The Day from Hell

Day two, to sum it up, has been frustrating.

Jet lag was my enemy last night and I fell asleep at 10pm.I managed to sleep most of the night only waking briefly at 3:45am. I woke up at 7:30am, luckily, since my alarm on my phone seems to not make noise when going off. I dressed quickly and made it to the lobby around 7:48. Upon arrival in the lobby I found that everyone had already left. I quickly left and went to class. Well, tried to go to class. I left the dorm turned right onto the street and walked straight crossed a big road and then walked a little further. I stopped looked around and realized that I was not in the right place. I was not even on the University campus anymore. I traveled back in the same direction called the director of the program and she told my to make a right at the gate before the dorm. Unfortunately, I made turned too early. I turned around finally made it to the next gate, finally the correct gate. Found Tao Laoshi and made it to class, a half an hour late. Great first impression.

Class itself was equally frustrating. I realize that the Chinese program at Ohio University has spoiled us and in return has left us completely unprepared. We cannot order food let alone ask directions or hold any sort of conversation. Our teachers speak only Chinese and when we are confused on the meaning of a word, they are happy to explain it, in Chinese. This will be good in the long run, however, for now it will be a great challenge to figure out exactly what is going on.

After class we had a group lunch and met our language partners. My language partner seems to be very un-talkative. At least with me. The food once again was amazing! I was glad that Tao Laoshi had pre-ordered the food since supper last night on our own was a mess. From now own I plan on eating with a smaller more intimate group.

Now I plan on doing a lot of studying because I'm expected to memorize 40 words by tomorrow. When more happens I will write again and hopefully everything will be a lot more positive.