Blog for yaoj2

On August 2, my roommate and I were very honored to be invited again to the house of Michelle and Douglas who received us last Saturday.

Michelle has a hard work. She worked after 6 o'clock and came to pick us on the way back from her office. This time they cooked for us. We are so lucky that we have the chance to try the Italian noodle. Maybe it was not authentic,but it tasted good and we liked it very much. I think it is the most delicious food I have had in America. I like home cooked meal. Later, we had the dessert. I still could not remember its name, but I know it has chocolates in it. We also had some ice-cream. They tasted better than Hagen Das.

After the nice dinner, we watched TV in the couch. I am alert all the time because Henry and Oscar, their dogs, are likely to jump on me. Henry really like tasting my hand. He is cute and in fact I don't mind his touch, but Oscar is bigger and heavier. I am feared when Oscar jumps to me. He'd better be on diet. Oscar seems to be hungery all the time and he is always looking for food, sniffing on the carpet. Henry is always looking for trouble. After all, it is fun with these dogs.

We came back after 11 o'clock. I am lucky to have the chance to meet them. I will never forget their friendliness. I hope I have the chance to welcome them in China.

How time flies!

It seems that I have just arrived VCU. I have spent almost three weeks in VCU. Now we will leave for New York on Agust 4. Everyone is preparing for the trip to New York and Washington DC. Some students have already made a good plan by themselves. I wonder if I could do the good shopping in New York because things in New York are said to be very expensive.

I think I will miss VCU and the beautiful city very much. I like the quite environment, historical sites, clear sky and the friendly people here. I hope I can come again one day.
I will really miss the Cabell Library.

Last night, we came back at 6:30. I rushed my dinner and sat in front of my computer to do the papers which is supposed to be handed to my intern for advice. It is the first time I write the American papers. Though it is only required for four pages, it still seem to be a little difficult for me probably because of my lack of experience. I am not clear about the strict requirement of the format of typical American papers, though the teachers have mentioned before in the writing class. Where should I do the citation and in what kind of order? why are some words printed oblique? And the biggest difficulty for me is what topics should I choose? I have done the work of brainstorming in these days and finally found there were too many things to write. I find it hard to focus on a typical point. I did not write the first letter until 9 o'clock in the evening. However, it was interesting to find that my thoughts became clearer and clearer as I wrote. I just got my thread of the article automatically. Only through writing itself can a writer make good work. I worked late until 12:45PM and finished three pages.

Today we had our last wrinting lesson. My intern helped to give me some valuable advice about the citation and topics. Most of our formats are not formal in the American colleges. I learn a lot from working on my papers. To add a discovery: the electronic stapler in the Cabell library is very cool!

On July 31, we have lessons on Arts and Acting. I have to say the Arts lecture disappoints me. I was expecting a tour to VCU School of the Arts-Ceramics Programme and could try doing interesting thing by myself. Watching a man painting for two hours is rather boring. I also learned painting at seven years old and always found fun in the process of painting. I think it would even be better if the professor had showed some famous paintings to us and explained them.

The lecture of Acting is not that boring. The professor was energetic and she tried her best to make every one take an active part in the lecture. Eric and Mr.Xue gave us a good example of acting with gestures and emotions. It made everyone thrived.

In the evening, we enjoyed a really fantastic Jazz Presentation. Though it was hard for me to understand the special words of music, I could roughly figure out what Tony meant. I have heard Jazz in China before, but I haven't seen any Jazz show. It did bring a lot of fun to me.

On July 30, we departs from GRC to Monticello and Charlottesville. The Monticello mountain was at the centre of a 5000-acre plantation that Jefferson inherited from his father. Monticello was home not only to Jefferson and his extended family but also to as many as 150 slaves, who worked farms, helped construct the house and outbuildings, and performed household tasks. I think the slavers' houses, maybe they can not even be called houses, are rather poor. They have nothing except a bed and four white walls. I can imagine the miserable life slavers lead in that times. And obviously, Jefferson's famous remarks in Declaration "All man are created equal." refers to the white man alone.

Entering the house where Jefferson lived, I was amazed by the large number of books Jefferson had. No wonder he is a great man in American history. Before I came to US, Thomas Jefferson was only a politician to me. But now he is versatile man, who is an expert not only in architecture but also in astronomy. Jefferson emphasized the importance of knowledge and education. He became the father of University of Virginia, which is a world-famous university today.

I also like Jefferson's gardens. He seemed to have a great interest in gardening and the natural world. By 1808,Jefferson had laid out and planted 20 oval-shaped flower beds at the four corners of the house and a flower border along a graveled walk encircling the West Lawn.

I think if I were rich enough one day, I would probably design the houses and gardens I lived, just like Jefferson. He was cool, and a man with a lot of creative ideas.

Yesterday Douglas and Michelle brought us to the The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to see the exhibition of "Rule Britannia Art, royalty and power in the age of Jamestown".

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts commemorates the 400th anniversary of Jamestown with a majestic exhibition of 16th and 17th century portraits and seascapes. Walking into the exhibition hall, I was attacted by the portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1 at the first sight. She wore the graceful costume decorated by the pearls and gold threads. I remembered the first time I saw the picture was on the text book of history when I was in elementary school. Today I still couldn't help feeling that Her Majesty was born of royalty and honor.

The museum also exhibits collections of Asian Art. I saw the sculptures of Buddha, Bronzes of Late Zhou, jade knives of thousands of years, porcelains and pottery. I was amazed that most of the exhibits were well-preserved and still colourful today. While in China, many exhibits are broken and hard for people to distinguish the decorations on the vessels. I found a pottery of Han Dynasty still colourful and beautiful, but the exhibits of Tang Dynasty in China's Museum are out of colour and incomplete. Tang Dynasty is acturally a period hundreds of years behind the Han Dynasty.

The most interesting and beatiful exhibits to me is the Faberge exhibition. I like the beautiful-decorated Russian eggs. VMFA owns five of the fifty imperial eggs known to have been made, which are respectively Imperial Rock Crystal Easter Egg, Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg, Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg, Imperial Pelican Easter Egg and Imperial Czarevich Easter Egg. They show to me the high styles and skills of that time.