I'm a University student!

(I didn't take this picture.  The sky has been so hazy lately I decided to wait to take pictures.  It's actually a huge and beautiful campus)

This week I started at Jiao Tong University (交大学).  I am taking 24 hours/week of Chinese classes!  I felt like I needed to throw myself into something.  This past year I've done endless hours of life contemplation, self realization, traveling, relaxing but I was starting to lack motivation without a schedule of any sort during the week since my tutor left a couple months ago.

Throughout my year in China the language has been something equally fascinating and frustrating for me.  University seemed to me like the perfect challenge to dive into face first.

It's only been a week but it was really nice to have something to get up for each morning (8am start - sooo early).   I have reading, speaking, writing, and listening classes.  The teachers are all very different from each other and being a teacher myself now I haven't decided how I feel about their teaching styles.   The 12 other students are from all around the world - Pakistan, Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Canada.  I hope to learn more about their cultures as I get to know them.

Even though I've been here a year I decided to start at the beginning again.  The first week was very basic with pronunciations, tones, writing pinyin, and reading and writing basic characters.  I felt like we drilled pronunciations for 4 hours straight every day.  It was a much needed review.

One of my goals for the next 6 months is to not run from situations where I feel uncomfortable because of communication.  I really believe China is one of the best countries to live in if you want to learn a new language.  Most people don't speak English (the only way to communicate is through Chinese) but they are very interested in speaking with a foreigner.  They very rarely give up on me when I don't understand something - almost always I'm the one walking away first.   I think it's been my lack of confidence that I don't always embrace these situations.  It can be humiliating to stand there confused.  I've walked away many times feeling defeated.  But, when I can get past the uncomfortable feelings I experience and embrace the situation I walk away feeling confident, accomplished, and excited.