Blog for liuj5

cookout dinner

It's been quite a busy day, but nice, generally. After some 14 hours' sleep(ha ha), I've regained strength. Morning started with the fire alarm. Actually, it was quite annoying. Anyway, i was awake before it. So i was not disturbed much by it. Alreading being starving by noon, i went out to grab some food with my roommie. We stopped at a little pizza restaurant called "little caezar"(can't remember very clearly). Food there is sold at fairly reasonable prices. We ordered a cheese pizza and two drinks and it was about 9 dollars. So i recommend it to you. It's located at Grace St. Sounds like i am doing advertising, hehe. Then, the bus tour of Richmond was a nice experience. I like the downtown there. It's tranquil and exquisite except for the business district perhaps. Each house has its own charm. I really wanna take pictures of each of them, but the glass always caught light. Hope we will walk around there some other day. Ah. And the James River. It's always been what i wanna see. Again i am looking forward to canoeing on it. The Virginia Capitol might not be that magnificent, but it was something that you'll marvel at. The building stands with pride for its historic meanings in the American history. It's a pleasure to visit there. Finally the cookout was great. I love the chicken wings. But frankly, i've already started missing Chinese food. I don't think i can stand burgers and sandwiches if i keep eating them for another two days. Hopefully, we can try that "elephant Thai" tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it!
I'll see if we can paste some pix here.

Today, i began to realize that we really have a tight schedule. From morning till now, seems there's no time to catch a breath. We had classes, got VCU card, toured the library and went to Short Pump and Walmart.The classes were OK. But i could not concentrate or be engaged very much since we all have learnt it back in China. Most of it was just repetition. Plus i was really sleepy today, so i was quite terrible during the class. Hopefully, we'll learn something fun and new in the next few days.I'm really tired now, gotta go to sleep.

I've just come back from the Elephant Thai restaurant. It's the best meal i had for the past few days! Our intern Phuc took us there. Love ya^^ We really had a lot of fun. And it was nice to listen to her talking about her family and newly-wedded husband! We three were really happy for her and even envy her a bit, hehe...
Though we have a tight schedule almost everyday, i wanna spare as much time as possible to explore the university and the city.Anyway, it's what we came here for, isn't it?I am looking forward to bowling, Harry Potter, VA beach and all the following activities. It'll be great fun.

It's noon now. I've just grabbed some food. Lunch is always terrible. I don't like writing blog at noon, but i fear i cannot finish 5 this week. And i guess we won't have access to Internet at weekend? I find i cannot concentrate on the lectures here. It's not that they are all boring. Actually some are pretty good. But i just cannot concentrate! My roommate and i got absorbed in a novel. We feel the urge to read it all the time. Hope the professors and interns won't be mad, haha. I will rush to the class now.

This weekend is certainly tiring but nice. Many things were just so exciting. The Griffon in the Busch Gardens, VA beach...
Compared with BJ, Rides here are much more thrilling. My throat became sore when i got off the Griffon! If it were not for the long queue, i really wanted to ride it once more. The DarKastle was fun, too. But due to fear of ghosts, i kept my eyes closed almost all the time. Pity~

coooooooooool~

The beach is a dynamic place where you swim in the ocean, take a walk along the seaside, ride bikes, buy souvenirs in the nearby stores or you just sit on the balcony, reveling in the music. And i think a lot of people dined at Wong's Chinese Restaurant. I love their spring rolls! It's even better than those back home.

Colonial Williamsburg is somewhere i wish i live. It's historic, tranquil and exquisite. I like their dresses and hats. I dont understand why we spent so little time there and went shopping again? 2 hrs was really short and we spent half an hour touring the Capitol building. But it was worthwhile. It was a sacred place without which colonial williamsburg would not have been established.

The black hen came from China! hehe
Finally, I am really sorry for the trouble we caused to everyone, esp. all the teachers and interns who went out to look for us. We really wanna apologize. And we'll try not to get lost and be on time next time^^

I just came back from a big dinner. Nine girls...a hundred buffalo wings!!!Can you imagine that? It was really a scene.

Hey, isn't it crazy~
We went shopping AGAIN-----the 4th time since we came here. But things here were very different from those in the shopping mall. They were mostly artistic, much better for exhibition than for sale, and expensive though they were of very good quality.

does this look like the phoenix in Harry Potter?

Another day about politics. Though we've learnt quite a lot about political system of America, the lectures today as well as the professor were still very impressive. He's funny. He talked in a light-hearted way, creating scenarios, making up conversations, but it was very intriguing. You can remember a lot of things in this way. And i took notes today! hehe.. Sometimes, a good professor can really make you love a course.

Had a lot of fun today. Though i am not very much interested in topics on business, "Mr. company" was indeed very funny. We couldn't help laughing at the mention of him. Joke.
I had no idea what museum we were gonna visit until we arrived there. Many thought it boring, while i really like it. The garden was not big but private. You wanna explore every corner. And i like those exhibited works of Poe. I found that i began to love things dark more than before. Perhaps i am influenced by XXX? haha..

Back home, i cooked spaghetti. I always think cooking is fun^^(my roommie is lucky!) The ketchup sauce was so cute which contained letters from A to Z(it's for kids).

dinner's ready~

see my name?

Back from Phuc's house. It was an exciting and unforgettable weekend. Phuc, we are really thankful for the Luau party, the Thanksgiving dinner, the church, naval base, shopping, in all, everything you've done for us. Love u~ Wish i could treat you the same way as you do when you come to Beijing.
Luau paty
It was a Hawaiian party. We had a great time there, eating, chatting, playing "who's the murderer". I felt really high. Maybe it was the rum jelly that worked.

We look Hawaiian?
Back to Phuc's house, her friend Jennifer cooked us a Thanksgiving dinner. We had Thankingsgiving in July. We had turkey, smashed patato, grean bean, croissant, pumpkin cake,etc. It was really a feast.
one picture of the turkey

Today, we went to the church in the morning. It was totally different from what i thought it to be. The priests were very passionate as if they were campaigning for the president, haha, joke. And there was a band and a chorus singing several songs. People stood up, lifting their hands, praying and preaching. And those on the stage sang pretty well. After each song, people greeted others around them, hug each other. You'll find it hard not to be touched by such scenes. I guess if i live here, i'll probably join them too. That's the way to really integrate into the community.
In short, a fantastic weekend. I wanna say more if i get chance. Now i must go to sleep. It's really late.

Soon we're gonna leave. Yinghe always says she's gonna miss here. I cannot say for sure now, but probably i'll miss the dorm, the library and the classroom here when i go back home.
Monticello is a great place to visit. Thomas Jefferson is a good designer. It's not hard to design something, but it's surely hard to take many factors into consideration. If there is only one reason as to why i wanna live here, that is the environment rather than the house itself. It's located on the mountain. Thus it's cool in the summer. The air is clean and humid under the effect of which trees and grass look all the more green, an ease to the eyes. Monticello reminds me of Jiang Jieshi's house in Ningbo. They are similar in many ways------location, climate, etc. Seems that great minds think alike.
I should probably start to work on my paper. Sigh...