Jan. 13

Since I'm really loving the outlines, here's a small outline of what occurred today:

- A Chinese pop test (I know, not a pop quiz, a pop test)
- A dinner, following brush painting (or lack thereof)
- Movie
- Dancing!!!

I was so stressed today, I wanted to cry. But first, an interesting note: McDonalds here serves delicious red bean desserts like in fried biscuit things. There are also these street vendors that sell these amazing pancakes, thickened with a raw egg spread throughout (then cooked), sprinked with spices, cilantro, onions, and a combination of three sauces, all red or brown in color. Then a type of thick crunchy piece of cracker is put in the middle and the pancake part (which really is thinner, like a crepe) is folded over it. It could be compared to the Chinese version of like, say, a Taco Bell crunchwrap. Delicious. But enough of that food stuff.

Back to scholarly breakdowns, we had a quiz and oral presentation in 107 today. But then apparently also had a test that none of us were aware of. It was frustrating, but we all took it anyways. Hopefully, it went okay.

Then, we had brushpainting class. It was kind of weird to have brushpainting the day after calligrahy. Also, the stress kind of took its toll on me, and I didn't feel well so I skipped out early from brushpainting and went to my room for a pick-me-up nap.

Then, it was dinner at a fancy restaurant with our BNU hosts. It was really nice, but the constant mix of sweet and sour - spicy fish versus sweet desserts and beer, kind of gave me indigestion.
After dinner, we all gathered to watch the movie "Hero." However, it had been SUCH a long day, we were all really tired and antsy to do something of our own choice, and I'm afraid the movie was lost on a bunch of us.
At night, a bunch of us went out to a place called Smugglers, and Steven came out with us!! I loved that I got to see him in Beijing because I hadn't really seen him since he graduated last year and then moved to Beijing to teach as a professor. After the bar, we went to a dance club called Mix. It was huge and amazing and everyone had so much fun! There was foam, fake snow, bubbles, basically every bizarre inside weather pattern one could hope for :)