I'm here!

Hi everyone! I have officially arrived in Jinan, and am mostly settled. I'm living in what they call the "foreign students' dorm", and, after a few days of technological drama, I finally have an internet connection. My first night here was disastrous - I hadn't slept in 28 hours, and it was really dark outside, so I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. Then I got showed to my room, which was all bleak and impersonal with dirty white walls, ugly gold curtains, a cold tile floor, and a rusty looking bathroom. I was all like "Oh NO! I've made a huuuuge mistake! What am I DOING here??" and THEN I found out I didn't even have internet so I couldn't comfort myself by reading a friendly e-mail or calling home. I felt so isolated and alone and was really sad.

But! After a good night's sleep, and some morning sunlight, things seemed a lot better. The campus here is beautiful, with tons of big shady trees, and old classical-looking stone buildings. Take a look! This is my dorm:



And people are soooooo nice! I met the other members of my research team on Thursday and we all went out for a fancy lunch. And two graduate students have been helping me settle in, buy stuff for my dorm, get a meal card for the school cafeteria, show me around campus, etc. And once I unpacked, my dorm room didn't seem so barren.

So how have I been filling my time so far? Um, basically eating and shopping. Everyone on campus, students and faculty alike, eats at the school cafeteria. There are a bunch of different food stations - noodles, rice, traditional stir fry, dumplings, vegetable pancakes, etc. - and you pick what things you want, swipe a pre-paid card, and voila! A meal! And it's ridiculously cheap too; a giant bowl of steaming homemade noodles runs about $0.50, and that's one of the most expensive things offered. There are a ton of vegetarian options too, although I've adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward the broths and sauces that everything is served in.

Shopping has been more practical than exciting. I went to the local Wal-Mart to stock up on home essentials like a bath towel and toilet paper, both of which are of significantly poorer quality than their American counterparts. I swear the towels here actually repel water instead of absorbing it, and the toilet paper could double as note paper in an emergency. I have to carry toilet paper around with me during the day too, since bathrooms here don't provide any. They don't have soap either, so I also lug around a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Anyway, so that's my life here in a nutshell. Like I said, people have been really friendly, and I already have a few contacts in my fancy new Chinese cell phone. Apparently I'm the only American on campus (the other foreign students are all from Pakistan), and so the Chinese students are curious to meet me. We'll see what happens when the novelty wears off though. I will do my best to continue posting here. In the meantime, I hope you all are well. Thank you so much for all of your e-mails! I miss you tons and tons and tons!!! <3