I know that it’s been about two weeks since my last update, which is a virtual no-no in the blogosphere. Since the Silk Road trip, I have been struggling to find that nice balance between classes, sleep, and actually going out there and getting to experience Beijing (for some reason, sleep always gets the shaft).
When I say struggling to find a balance…I’m not kidding. In the past two weeks I have: gone to Tiananmen Square one weekend, the Forbidden City the next weekend, interviewed shop owners (in Chinese!) at the Nanhu Peasant Market, visited the Bird’s Nest, walked five miles around Olympic Park, and visited Sanlitun twice.
In one week, I completed 100 pages of reading for my film class, 350 for my journalism class, and 500 for my writing analysis class. I wrote an 800 word comparison on Chinese vs. U.S. reportage on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 for my journalism class. I filmed and edited three 3 minute videos for my film class, one of students painting watercolors portraits during class, one reflection video on my week in China, and one of the images I filmed in Tiananmen Square which I set to John Lennon’s “Imagine” (this received a lot of praise inside and outside of class).
Besides this, (which already constitutes a month of experience) I celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival with my roommate (mostly, a lot of mooncake since neither of us had family in town to reunite with), eaten a whole jar of peanut butter, numerous plates of jiaozi, gone shopping for supplies three times, met with my Chinese tutor five times, received a mani-pedi for the equivalent of $25, and gotten a fantastic haircut which cost me roughly $2.50.
I also found out randomly one day (thanks Kathleen) that I’m a dating columnist for The Hoya again. So I’ve written two articles already—one on American dating, and other on Chinese.
For those of you who know me, you know this is the way I like to keep my life. I’m so freaking excited for what I am going to learn and accomplish this semester. My writing analysis class professor is the former Beijing bureau chief to TIME magazine (hey, I’ve only been devoted to that magazine since 8th grade). There are only two other people in the class—which means I have to do all the reading, but it also means I will learn so much. In this class, we examine how Westerners approach China, starting with Marco Polo and moving quickly to more modern writers (such as bloggers). Turns out that Marco Polo never went to China. Yeah. Chew on that information for a while.
My journalism professor has written for The New York Times and Washington Post. He sets very challenging expectations (to be fair, all my professors do) and I know that I will learn a lot about China and journalism from him. He is a friend with most of the people whose books we are reading.
After spending the last class discussing a book for over an hour, one student commented, “So, this is like a glorified book club.” I responded, “Yeah, but a book club where you read the book and then talk to the author about it.”
We have to read a book a week in this class, which is a lot (and he knows it) but it means the class will always be interesting. The writer of last week’s book is going to come and talk to us this next class. His book was extremely well-written and provided fascinating insight—if you’d like to know which one it is, comment to me.
Finally, my film class is probably the coolest class I’ve ever taken (if the other ones weren’t cool enough). I hope to write a more detailed profile of my professor and why this class is so cool within the next week. It’s one of those classes that inspires the student to just do—every time I leave the class, I want to film everything. There’s so much going on in China, so many things that I walk by every day that are unique to China. Every week, we make two films and a self-reflection. By the end of this semester, I will have made over 75 short films, each image worth a 1,000 words. That’s a lot of words.
I really wanted to post the videos, but when the total upload time crawled past 15 hours, I decided to abandon any hope of sharing things while I’m here. I will undoubtedly post them when I get back, and for those near me…movie night!
Right now, I’m just amazed at all I will accomplish this semester. My journalism professor is assigning us profiles and interview articles to write, and my film professor wants us to find people to interview on camera. These assignments will force me to abandon any lingering shyness and talk to complete strangers…in a foreign tongue. These people can be anybody—taxi drivers, peasants, college students, shop owners—all of whom have come to Beijing for important reasons. Interviewing them will help me learn which are the important questions, and will help me discover a culture not known for easy answers.
Susan says: 
admin