studies in building 17

per my grandma's request, today i am writing about my academic routine at BLCU and my living situation in 留学生宿舍17号楼, or International Student Dormitory Building #17. i know these topics tend to fall by the wayside so i am glad for the opportunity!

i am much busier with school than i was during the summer, no surprise there. in shanghai, i had three hours of chinese each morning, and two additional hours some afternoons. here in beijing, i have three hours of chinese each morning from mon-wed (in almost exactly the same format), then i have english-taught classes in the afternoon. so my current schedule is:

M: Chinese 9-12
T:: Chinese 9-12, Contemporary Chinese Society 2-5 pm
W: Chinese 9-12, Chinese Culture through Film 4-7 pm
R: 1-on-1 meeting with Chinese teacher for 30 min. in the morning, Chinese Economy 2-5 pm
F: Chinese test or presentation 9-11 (alternates biweekly)

i knew the expectations of this program before i applied, but i can't help being a little bitter toward my peers who are "studying" abroad in europe and somehow doing a LOT less studying.... teehee.

in earnest, i'm not complaining at all, because those who know me know that i am a student to the core. i am loving these classes and their required readings. i participate vocally in all my classes (hopefully not too vocally). the classes are also convenient... chinese meets in a classroom ON our floor, IN our dormitory. english classes meet in a building across campus (pictured below) but it's only a 15 minute walk. the campus cafeteria, dry cleaner/tailor, fruit market and post office are all super convenient as well.


so far, one of the highlights of the sociology class has been looking back on the mao era, for both negative AND positive aspects. this reading and discussion challenged me because of my hatred (sorry, strong word) for mao. i tend to demonize and oversimplify this era, easy to do with the historical evidence against things like the leap and cultural revolution, and my own liberty-oriented political leanings, which revile authoritarian regimes. but i think this discussion helped me reflect more into that era and step into the shoes of people who were just desperate to lift China up and make it better.

now we are talking about more modern topics; the most interesting so far is the "human flesh search," a contemporary phenomenon that actually resembles the cultural revolution in some ways [read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html]. people use the internet to find and condemn people who have "done wrong" (it could be anything, but especially deadly if political). netizens then publicly reveal that person's information online, leading to all kinds of vigilante abuse... vandalism, blackmail, threatening phone calls, dismissal from jobs, osctracism, etc. it's terrifying and also helps me understand the cultural revolution in hindsight...some Chinese feel they have the right to do this (others find it despicable).

the professor himself is the highlight of the film class. professor teng is a prominent member of china's film industry, so it's a huge privilege to learn about it from him. he is the co-director of Chen Kaige's internationally renowned "Farewell My Concubine," which we watched last wednesday in class. this wednesday, he is taking us to a film festival in downtown beijing, which should be really exciting. the films we have watched so far have all been amazing (lei feng, hibiscus town, farewell). so far, i have mainly taken away (1) the complexity and trauma of china's modern history, (2) the continuing search and mystery for china's modern identity.

wahhh this is turning into a novel! last thing: building 17 as an environment for all these studies. this is bound to be humorous because building 17 is quite a unique place. it houses a mishmash of foreign students so there is a world's worth of odd, college-student behavior. trendy japanese students are always on the go, in and out of the gate. as you approach the building, there are scantily-dressed french and italian students smoking and drinking outside. there are asian brits talking on their cell phones, which is always disarming because of the accent! you pass the internet cafe next to the lobby, where spanish girls are chattering into their skype cameras and drinking expresso. in the lobby, african students chill or hit the convenience store for snacks. in the elevator, korean girls who only leave their rooms in groups to get instant noodles.

our floor, for some reason, is dominately russian. this is entertaining but also leaves jen and i with the following complaints: second-hand smoke through our shower fan, drunken underwear-clad cat fights at all hours, REALLY loud female neighbors with even louder cell phone ringtones (dj khaled & ludacris, "all i do is win"), and people walking down the hall wearing full animal pelts as the weather gets colder. our question: are these people really studying chinese?

anyway, grandma, this is not meant to worry you. jen and i get everything we need to done in our cozy room! we love our living space and get along perfectly as roommates (keep totally different hours, but we both sleep like rocks, so it's a non-issue). we are also in the same chinese level (301) so we can practice speaking and do our homework together. altogether, it's a ideal situation!