Memorable Moments in VCU

We paid a visit to Thomas Jefferson's house Monticello on Monday.
When the bus travelled along the mountain road,I read a beautiful sentencen in the introduction: "all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello----Thomas Jefferson,1787"How deep the love was that he was willing to spend rest of his life in Monticello.

Monticello was a house,an ornamental landscape, a farm, a plantation, a small mountain, and a large and diverse community. It encapsulated the interests, talents, ideals, ambitions, dreams and realities of one of the most complex and interesting members of the bold and creative group we know as the Founding Fathers.It showed Jefferson's knowledgeableness, intelligence, personality and creativeness.

Maps in the hall showed his concern about the world.
Clocks in each room showed his unwillingness to waste a minute.
Different status showed his respect to the great people in history.
Piano, books and oil paintings showed his all-rounded hobbies.
The view outside the house was also fantastic with pieces and pieces of green.

After visiting Monticello,gradually did I come to know the meaning of the sentence mentioned above.

It is the first time that I have so much fun in a musical class.
Although I have been studying playing the piano for 15 years, I always feel a little boring to have a classical piano class.But the lecture given last night surprised me so much that I could hardly believe the piano could be played in that fancy way.
The performance of the band was excellent, bugle, base, drum and piano made a harmonious melody.I was busy listening to the melody of each instrument but still not able to figure out how could they match together and build the harmony.
Pro.Tony Garcia tried to explain how they played jazz in a simple way,and I succeed in understanding what he said though there were still a few professional words I couldn't catch up.
Anyway, it was a wonderful Jazz night~

Exhausted!
This was the first time that I kept rowing a boat for such a long time.My arms might be paining for the next week...
At the very beginning, Grace, Vivian and me were in the front of the canoe team.We rowed and rested by turns.We were curious about everything, dragonflies, butterflies, water-plants, whirlpool,etc.Although the sun was buring above us, we still enjoyed our time on the James River.
However, we gradually found out that we were falling behind others.We rowed and rowed, but the canoe didn't go a straight line but a "Z" one.When we got to the bridge and thought it was the end of the trip, a bad news came from the coach, saying that we only finished one third of the whole distance.
Desperate!
Seldom did I feel so helpless...Three little girls, in the middle of the river, exhausted and no one wanted to row any more......
But we had to go on.We had no choice...
I just kepting rowing like a machine without thinking and talking...And my arms seemed to without my control......
One of the most lasting time in my life finally came to the end.But I was proud of myself for having finished the task.

The toughest thing of the summer school in VCU is undoubtlessly the 4-page paper.I have never written a 1500-word paper before.
What topic should I focus on?
How can I develop my ideas?
How to organize the paragraphe?
How to write in an academic and professional way?
......
All kinds of problems came to my mind when I started to work on my paper.The topic range was so large that I was not able to figure out a specific one.I kept changing my mind on the topic for several times, from history to culture and finally I decided to write something that related to my major, so I chose to write on the Great Depression in America.
Since I had a class on economic history of America last semester, I am quite familiar with this importment event in American history. And I read some paper when I studied this class, so it is not hard for me to find the materials.
But how to organize this materials and form my own opinion is the most difficult thing.And I am still working on it.

Thursday, when Matt finished reading my draft, he did give me some helpful advice. And I found out a big difference between paper in America and in China. In China, writers like to be professional and explain things in an academic way, which often confuses readers. If a paper is not well understood, people may think it is a valuable one. And keep studying it even though it just explains the topic in some obscure words. But in America, writers are supposed to make the paper easy to understand even make it easy to those who know nothing about the topic.So I always find that American papers are easy to catch the writers' ideas. Well~it is really a big difference.

How time flies~
Hardly can I believe that I have already been in Richmond for three weeks and now I have to pack my bag and head for NYC.
My feeling is rather complicated.I am excited about finishing the study in VCU and heading for NYC to have fun. On the other hand, it means that my visit to USA comes to the last part. I am unwilling to leave this place and the people here, especially the interns who are so nice that always ready to help me and try to make our activities more wonderful and colorful.
Let's keep in touch~And whenever you come to China, do let me know and I will be you guys' "intern" at that time.