Blog for duant

I'm really excited about standing at US land for the first time in my life.
Today is Sunday, so we had a wonderful experience in the church. Outside of the Cathedral, there were many no-job, no-paid, homeless black people having breakfast in the garden. Because Sunday's breakfast is free.
Excellent interns helped us be familiar with the whole Monroe Park Campus, wonderful journey!
I am very appreciate the plan which made by vcu except cold sandwiches and over-cold air conditions...
Best wishes to everyone!
enjoy your time!

I'm now in the library to type my thrilling experience today.

We took a bus tour this afternoon around Richmond. This is a history-laden city for Americans and it played a very important role in America history, especially for American independent war against Britain and civil war.
Richmond is also called as "the mother of President" and "the mother of America", for about 8 presidents of America came out from here. One thing that is of particular interest to me is the fantastic visit to the Virginia Capitol, which means the government building. Some of the building are still in use now, such as Senate Chamber and House of Delegates Chamber, the other are rebuilt as the museum.
We also went to the St. Johns Church(built in 1741). On this historical site, religious freedom was first protected by law in America. Stayed at Shockoe Bottom, the church is the oldest risidencial neighborhood. A lot of important meetings in American history held here in the church. VA leaders, Washington,George, ect, all came here to decide which way Americans should go.
On March,1775, at St. John Church, Patrick Henry gave a famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, fighting for America Independence.
We also went to the view that named the city. The curve of the James River steep slope on this side are very much like the features of the River Thames in England, at a royal village west of London called Richmond upon Thames. William Byrd II, an important planter, merchant, politician and writer, was asked by the House of Burgesses to plan a town at the Falls of the James in the early 1730's. As he had traveled several times to Richmond upon Thames, it is believed that the view led him to name this new town "Richmond".
And why I'm so happy about the journey is because we have a very good guide. He is about 50-60, and he has a very good knowledge of the city and its history. While we travel by bus, I take some notes about his introduction and explanation as well as taking photos, so that I can remember what I've learnt today.
Just half couples of hours ago, we have an extremely BBQ in our dorm garden. Our interns helped us cook a lot of beef and chicken, and we make hamburgers with beef, vegetables, cheese and tomato juice by our own! It couldn't be more perfect! I try to BBQ,too, and they all say that I'll get a good job in the restaurant nearby.
We also play Frisbee with Mitch who is very nice!
Now I’m deliciously tired, I just want to go to bed.

pieces of notes
1.James River was given name in British King James I's honor. James River is narrow and rocky here, for only about half a mile wide on the site we visited. The widest part will be about 7.5 miles.
2.the capital of Virginia was first in Jamestown(1618), and then moved to Willionsburg, and now in Richmond(178x).
3.Richmond is really an important historical city in American history.
10 days after British came to America, they settled here.
And during the civil war, Richmond was the Confederation center.
4.Besides Maryland, the capitol building is 2rd old building in Virginia.
5."adaptive reuse": the surface of the building don't change, but the inside can be reconstructed and changed easily.

Last morning, Ryan Smith gave us a lecture on Colonial America to the Revolution. This is the first lesson we had in VCU. His speech focused on three main topics: Exploration, Settlement, Revolution. Hearing from Columbus's first arrive at America to 8 million native Americans died from diseases in 10 years, there is a vivid imagine rise in our minds. In addition, I learnt that Spain, France and England has completely different type of settlement.

In the afternoon, Ted Tunnell was really impressed me. He used a lot of old English to decorate his lecture, so it is really difficult for me to understand. But I think he is just like the Professors in Harry Potter which is my favorate books.

In the evening, we went to Short Pump with interns. It is surprise to have chinese dining there and I fool around some luxury stores. I really enjoy it.

Today we study about Civil Rights Movement in the United States(1865-1965) and Contemporary America Culture and Society. Considering about the latter one, the Professor focused a lot on Women's roles since WWII. And I find that Youtube is really a good and popular website in America, for many Profs use it to support their lectures.

At night, Mathew is so kind that he bring us to Cary Town to have a wonderful dinner, though he is already tired and think about his girlfriend...haha He had promised to make a DV program of his romantic story and show us one day, so everyone who read this blog please remind him about it every time you meet him!!!
I find that our Chinese really have a pretty much better understanding about American life compared with their knowledge about China. So we just should take good advantage of Olympic Game in 2008 to show our real life to the whole world.

It's really a fantastic day. Thanks go to Mathew!!!He likes soccer and American football!
He is so handsome!!! I like him!

In recent couple of days, a surprising phenomenon moved me a lot.

It is really common to encounter a disabled student here. Some of them have to walk in the campus with the help of a wheelchair, others may walk on crutches; I have to admit a disappointing reality that in China we could probably seldom see the disabled in the University or even high school and primary school. There seems to be an unsaying discrimination upon the disabled. Some maybe are just afraid of the look on them while others believe that they can achieve less than normal people, for few of our schoolmates want to be the volunteers of Paralmypic Games to be held in Beijing in 2008. Being a Beijinger, I really ashamed of that. Is hospitality as a traditional Chinese good character only goes to a particular kind of people?! In VCU, I find that the helps of the disabled scatter everywhere---they can push the wheelchair-height button outside the dorm gate without the aid from another student, and get into the gate with its automatically open up. And there are wheelchair restroom everywhere.Even in the library, there is a special room with certain equipments for those who are deaf or blind or sth. to study easier. What's more, I find there are some dots under the sign of classroom, which is purposely designed for blind students; and a mini elevator set above the stairs outside the lecture hall just in case that students in wheelchair could easily go up.

And another thing I want to write is how good the other's English. The students of English major have read a lot of books than us. Their oral English is also wonderful. But I am really happy to have outstanding classmates, because I could have a stronger motivation to study harder in the future. Only in this case, I could become better and better.
I'm glad to say that I have already learned a lot from this exchange program. Thank you everybody.

I am NOT happy now. Maybe I am at my low tide~Maybe I'll get better tomorrow~
Even a few days ago, I was very happy and I was confident about my English. But I don't know why everything suddenly becomes like this~
If I am bad in oral English, please don't laugh at me!!
I will cheer up!!

I have said to everyone that I don't like Busch Garden because it's too scary for me and I wouldn't enjoy any rides so I could take pictures for them. But everything changed since I take the first ride.
The park is designed as mini Europe, for it is divided into English, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France and Germany. It is really the Heaven for children! Thousands of children with their dads and moms rushed into there and queues are everywhere. But not like Chinese amusement park, here in America, there are about 3 trains running at the same time on one ride, so it only cost us little time before we sit on the ride and fasten our seatbelts.
It is the truth that there is something wrong with my stomachache since that morning, but it is actually not as that bad as I pretended.^_^ Forgive me! I am just a little girl who want to find an excuse not to lose face in front of a group of people, especially there is my favorite intern~ Successfully, I make every persuasion unworked,and escape a terrible(for me) ride "suffering"~

I am so curious about why Americans could feel so comfortable when we go ups and downs; and more surprisingly, they seem to enjoy it...even in the agravic situation, the keep talking to me in order to persuade me to lift my arms up and smiling...Obviously, I refuse to loose my tightening seized hands on the bars! They are all maniac!

An extremely interesting thing is happened on Emma Ma. When I absent-minded go to my first ride with others, she keeps screaming all the way.I mean on the ride. How could she makes sound during agravic? I could only open my mouth at the maximum level but completely lost my voice...We all scared by her scream but not the game itself~maybe so wonderful~I don't know.

At 4pm, we make the rightest decision in the whole day. we give up the attempt to enjoy water ride and choose to have a view in the "Curse of Darkastle". It is fantastic! Before we go in, we imagine that it is a common ghost house. But it is Not! The castle is like a kind of the combination of ride and 4-D movie. We are the characters in Harry Potter who fly dramatically down through castles on broomsticks, and the man in front of me even receives the kiss of Dementor. chilling~closing my eyes~

We are all laughing when we see the sunshine again, for our feeling still got trapped in the experience of wizard world.

On the bus to the VA beach, I still feel that I am on the top of the track, which means next second, I would drop uncontrollably...

My stomach seems recovered at a minute in the day...

My new roommates really give me a start when we open the door in the hotel. All 3 of them screamingly throw away the bags and rush to the balcony and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Atlantic Ocean. 100 meters away, tides pat the sand crudely, as if try to engulf all of them. Several red flags drifting on the beach which means that today's waves are huge and it is dangerous to swim or ship. A group of friends are enjoying the big bicycles, and occasionally they yell at the people who block their way. In the room, there are 2 double beds which surprise me a lot. I just wonder what condition the room is designed for?

In the following day, 4 of my good friends and I combat happily with the high waves; we try to jump up when wave hits us, but unfortunately, many times we just sink in the water, and taste the salty and bitter seawater. Anyway, we really enjoy it for it couldn't be more interesting.

In order to protect my own stomach, I spend 10 dollars having a delicious Chinese food there. 2 blocks away, a seafood buffet attracted us a lot, but we decide to save money and have big meals back in China!
Ahhhhhh! I want to eat!!!

Finishing classes at 3pm, we began our journey to Cary Town once more.
This time our destination was a Thai food restaurant whose name is Thai Dinor Two. It was really strange to mix red-curry with coconut milk. But thinking that it was the typical Thai food, I sipped them little by little, and finally finished my dinner. I’m not saying that it was not delicious, I just thought it was a little bit not agree with me…

Then John was kind enough to drive us to a big book store. At there, we found “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, and it was on sale for 40% off. A big surprise!! Though I actually want an English vision, I couldn’t help buying it at the moment I saw it, because I am a super fan of Harry Potter.

There was something wrong with John’s foot and knee, but he didn’t complain anything to us. When we fooled around in the store, he waited patiently for us. Many times, I would exchange my role with intern’s. Don’t they feel boring when guided us to the places they had been to so many times? Do they want to have a good rest at home stead of driving us around the city every night? However, they only recommended more and more places and activities for us to choose, and satisfied our demands no matter how ridiculous they were. Some times, they even paid for the bills for us.

I have to admit that this experience changes a lot of my impressions on American students. I realized that they are smart, deep-thinking, friendly, outgoing; what’s more important, all of them seem to have a sea of knowledge. They read newspapers every day to keep pace with the society; whenever there is academic topic being hold up, they would eagerly to participate into the discussion, and change idea with others. In this case, I suddenly realize why American universities are better than those in China. Not only in terms of teacher, but there are also some differences in students.

It seems like a new world opened in front of me, and since now, everything in my life changes.

My arm and leg have been aching for a whole day. Because last night, there was a competition on pingpang between students from BFSU, Fudan and VCU in gym.
I haven’t play pingpang for many years except few exercises with my BF. Thanks to his teaching, I won 2 matches before failed.
My BF is very interested in pingpang and good at it. He would spend a whole night in gym to improve his skills. During the whole process of playing yesterday, I missed him so much. If he had come with me, there is no doubt that he will be the winner!! Though I enjoy the life here in America, I also want to fly back to China and date with him.
Best wishes my dearest!
Enjoy your life in Beijing!
I miss you!

It was really a fantastic night.
Zhu Meng and I and the other 2 boys who came from Fudan (LIu Zheng and Chen Yu fei)spent more than 4 hours in a suburb house.
The mom was a typical mom, who was talkative and very hospitable; while the daddy was also typical, who was silent and had some deep thinkings.
It was really interesting to see some of the rooms were extremely tidy, but some others were just in great mass~ I believed that the parents must prepared a lot for our visiting. They were so kind.
The meal is delicately prepared. The original plan was to BBQ in the big backyard of their house. But it seemed like it was going to rain, so instead we cooked all chicken, beef, pepper, mushroom, onion on the gas in the kitchen~ It was a little bit strange to not put salt during the cooking, but put salt on the table if anybody wanted.
We were all glad about the talking among us. We learn a lot about American life and in contract, we four told them a lot traditional Chinese food, medicine, and even some real life conditions in China now during our delicious dinner.
The huge dog was so cute that everyone wanted to take a picture with her.
I was so appreciate about the tremendous home visit tonight! And it was quite smart to bring some small gifts to them, because they were so nice! It seemed that all of the family members like FuWa HuanHuan and chopsticks very much!

What's more, the misunderstanding between Mitch and me was wiped out. Neither of us laughed AT each other, but we laugh WITH each other. And I found that if I relaxed more when talking with him, it didn't that difficult to understand what he said. It was really a big progress for me!!I'm so happy about it!!

All in all, it was a good night!!

Besides the convenience for the disabled which I wrote in my former blog, there are a lot of good manners we could learn from America.

First of all, few drivers in America would break the traffic rules. Every car that arrives at a crossing would slow down and let the walkers across the street first, even there is no traffic lights. And if a car wants to turn right on the crossing, it is really strange for a Chinese to see that the car waits patiently until all other walkers and cars go by. In China, it seems that everyone is in a hurry. We no longer have the good manner of humility since we step into a "modern" society. The only thing that has value for us is money; and in order to earn more money, we had to catch up every second. However, could everyone get to the office quicker if the traffic is in a totally mass? Obviously not! A big "Dragon" seems wake up in a wrong way. We focus too much on the prosperous results of other countries, but left the process of their great efforts and good manners behind. In no doubt that if we keep so, we will never achieve to the highest advanced level we dream of. That is to say, economic globalization much depends on the cultural globalization, Only when we treasure our own culture as well as learn from others, we could be successful in economy.

Second, honest is a common character for each American. Many times we walked between the shops, some of the owners just read their books carefully, and let us fooling around without anyone on guard. However, every customer is honest; they never bring out any products without paying. I can not help questioning myself that what will happen if there is no protections around the shop in China? Unwillingly, I realize that the answer is a lot of goods will be missing. On this point, I suddenly realize the true meaning of an "advanced country".It means that every citizen is civilized; everyone consider himself as a member of society but not a single person. A sign for whether a country is advanced, I think, is that everyone believes they are a big family---only when others lead good lives, then he could get the real happiness. In that case, China should not be over-confident about its progress. "Advance" is a cultural word, it does not only related to economy.

Third, human rights is highly respected. For example, there is toilet paper in every restroom. Anyone who rush into it will not be embarrassed by not bringing any paper...There are many jokes about Americans go to restroom in China. Almost all of them have the experiences of being trapped in the toilet...What a shame for a Chinese when he heard this?!

In short, there is still a long way for China to go.

These days, I really learned a lot about American history.
Today, we went to Monticello(an Italian word which means little mountain) and saw Thomas Jefferson's grave, plantation and house. Jefferson, who was an "enthusiast" in architecture, designed his own house for both working and living usage. In 1768, Jefferson began leveling the Monticello mountaintop for a house. Thus began a 40-year period of design, construction, and remodeling to create his "essay in architecture". The house is extraordinary, not only in design, but in the unique way Jefferson related it to the landscape by incorporating open-air living spaces, most notably the L-shaped terraces that serve as extensions of the main floor.

Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826), philosopher of the American Revolution, is best remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence. The ideas of the Declaration---that "all men are created equal" and have a right to "life, liberty,and the pursuit of happiness"---established the foundations of self-government and individual freedom in America. Jefferson's eloquent words of 1776 still inspire people around the world today.