The general stress level during midterm week was really high...to the point that I think our attitude hurt some of our teachers' feelings - after one 大班课 the teacher pulled a couple of us aside and was like: "Did I do something wrong? Why was everyone glaring at me today?"
As much as I love ACC, there are definitely some flaws, especially in organization; the teachers often make alterations to our assignments, and notify us the evening before it's due. We also get our exam review packets the night before the test, leaving us very little time to prepare, especially since besides the review, Level 4 students have a take home four-essay portion that often takes me a good five hours. These organization problems were extremely apparent during midterm week, when the slightest change without adequate notification caused us a lot of stress. I think one reason for the confusion was that we would misinterpret the written instructions they provided in advance, and when the teachers finally verbally went over with us what we were supposed to do, we would realize that we were missing a large chunk of the it! The result would be general panic and a mad scramble to tie up these loose ends the night before the assignment was due. So, a tip for next year ACC students: carefully read the instructions, go over anything that in unclear with the teachers, and get a head start on the work! Otherwise you'll end up like me with my powerpoint, speech, preparation for 5 oral exam questions, and exam review to finish at 2am the morning of the test. Not good!
Datong:
We left via night train to Datong that night after taking our midterm. Overall the trip was pretty fun (a religious studies major would probably describe it as euphoric), but the timing of it could not have been worse! I don't understand how ACC could have expected us to truly enjoy Datong when most of us were so sleep-deprived! Exhaustion from midterms combined with the night train experience, and followed by "say 'qiezi", ::snap::, come on let's get moving to the next spot so we can take a quick picture where we're all awkwardly making peace signs" kind of tourism resulted in the majority of us getting sick by the end of the trip. I really wish ACC had given us one day to relax before taking us on the trip, or at the very least, more than just the one day when we got back (when I say one day when we got back, what I mean is we got back at 5 am Sunday morning, took a nap, and then had to start our homework, studying, and essay for the next day).
Great Wall and Datong Pics:
"不到长城非好汉" - flexing our "muscles" after climbing to the top of the Great Wall
being stereotypically Chinese...
it got pretty steep at some spots...
taking a breather
on the night train to Datong (city in Shanxi Province)
Hanging Monetary in Datong
Apparently next year tourists won't be allowed to climb up to the Monetary, so we were really lucky to get a chance to see this
Wooden Pagoda (no nails were used in the construction of this monster of a building!)
Chinese people seriously love this sign...they've even got it wearing pants!
Yungang Caves
These statues were carved by digging a hole in a mountain and hollowing it out, a process that took over 60 years to complete. There were a total of twelve caves, and most of the caves were completely covered with carvings (including Buddhas statues as small as 2 inches)
Nine Dragon Screen (built over 600 years ago, it's the oldest and largest glazed screen in China)
We wanted to play poker and so we got animal crackers to serve as chips... unfortunately, we soon found that not only were we too tired to play, but the crackers tasted more like cardboard than something edible... We ended up feeding some to the fish in the moat at Nine Dragon Screen and uh, gave the rest to a cute little boy on the streets....
Enjoying Datong's night life, aka eating lots of "stinky tofu" and getting tattoos!
*we walk into the hotel front lobby where three of our teachers are chatting*Me: Zhang Lao Shi, we're in a bit of pain
Zhang Lao Shi: What's wrong? Diarrhea? There's a bathroom on the second floor.
Me: No...our skin feels weird. Is it supposed to hurt?
Zhang Lao Shi: What do you mean...what's supposed to hurt?
Me: Our arms....
Rachel: Zhang Lao Shi, we got tattoos!
Julia (quietly): They made me do it!
Me (in a carrying whisper): Is it true that usually the needles in China aren't sanitary?
Zhang Lao Shi: AHHHH OH MY GOD!!!!!! *starts to scrub frantically at our arms* pause AHHHHHHHH it won't come off!!!
hahahaha
no, they're not real. although i hope it comes off soon. i get weird looks in the streets because i'm a five foot tall girl sporting a skull
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