Things that are very, very different about China

So, as a wrap up of sorts (with an added nostalgia factor, since it's been about a month since I landed in the US), I wanted to highlight some of the differences between Chinese culture to American culture.

1. Chinese New Year: This may seem self explanatory, but Chinese New Year is a much bigger deal than you may realize. They don't really have another winter holiday, so the university takes the whole month off from about January 21st to about February 20th each year. This was the period in which we did most of our traveling. Right now, chickens everywhere are symbolic, as it is the zodiac year of the rooster.

2. Cartoon characters everywhere: I would often see characters such as Totoro and Digimon in random places, such as stickers on the street, or in some of the multitudes of themed merchandise. You may have heard of the Japanese obsession with cuteness, and the Chinese have a diluted version of this themselves. (Not much anime besides the classics like Naruto and Inuyasha, but a far amount of cute products, such as cat ears to wear, or baby chick headbands.)

3. Street lights: There are countdowns for how long pedestrians have to cross the street. I actually liked this system better, as one was much less likely to be caught unawares by a changing light. However, where there aren't lights, traffic is horrendous. In order to cross the street at crosswalks without lights, you either have to wait for absolutely no traffic, run for your life, or cross with a group. The messed up thing about Chinese traffic is that if they run over you and you're alive, they will have to pay your medical bills forever, so they will back over you to make sure you're dead and face the relatively minimal punishment. And as they don't slow down for individuals (but they do for groups), it's better safe than sorry.

4. Very few homeless people: Wei Wei explained to me that the "homeless" tend to be a scam more than anything, begging for money to line their pockets (or even worse, using injured kids to elicit sympathy from others). So there are very few legitimate homeless people. (Some of us thought that possibly the people who were sweeping the streets would have been homeless if they hadn't been given government jobs.) There was two people I saw throughout my time that were without legs and on carts that people were literally stepping over (which broke my heart, but it's better than stepping on them......). Those were probably the only legitimate homeless people I saw during my whole time there.

5. More officers everywhere/communist posters: There is a LOT of government propanganda, from the tons of soldiers in Beijing, the student military group on campus (which, to be fair, the US has too), and the tons of communist posters both on campus and in public places, like movie theatres (one of which was right next to a cut out of Jackie Chan, you could tell that China does indeed take its government allegiance seriously.

6. Written English everywhere, but very little spoken English: there were signs in English oftentimes, but very few people were fluent in it. High school students, starting about 20 years ago, had to know it to pass their college entrance exam, but most of them promptly forget most of it afterwards. So, it was a hit or miss sometimes in asking for things in English (so the translator app came in handy lots of times....when it didn't mistranslate as well)

7. The toilets (and just restrooms in general): The toilets were pretty much glorified holes in the ground (they don't call it the Chinese squat for nothing!). If you go to the restroom as well, make sure to bring tissues. Tissue packs were commonly sold for the reason that restrooms don't have toilet paper or paper towels! The sinks were often automatic, but there was rarely soap.

8. the food, self explanatory- Chinese food is different than the Americanized version of it. There is a lot more oil used, and a lot more white rice as a side. The city I was in, Chong Qing, is also known for spice, so more often than not, the food would be spicy or close to it. But overall, there aren't too many restaurants who have authentic Chinese food in the US (so you may want to ask for the real Chinese menu if they have one).

9. Three wheeled taxis- The worst things an engineer could lay eyes on. These contraptions are highly unstable, smell like the exhaust is being pumped straight into the back seat, have no shock absorbers (read: pot holes are AWFUL!), and are one of the most dangerous things you could do without anyone questioning it. But they get you from A to B for a pretty cheap price, which is why they flourish.

10. Unclean water, leads into other sanitary issues- With over 1 billion people, it's pretty hard to keep a sanitary water system. So, it is not safe to drink from the faucets in China, and consequently, the bottled water industry booms there. I accidentally rinsed my mouth out with faucet water while brushing my teeth, and although I rinsed my mouth out with boiled water afterwards (which is safe), I was still sick later that day. Compounded with the uncleanliness of many of the restrooms, China can be a bad place for someone with a weak immune system.

11. food is much sweeter in general- The Chinese have a very big sweet tooth as a whole. From juices to breads to cheeses, and even meat floss (just google it) and pizza sauce, lots of foods are much more sweet in China than in America. While the American culture values a mix of sweet and savory, savory isn't much of a concept in China (making for some interesting pizza at times.....)

12. very little dairy products- Cheese is virtually nonexistent, for starters. There is a bit at the grocery store, but it's pretty expensive compared to normal Chinese prices. Milk is bought in quart, rather than gallon containers, and yogurt is considered a dessert. That may be because of lactose intolerance that is fairly prevalent in Asia, or just that the Chinese traditional dishes lack dairy in general.

13. less protein than in America- The servings of meat weren't as big as in the US, but I've been told that most countries are this way by many of my international friends.....

14. air pollution/nighttime reflection of light- The air is very polluted in most areas, but it does depend on what area of China you are in, as well as the time of year. When we went through Beijing flying into China, the air was like smoke coming into the airport doors, but when traveling later, it had partly cleared up. In Chong Qing, the air wasn't bad, but the sky was almost always cloudy. In other rural places in China though, the air quality is practically perfect, so it really does depend on where you go in China.

15. lots more trusting/bike locks, lack of (lots more bikes as well): The Chinese are a lot more trusting of each other, compared to Americans. One example of this are the ubiquitous bikes on campus. There aren't enough areas to lock bikes up, but the Chinese get around this by just putting the lock on the wheel, so it can't be rolled away. Unlike the US, where someone would just pick it up if they wanted, no one does that in China. People also leave bags in classrooms to claim their seat, while back home, people take stuff that is left unattended. So overall, people are less likely to steal, leading to more trust.

16. more international stuff at the grocery store: The dedicated international food section is much larger than the international food section in the US. It may be because of the larger novelty that international products are in China, than they are in the US.

17. less items in bulk: Items tend to be bought individually, rather than in bulk. Places such as Sam's Club, where items are bought in huge packages, are nonexistent. This is probably because almost everyone lives in apartments without room for lots of extra packages.

18. laundry/dryers: Each apartment had its own washer, which was great, but dryers are nonexistent. We used a drying rack to dry out our clothes, although lots of people hang their clothes from the balcony. (We never did because we thought our clothes would blow away.....)

19. lots more green space (fragrances, gardens): This is part of the traditional Chinese culture. There is a great emphasis on nature (including in their artwork), as shown by many of the ponds and green areas on campus. Many times, people even set up an easel to draw or paint on beautiful sunny days.

Goldfish pond in the middle of campus

20. lots more skyscrapers for apartment buildings: When you have a lot more people, you need lots more places to put people! So the concept of owning a house is practically nonexistent in China.

21. locks: There are lots of automatically locking doors. If you forget your keys in your apartment, you're somewhat screwed, and you have to get your landlord to open it again for you. If the door doesn't automatically lock, you can double lock it by pulling the handle upwards.

22. rain/weather: There are not many serious rain showers in winter and the weather is always relatively mild, with the coldest being 40 degrees Fahrenheit (about 10 degrees Celsius). However, when I was leaving, it was transitioning into summer (it is said that Chong Qing only has two seasons- summer and winter), and it was quickly becoming unbearably hot, and raining quite a lot more.

23. vehicles on sidewalks: I heard that this was just a Chong Qing thing, but we saw it in Hangzhou, as well as another city we were in. But motorbikes and sometimes even small cars drive on sidewalks, convincing me that at one point I was going to get run over while just walking down the street. There is even special motorbike parking on the sidewalks, which I'm not sure is entirely a good thing.

24. mirrors in showers: I'm not sure if this was just the apartment complex we were in, but there was a mirror in the bathroom above the sink, directly across from the "shower", and the shower was basically a shower head with a curtain to separate it from the rest of the bathroom.

25. pictures, spectacle of foreigners: Oftentimes, people will take pictures with foreigners to show their friends, putting their arms around them like they're best friends. We had several people fangirl over us (including a group of grown men), and do this, as well as people taking pictures "slyly" (although they failed, since I could see them). It makes sense, because foreigners, especially those with blonde, curly hair, such as myself, are somewhat rare, but all the same, it did get a bit annoying, as I felt like a zoo animal at times.

26. more welcoming towards foreigners than most Americans: Although the foreigners are a spectacle, this also means that the Chinese are more open towards foreigners oftentimes than Americans are. I had several students come up to me, just wanting to hear a new perspective, make a new friend, or practice English, which may or may not have happened in America, simply because we are used to having all different cultures.

27. more caring about family, part of their culture: The family ties are very strong, which I observed just from talking about my lack of strong family ties, and the strong surprise I got as a reaction more often than not. From reading some Chinese materials, I was actually expecting this to be intertwined with their culture.

28. garbage cans/recycling cans together: Over one billion people create a lot of waste, so I very much appreciated the effort to be eco-friendly by having ubiquitous two in one combos of recycling bins and trash cans. Although it isn't 100% effective, it shows that the country as a whole is making a good effort to be green.

29. lots of contraptions to carry/transport goods, esp fruit: There are lots of baskets, doohickeys, and other engineering marvels that you'll only see in China. Even on busy sidewalks, you'll often see old woman with fruit balanced on contraptions that resemble the scales of justice.

30. elevators: Some of them have negative numbers for floors. Also, there are sometimes rugs on the bottom for each day of the week, in order to keep them clean every day.

The Wednesday rug and negative numbers

31. The unlucky number is 4, instead of 13: This is because the word for four in Chinese sounds like the word for death. (We were traveling back from Chengdu on 4/4, which might have explained some of our bad luck!) Also, the lucky number is 8 (which is also my lucky number!), so lots of wifi passwords were 88888888, and the building we were in in our apartment complex (the one for foreigners) was building #88.

32. Ping-pong really is a national fever (although they refer to it as table tennis): There were several areas, both inside and outside for people to play table tennis with each other. And one of the most famous US presidents in China is Richard Nixon, due to his famous table tennis matches with some of China's politically elite, essentially welcoming China back into the global political arena.

Outside table tennis area

33. college system/bureaucracy: Unlike the US, if students manage to pass the college entrance exams in China and get into a university, they are almost guaranteed to graduate. These made for some interesting conversations with JCI staff where we had to prove with excessive documentation of homework and tests that this was a legitimate program to both the Chinese government and to ABET (an international engineering acreditation organization), while still trying to pass everyone. A bit contradictory....

34. Lines: As evidenced by many attractions (read: the Forbidden city), the Chinese culture does not really incorporate standing in orderly lines. "Lines" often become lumps of people crowding into a common gate, which can cause some confusion when it is time to go through these common gates individually. 

35. Dogs everywhere!: Lots of people let their dogs and cats out during the day, and compared to most countries, these pets are relatively mild. There are no animal control officers as well, so people don't have to worry about their animals going to the pound (or the Chinese equivalent.) 

I may add more to this list if I think of more things over time while I'm here in the US!

But to you, my loyal readers, thank you for sticking with me through thick and thin, through exciting times and not-so-exciting ones! It's been a true adventure, and I'm glad that I got to live abroad for an extended period of time so early in life.

I will be visiting a few other countries in the next few years if all goes well, including another co-op in Japan (at a company this time, not another university), and I may do another blog for that one as well, so stay connected if you wish to hear more!

Best of luck on your own travels and may you enjoy wherever life takes you!

-Zoe

Day 121 and Beyond: The Flight Back to America, and Finally Home!

I ended up getting up at 3 am the Thursday we were going to leave. I had passed out the night before and had to get up to finish cleaning the apartment, finish packing sheets, and do some last minute work before the 28 hours of travel. While cleaning out the fridge, I made some sandwiches with the leftover bread, made eggs for breakfast, and grabbed some fruit for us all to eat on the road and on the plane.

At 4:30, Jessica got up, and everything started from there. We all maneuvered our stuff out of the apartment, did a last check of the apartment, which was surreal in a way, and headed downstairs.
The van was already outside waiting for us. We tried to put our luggage into the van, and we were having a few issues, so we had to set some stuff by our legs and in our laps. Even then, though, we were stuck in the driveway while the driver tried to situate the van. There were five of us (Sean, myself, Dom, Nick, and Jessica), but none of us spoke Chinese, and we weren't able to communicate with the driver about it. However, since the driver kept slamming the back shut, we figured out that the latch on the back wasn't latching correctly, and we sat there for about 15 more minutes with him trying to rearrange the luggage until it eventually locked.

We pulled out of the apartment complex, and we chatted a bit, but I had to remember that this was maybe the last time I would see it in a while, if not forever. We got to the Chong Qing airport a bit early, and we tried to check our baggage.

Nick and Jessica had their checked bags double checked due to questionable stuff inside (a toy gun in Nick's case), and I was told to take one of my checked bags on board because the other one was overweight. We went through security, with Jessica and I in the females only line, and since I had forgotten that I had my scissors in my backpack, I had them confiscated. The only thing that really annoyed me is that they went through my carry on bag full of gifts several times, completely screwing up my organization, and not finding any issues despite wasting my time.

I walked toward the gate with the others, but realized in all the hubbub, I had forgotten my other suitcase, so I had to run back to get it. Grabbing it on the end of the security line, I ran back towards the gate, catching up with Sean, and riding the shuttle to the plane with him. I boarded, finding my seat was next to Jessica, and took a few pictures of the rainy atmosphere outside.

Jessica and I chatted for a bit, and paid attention to Dom and Sean's conversation with another passenger for a while, since our seatmate kept moving around. The air above Beijing was gorgeous, but I settled into a nap until eating and then fell back asleep exhausted. 

In Beijing, we had a layover for a few hours, and we wandered around for a while, trying to find a place to eat and relax. There was a shop where there were a few different things for sale including very tempting dark chocolate, and a kiosk where you could scan your passport in to get wifi that didn't work, unfortunately.

only in China......

I decided to sit down and try to figure out the wifi situation while the others left their stuff with me and looked for food (and I didn't have success). One of the guys who was going on the same flight came up to me and told me the gate, which I appreciated. The others came back, and we went to a sandwich place. I bought a sandwich so I could ask for the wifi password and send a quick message to my ride in Cincinnati.

We sat there for a bit, with me getting water that was all too hot before seeing the cool water dispenser somewhere else, and then migrated to the gate to wait.

 We talked amongst ourselves, and then conversation died down. They started to hand out free ice cream and drinks as apologies for the lack of air conditioning (although it wasn't even that hot to begin with), and I enjoyed my green tea ice cream (which I don't typically enjoy, but I thought was a fitting end to China) with my coffee.

Jessica started talking to an older couple, and it turned out that they had been visiting their daughter, who had married a Chinese man, in their hometown for a month. They told us all about their own adventures, and asked about ours. It turned out that they were in a city with no pollution, and beautiful sunsets, and the woman talked about her clothes dying classes that she enjoyed very very much as well. We chatted until it was time to board and we wished them well on their future adventures.

We had to go through another security check, and although I was pretty nervous, everything was completely fine, except for the fact that I had to pour my water bottle out. We boarded, and I was next to Dom, with Nick and Jessica in front of us, and Sean a few rows back. During the 14 hour flight, I watched 3 movies (Dr Strange, the new Studio Ghibli movie called Your Name, and a movie called Chong Qing Hot Pot just for the heck of it), had several conversations, a few meals, played group games with the others, tried (and failed) to sleep a bit, finished typing up my final philosophy paper (which earned me teasing from Sean) and admired the view over China, Alaska, and the continental US. A flight attendant took a liking to us as well, and we unofficially "adopted" her. (At customs, when she was walking through, she even gave us all painted flower bookmarks as a thank you.) 

 (Many of these photo credits go to Dom, by the way.....)

Going through customs wasn't nearly as hard as I thought. I just had to confirm my reason for being abroad, confirm I had no living things, take my shoes off, get my bags checked again, and go through a body scanner. The only hiccups were the electronic part, where I had to get help from a lady in order to scan my passport, and the lady in charge of the body scanner asked me if I was over 12 to my frustration. (I mean, yes, I look younger than most people my age, but still......) 

Afterwards, Jessica, Nick, and I went to exchange some money, and I got $40 back. It was so strange seeing people of all different races and colors again, all speaking in English! The reverse culture shock was already setting in. The others got some food, but I wasn't very hungry, and I talked for a bit with some travelers going to North Carolina, and called my mom after the others got back. She said she'd meet me when I got home, and although it was strange, it was good to hear her voice again after a long time.

Getting on the plane to Detroit, it felt too good to be true. We were almost home! After so long, I couldn't believe it! I had to keep pinching myself. Although I missed China, I was longing for the warm familiarity of home and for those that I loved.

On the plane, the sun was about to set over the waves of clouds, and I took a break from finishing my book (Gone Girl, if you were curious) to admire the view for a while. After finishing the book, I played a few games on my Nook, too excited to start a new book.

We touched down, and we were all jumping with excitement. Sean had to wait extra long for his bags, and although Jessica and I waited for a bit, we ended up leaving with Nick and Dom. I messaged my ride home (which was my loving boyfriend) that I was here, and his excitement pumped me up even more. 

We got on the trolley towards the baggage claim and meet up point with all of our loved ones. We were standing up, which was good in a way, because I was feeling too excited to sit at that point. We made our way through the airport, commenting on the museum exhibits that were there temporarily, but my mind was elsewhere. 

As we got closer, I saw the meetup point, and my boyfriend looking through the window trying to find me. I gave up on all dignity, and went on a full out run towards him as he ran out trying to get me. I jumped into his arms, enjoying the moment fully, not caring about the people around us. When I finally let him go, I saw the rest of my welcoming party. To my surprise, he had invited 5 more of my closest friends to meet me at the airport! 

I was over the moon with excitement (and admittably a bit delirious from the flight), and I hugged everyone, thanking them for coming to welcome me back. I started alternating between talking non-stop and complete silence, just taking it all in, and overwhelmed by emotions. We went to get my checked baggage, and I gave Nick's mom a hug, told Sean and Nick about my welcoming party, and headed out, slightly euphoric. 

We headed to the rental car that he had gotten, and I called my mom again. I decided to hang out with them for a while, and all but one of us ended up going to Skyline, since all the parks were closed, and I talked to them about what had really changed me this past semester, before getting some ice cream at UDF, and finally getting some rest, in disbelief at the fact that the last semester had just happened. It was a great start to my time back in Cincy, and a great bookend on this chapter of my life. (It was already, in a way, starting to feel like a dream, albeit an amazing one.) 

To my readers, thank you for following this blog. My time abroad has been a real adventure with lots of ups and downs (but mostly ups) , and I'm glad you enjoyed reading my story as I enjoyed living it. 

Please stay tuned for one final post about my thoughts on the experience overall, as well as some comparisons on China vs the US. 

-Zoe

Day 118, 119, and 120: Goodbyes are Always Difficult

Our last week in Chong Qing was a very rainy one. It was as if the city was crying at the idea of letting us go home. (On Wednesday night, Alexandra even said that that was an old Chinese saying. "When it is raining, the host doesn't want to let the guest leave.")

Monday started with a few hours of working on grading models labs and the models exams, and then I took an early bus to Campus A so I could work on finishing my last drawing on that campus.

I spent about an hour and a half finishing it up, and a student was over my shoulder, watching me for a few moments, then moved away. When I finished, I decided to show it to him, and he was thoroughly impressed. He started talking to me in Chinese, and I apologized for not understanding him. He switched to English, and we started talking. He introduced himself, compared my drawing to the real thing (pretty close, according to him), and I started talking to him about his studies. His name was Leo, and he studied mechanical engineering. I found out that a lot of mechanical engineers in China worked at factories, which really surprised me. Another girl, named Jeny, came over and also started talking. She was in marketing, and she said that she had seen me around drawing several times before.

We talked for a while about classes, interests, and plans for the future. We exchanged Wechats as well, and Jeny had to head out the earliest for class. About 20 minutes later, I had to leave in order to proctor the heat transfer exam, and wished Leo goodbye.

I went downstairs to the room the exam was supposed to be in, but found it was being used by a different group of people. Jane was there too, and we waited outside, confused, as we weren't able to find anyone else. She called someone else in the class, and I called Pablo, and we found out the exam was in another building! Both panicked, we ran there, with her ahead, and me making it a bit after the bell.

Pablo was fine with it though, and he explained what he needed from me. I needed to stay in the room, and stay alert at all times, because he was going to go in and out of the room to help Celia and Robert scan ABET material. I stayed in the room, answering questions, and the test was over in about 90 minutes. Afterwards, we had to talk to one of the students who had lost one of his midterms, and gave him a chance to go find it before he had to retake it again. (The JCI office needed to have a paper copy of each midterm- partly for the Chinese government and partly for ABET certification.)

A statics student was in the same boat, so I walked with Pablo and Celia to Pablo's apartment to print off the statics exam while I waited on the student to find his exam. He stopped by a convenience store, buying a to go meal for himself, as well as one for me as a thank you for the work I had done all semester. He did find it, and as we walked back, Celia volunteered to get the test for me to give to Pablo, so I could catch the bus quickly.

Getting to campus D, I was able to get some sushi, and a milk tea before going to the TA office, reading for a bit and then continuing to grade the models exams.

A bit before seven, the student showed up for his models test. It was a weird system for the retake. He had to get exactly the same score as before, and I had to keep checking on him, stopping him when he got to that point. Apollo also came in, giving me the other tests that we had to collect from the others students, and we chatted for a few moments.

The student was done pretty soon, as he had gotten a low score the first time, but I stayed in the office a bit longer, doing grading before heading home.

Tuesday morning, I started off with grading for a while, and going to the JCI office to turn in all of the tests that I had collected the previous night. After grading a bit more in the TA office, I went to have lunch with Heather before I headed out of China. We talked about how I felt about going back to Cincinnati, leaving China, and some plans she had for the next few weeks.

my last time eating lotus root in China

She walked me back to the TA office under her umbrella and we said sad goodbyes for a while, before she had to head out. I graded until about 3 pm, taking occasional breaks to clear my head, and then went to the pond at the back of campus to finish my last drawing of the semester.

Before that though, I needed to print off the paper I had for funding for research, and I was able to do that with the usual finagling of the translator. I walked out of the printing shop (aka printing closet) for the last time, noting the beginning of the end.

printing closet

I made my way past the swan lake, and was delighted when a few of the swans came right up to me, honking softly.

At the pond, I sat for a while, waiting on Pablo to get to Campus D so I could help him with the JCI certification. I finished the drawing, to my delight, and then made my way over around 5.

I walked over, and found out that the office didn't really need my help after all. Pablo had brought my umbrella back, since I had left it at his apartment yesterday. But, he had a bit of time before the bus came back, and I showed him to the food court, and the tomato bread. He agreed it was delicious, but said it was too loaded with carbs to eat all the time. I walked him to the bus stop afterwards, and said my goodbyes for now. He would be traveling in the summer, but would be teaching Models 1 in the fall.

After that, I went to the room where the semiconductor physics presentations were going to be that night, and passed the time by grading, and talking to Alexandra when she came in. The presentations started at 7, and we got through 5 of 9 groups. The rest would be done tomorrow, and we headed home. At home, we ran into Wei Wei, and we asked him what to do with the keys on Thursday morning. He told us just to leave them on the tables in our rooms, along with the cafeteria and subway cards.

Wednesday was a very bittersweet day. It really hit me that it was the last day in Chong Qing, and my emotions acted accordingly. I finalized the grading, giving the exams to Sean to input the grades, and headed out.

Suri had said that she wanted to meet up with me the previous night, and we met up at the TA office at around 11. Robert was also there, and they were organizing paperwork for Wei Wei's classes. To my delight, they gave me a bracelet that Suri had made, as well as a ring. They were both gorgeous, and I talked to them for a while about this past semester, and how they would like UC when they came there.

After saying goodbye to Robert and Suri,  then I went for the very last lunch that Heather wanted to go on before I left.

She took me to a restaurant I had never been to before on the top of one of the buildings on campus. I loved the retro decorations, and we ordered cabbage and tofu soup, a chicken and Chinese cookie dish (not a fortune cookie, but a braided cookie that I hadn't seen in the US, but was common there), and a spicy beef dish that had way too many peppers. We ended up not being able to eat too much of it, but she took it back for her roommate.

We talked more about our plans when for after I got home, including some news concerning my other international co-op that I got when I was sitting there talking to her, and her plans to get a cat of her own. She walked me to the gate, and then we said our final goodbyes, with her promising to go to the US one day.

I walked to Sunny Block to see if the art museum was open, and surprisingly, it was. I had to walk back to the apartment to get my camera because rain had gotten into my phone camera, and along the way, seeing the pet store with the suckling puppies, the art stores I had stopped by several times, and all the sculptures outside the art school brought back so many memories.

I had to delete a few pictures off of my camera, and walked back to the art museum.

It was still raining a lot, and the guard made me throw away my water bottle, but other than that, everything went smoothly, and I wandered around the art museum for a while.

I saw many people taking pictures and the security guards not saying anything to them, so I knew it was ok for me to take pictures too. I walked around into the different rooms, and took pictures of the few pictures that really stood out to me. The only thing that disappointed me was the few people who didn't even stop to look at the paintings, just taking picture after picture and moving on, like the stereotypical Asian tourist.

When I was leaving, I tried to go outside into the pavilion that I saw other people outside at before, but the lady at the desk got my attention and shook her head at me.

I was a bit tired after that, so I headed to the TA office to rest for a while and read. I ate an exotic fruit that I believe is a different type of plum only in Asia while I read. Robert came in a bit later to grab some more papers. I was surprised to see him again, but I wished him well as he left.

After that, I decided to take one last tour of campus to remind myself of all the good times that I had had there. It was raining somewhat heavily, but I decided to take my bike and get somewhat soaked, letting my mixed emotions wash over me in a similar way.

I headed back towards the one garden in the back of campus that I had done philosophy homework at a few weeks before, and I was delighted to see that some of the flowers had bloomed.

After that, I decided to go a different way from before, and I was able to see a whole new area that I hadn't seen before.

The flowers in and around the lotus pond were also blooming, to my surprise.

The swan near its house as I said goodbye

I stayed by the pond at which I had finished the last drawing for a while, letting memories wash over me, knowing I may never see it in person again.

My final stop was on the other side of the lotus pond, and I made my way around there, resting for a few moments at the top of the hill.

I went back to the TA office for a few moments, resting a bit before dinner. I had invited Rebecca, Amanda, and Apollo to dinner, and Alexandra, Wei Wei and Dom also joined. It took a while to meet up with Amanda and Rebecca, and then trying to find Apollo, but we eventually got everyone.

I used up the last of the money on my student card, getting a orange juice and some oreo wafers after a bit of finagling, as well as dinner consisting of rice, noodles, and a potato chicken dish. We chatted for a while about co op, classes, and how much fun we had had this semester, enjoying each other's company.

After dinner, Apollo, Amanda, and Dom left, with the rest of us going to watch the rest of the semiconductor presentations. We had some sad goodbyes, and I had thanked Rebecca and Apollo for recommending me for this job when I had worked with them in the summer as SOLs. Amanda was going to be at UC in the summer for the WISE program for research, so I was going to see her soon. I had given her a duct tape rose pen as well, though.

The presentations took about an hour and a half, and at the end, Wei Wei asked me to give a short talk about how their presentations were similar and different to American presentations. I said that it was mostly similar, but their energy levels and pronunciation of words could use some work, as well as their memorization skills of the material.

At the end, we took a group picture with the class, and then a picture with me, Rebecca, Alexandra, Nick, Jessica, and Wei Wei. I had to head out to go finish packing, and said teary goodbyes to Alexandra and Rebecca.

I worked on packing for a while, and Nick had offered to make grilled cheese later that night to use up the rest of his stash. I went over, and we ended up watching a movie, called "The Kingsman", and I decided to finish writing my philosophy paper in the morning. It was totally worth it, and we ended up staying up until 1 am, and then I headed to sleep right away, planning to finish cleaning the apartment in the morning.

-Zoe