Blog for chair

This is my first blog here in VCU, but I don't want to make it too long, because everything here is funny and fantastic and I still need more time to find and feel. I believe more and more wonderful surprises and experiences will appear one by one during the following days, while my footprints are extending to every corner of VCU!

PS:
I find that to record by camera is a good idea!

July 16, 2007 sunny

Today’s Bus Tour is really an exciting experience! It gives us an opportunity to appreciate the beautiful scene and famous spots in Richmond and I find that this city is very important in the American history. Though it is not the first capital of Virginia, it has played an important role and had a deep effect in the history ever since it was entitled to be the capital.
From the tour guide’s instruction, I learnt that James River is the mother of Richmond and now, the mother is still nurturing people here in the way that it provides water-electricity and resources to the tobacco manufactories alongside it. What impressed me most was that in spite of the factories alongside it , the water was still protected well and I can see flocks of ducks on the river and even a man who boated to the island in the center of the river fishing!
The next spot was where Richmond got its name and there’s a monument there. ‘Richmond’ is actually a name of a town in England before this name was used here, and it is not difficult to understand that a lot of places in the early US were named after the places in England because many of the early residents were from England.
The last but not least spot for today’s tour was the capital building of Virginia, as well as Richmond, and it is well-worthy to pay a visit. In the building, we got our first lesson about American history and learnt a lot thanks to the instructor there. I spent most of my camera’s battery and felt that I really got something in this old but still amazing building!

PS:
The barbeque in the evening was fantastic! It was quite different from those in China, but I’m sure that everyone were enjoying themselves. And to tell the truth, the chicken wing tastes wonderful!

This morning, we got our first lecture in VCU, and it was interesting and impressing. It was given by Dr. Ted Tunnel, and he made the class kind of enjoyable in the way that he presented the American history from Exploration to Civil War by telling a series stories while showing plenty of pictures , and even connecting the internet to show a passage of the famous movie Pocahontas! In China, professors rarely use internet through a lecture, so his class must be one that all of us will keep in mind.
Besides, the Writing Center Lecture this afternoon was really an impressing one, too! Patty, Mary and Katie gave us the most vivid writing lecture that I have ever taken! Though when I was still in high school, our teacher began to tell us about ‘Brain Storming’, the way they illustrate it was so attractive that I could not even wait trying it myself! And the practice was exciting! Everyone of us enjoyed the ‘storming’ a lot.

The professors are so excellent that all of them gave us splendid lectures to enjoy in our mind, but frankly speaking, all my friends and I feel that we deeply miss Chinese food because ever since we got here, everything we ate and drank has been cold, as well as full of fat, which made our stomach suffered a lot. So this evening, my roommate and I went to a famous Chinese fast-food restaurant called PANDA EXPRESS in the shopping mall, and felt greatly satisfied! We also took pictures in that restaurant. Though Danielle thought it was just American-Chinese food and it was true that we just ate rice by forks instead of chopsticks, we don’t care and still like it. Maybe what we really missed was just a warm meal with vegetables and rice!
By the way, the shopping mall was just like a fairy-tale world for me and all things there were so lovely and pretty that they almost drove me crazy and I wanted to move them all to my home! Fortunately, I waked up from the daily dream on the last moment and only got a pair of NIKE shoes there. But shopping is always exciting for girls^_^

Tonight, I went to bowling in a local bowling club not far from the GRC. Actually, I have not play bowling for almost one year though I once played it frequently in high school. My performance tonight was just so-so, but not too bad actually. I got 85 as my highest score, but my highest score was 104 and I got it when I was 16. Given that as a girl, my arm muscle is not that strong, I generally feel satisfied with my own performance tonight. Bowling is one of my favorite sport actually and I enjoy the whole procedure very much. You just push the ball out and hopefully it will go along the route you have expected and your eye keep with it and your heart also follow it. The moment you get a Spare or Strike is the moment you become the King or Queen, and everyone will applaud for you. You become the most shining one! I only got 3 Spares tonight, but I like that kind of feelings a lot!

After days of eating outside, I decide to do something by myself though I have never got a try before. When I was in China, I even rarely went to the kitchen! If I’m in the kitchen, the only thing I will do is just look. But now, I have changed my mind! DIY things can be considered kind of your achievements and can give you lots of fun in it. Since I have got known the usage of the oven, microwaves, what am I waiting for? Today, I have successfully made my first sandwich as breakfast and it’s really funny! So maybe the rest of days in GRC, I will try to DIY all my meals and enjoy it!

Today, we were told that we could send e-mails to our interns. But I find a big problem—maybe most of us have met this problem—for example, I know who is Matt, but I cannot point out who is Mathew and Mitchell. And I just cannot tell who is Cassie and who is Katherine! It’s a big problem! I’m not sure if I once call Katherine ‘Cassie’...and I’m really sorry about it!

PS:
Thanks a lot for all of the interns that the events they have prepared for us are so colorful and interesting, and I feel happy and fun everyday ever since I got here!