weekend I'll probably just stay in I think, and try and get a handle on homework.

Well, I think that's about it for this post. For anyone who's curious, I'll be back in the states in 97 days. Haha....yes I have a count down. But it's not because I'm anxious to get back. I mean, I do miss home, but I feel that being aware of how much time I have left here will help me spend that time more wisely. Anyway, I think I'm gonna go. Maybe read some more, or see if Becka ever gets her ass online. lol Later!