Blog for wuj4

After a whole evening's suffering, I finished the draft of my paper finally. Although it's far from satisfactory and I'm still kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing, I decided to try something fun and relax myself a bit. So I went to visit VMFA with another two friends.

We had a great time there. These exhibits are amazing. There are ornaments of the Russian royal families, all kinds of paintings like scenery and animals and most surprisingly they also have the ancient treasures of China, from Xia Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. Some of the treasures were used as weapons, some were tools for farming and some were for decoration. There are also statues of gods, such as Guan Yin and Shou Lao, which are preserved very well.

I had a mixed feeling to see the Chinese things in the museum. On one hand, I feel proud that something wonderful from my own country can be placed in such a good museum and appreciated or even studied by some experts; but on the other hand, I think that these treasure are supposed to be preserved in a Chinese museum. Back in China, we once had a debate about this issue before. At that time, I was assigned to be on the side that "cultural treasure shouldn't be returned to its original countries." One of my strong points was that by exhibiting the cultural treasure in another country, especially in a multicultural one, it would help spread Chinese culture to the whole world.

Anyway, it's good to see so many great things in there. We are going to NY, so I'm gonna go and find some information and maps as a guidebook.

Today we had a lecture about American literature. Before the class I thought that the professor would tell us something very specific about certain books, but on the contrary, he categorized the history of American literature into several phases, which gave us a whole picture of what American literature was like and enlightened me a lot. His way of teaching made me realize that literature was about society and people's life and it had developed with the innovations and changes in a certain country and the whole world.

I've read some great books before, some of which are of original edition and some are simplified ones. Of course the abridged ones can't be compared with the original, but they certainly give me some understanding of what the books are about. About the contemporary author, I like Nicholas Sparks most. I've read his The Notebook twice and during the first reading I fell in love with the style of his writing and his language. I also read the sequel of the Notebook, but I haven't finished it yet. These two books are all about love and family, I believe, and they give readers some insights about marriage. His books can't be easily found in China. But as long as I can find them, I'll definitely read all his works.

Today we had three lectures which covered three forms of art--painting, acting and jazz. I was familiar with the first two, 'cause I had had these kinds of lectures and classes before. But still I was amazed to see a painting demo, during which a professor of VCU drew a portrait of his brother-in-law. He made a sketch before he came to the class so that he could continue drawing with oil and color. He was very funny and told us that he had developed the skill of drawing and painting at the same time. So he kept talking some stories about himself and his career while moving his hands back and forth on the picture. When the class was about to end, the picture was nearly done, too. It was very similar to what his brother-in-law's real image on the photo. If we had looked at the painting first, we would have probably thought that painting was not that difficult. But watching him drawing, I realized how hard it was to make a black color with other colors and make the person's forehead shine a bit. Later in the afternoon, we had a lecture about acting. We toured the theater during the class, so it wasn't boring. The professor was a female and I think she is very good at acting. She taught us the different ranges and types of voices and the mood that was carried out through the varied voices. Then in the evening we had a jazz lecture, or rather to say a live concert. Four gentlemen played the piano, bass, drums and horn. It was my first time to see a live jazz performance and it was quite eye-opening and ear-feasting.

Today we went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. "Monticello" was an Italian word which meant "little mount".

The whole place was preserved very well, with trees, grasslands and flowers everywhere. I shot lots of pictures there. No matter where I pointed my camera to, it was always a beautiful photo. There was a gift shop there, where there were many cards, books, gadgets about Jefferson and his house. There was one photo frame catching my eyes, on which it said "I can't live without books.--Thomas Jefferson". Every one who is great and respectful in the world deserves his high reputation 'cause he makes the numerous efforts that other people can't imagine.

With the help of the tour guide, a very friendly and nice lady, we visited his house. We could see his interest and knowledge of architecture through every detail of a specif design and layout of the house. He stressed the importance of Indian tribes so he put the tools and paintings on the wall of the hall, which would first came into sight when you enter. There were also photos of people whom were considered the most greatest ones in Jefferson's eyes; they were Franklin Bacon, Newton and John Lock. He also paid attention to the warmth and light of the house, so he changed the size and shape of the window in each room. The thing that hit me most was the books that he owned. The lady told us that the numbers of his books exceeded seven thousand and there were much more in the library of Congress, which I'd like to visit when we were in Washington, DC.

These days I've seen a lot and learned a lot. This week will be the paper week, so I gotta go and prepare for it.

This weekend was family visit. I went to Eric's parents' house, along with Grace and Danwei. Eric was very considerate and he made a full-fledged plan for this weekend. We three were really lucky. :)

We stayed at his parents' house which was situated in the forest. It was amazing to live there 'cause it seemed that the whole land belonged to me. The house wasn't large but full of warmth and the sense of family.

During the whole weekend, we had been to a lot of places. On Saturday morning, we went to pick peaches, where we also met Jay and several students from Fudan. It was the second time for me to pick fruits in the garden. First time was in China, in a cherry garden. I didn't pick many, but I indeed enjoyed staying there except for those fruit flies which really annoyed us. In the afternoon, we went to University of Virginia, which was a great university founded by Thomas Jefferson. I had heard of it before, but I never thought that it would be so beautiful. How wonderful it is if I can study there someday! On Sunday morning, we went to a Catholic church situated in UVA. They held a Mass there. I really couldn't describe how sacred it was to be in there. It was just amazing. There were many children there which surprised me a lot, some of whom were less than one-year old. For the first time I realized that how powerful religion could be. Then we went to the downtown of Charlottesville, where there were many shops selling books and antiques. shortly after that we went to the lake to join with other students. There are lots of very similar lakes in China, but I felt it different there. The place was different, time was different and the people whom I hung out with were also different. It was really pretty and tranquil.

During the whole visit, Eric was extremely nice and helpful. He cooked breakfasts and dinners for us and took us to see some of his friends. We also went to a party during which he grilled corns, vegetables and steaks for all of us. He was so busy that he himself had no time to taste them. The food was indescribably amazing. He must be very tired, but he never complained about anything.

This trip was one of the most wonderful experiences that I've ever had. I got to know the Americans more, as well as their culture and views.

In the afternoon we went to Allen Poe Museum, which was the residence of a great poet, Allen Poe. I'm not very familiar with him before and only know that many of his works are quite great. Through this trip I know that he was born in Boston and died in Baltimore. His times was around early 19th century and one of his masterpiece was The Raven. His house was quite simple and hardly furnished, so I guessed that he must lead a hard time during his days. I also saw the model of Richmond during the 19th century which contained the State Capitol, Poe's house, St. John's Church and the Executive Mansion. Some of the places banned picture-taking, so I only shot a few which were allowed.

the model of Alan Poe

There was also a live concert there, which was wonderful. They played the old-fashioned instruments and sang a few interesting songs which made the crowd laugh a lot. Watching them playing, I felt that I was living in the ancient times.