Things are pretty much on autopilot at this point.  Everyone seems to have learned how to budget their time well, and now that the semester is almost over, we've all learned how to study effectively for tests and such.  Things are much easier now and I have a lot more free time than I used to.

Unfortunately, Erin and I only have around 20 days left here in China.  It seems like just now that things are getting more manageable, we have to leave.  Oh well, I guess that's how it goes.  It seems crazy that I go back to America so soon...of course it seems  like only yesterday that I got here, but I guess time flies.

This week is my last week of real class before finals start up.  Next week is all review, but the week after that are finals.  Craziness...then on June 1st, we fly back to America.  Back to American food.  Back to the lack of stares on the streets.  Back to my own car.  Haha, China's been great and I am excited to come back in the future, but at this point, I'm sort of ready to be back in America.

Yesterday, I had a bit of an altercation with a cab driver, haha.  From 4 PM to about 5 PM, all cab drivers in Hangzhou are switching shifts meaning that the ones on the street are driving home while new ones come to replace them.  It's the stupidest, most inane system ever, because during prime rush hour traffic, there are absolutely no cabs to take you where you want to go.  Yesterday, I was trying to get to a barbecue at a local wine cellar, but couldn't find a cab.  I asked around 16 cabs in the 35 minutes that I stood on the side of the road, and not one of them would take me there.  Super annoying, but it turned out alright.  Got Subway for dinner instead, which was really good.

Anyway, I'm about to watch some movies that we bought at a fake DVD store near West Lake.  They're all 10 kuai (about $1.50 US) a piece, so I bought 10.  Ridiculously priced, and so far, the quality has been excellent in all of them.  I'll probably go back again before I come back to America.  I was surprised because they had new movies and even some older black and white movies with the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando.  Definitely a cool place.

**Oops, definitely just added Google AdSense ads to my blog page and now can't get them off.  Oh well...just ignore the ad at the top of the page. Thanks.**

Well, rest assured, if swine flu ever arrives in China, it'll spread faster than you can imagine.  I'll be dead within the day, haha.  I only say this because on the way to the gym, I saw no less than 20 people spit on the streets and 2 babies peeing in the bushes.  Apparently dysentery and other infectious diseases don't exist in this utopia called China.  Anyway, moving on....

Just wrote my last article for The Daily Mississippian.  It's been a fun distraction while in China and a really good way to stay in touch with American culture, but I'm kinda sad to not be writing it anymore.  It was rather fun.  Oh well, such is life.

Currently researching restaurants for Shanghai this weekend, because if I'm in a Westernized city, I plan to spend my time there as best as I can.  Already looked up every Italian/French/American restaurant possible, and even considering going to an Applebees.  Hehe.

Anyway, off to finish studying for Business Chinese.  Just checking in/trying to be better about blogging.

Cooper

Trying to update more often than I had before, so instead of long entries, I'm just doing short, concise entries.  Gives you something to read every now and again even though they're not all long and in depth.

This weekend, we planned on going to Putuoshan, an island in the Pacific off the coast of China, but we missed the last boat out of NingBo on Friday.  Instead of trying to rush there in the morning, we just decided to cut our losses and stay in Hangzhou for the weekend.  It turned out to be a good decision.  A friend from Shanghai came down for the weekend, so we all hung out together and saw some new places in Hangzhou.  The weather has been great the last few days, so we've just been heading down to West Lake and finding different places to hangout.

Right now, I'm writing an essay for my literature class at this really nice sidewalk cafe we found this weekend.  It has salads, pasta, sandwiches, etc. so it was quite a find.  They also have good coffee and fruit juices, so we're all kind of excited to find this place.  It's also next door to a youth hostel, so there are always Westerners walking in and out, which is really strange.  It's been a long time since I've seen more than 2 or 3 Westerners at a single time, so it's just odd to have big groups walking around.

Anyway, I'm going to go back to writing my essay.  Hopefully will update again soon.  Plans for next weekend are to head to Shanghai Thursday night since we have a 3 day weekend.  It's May Day on Friday which is the big party to celebrate Communism...I think it commemorates the May 5th Revolution in Russia, but I'm not entirely sure.  Anyway, we're heading to Shanghai on Thursday night and coming back Sunday.  Our friend is throwing a housewarming party Saturday night, so we'll probably head there and maybe eat on The Bund one night.  I've heard good things about the restaurants along the river.  Looking forward to it.

Frustrated

So, went into the teacher's office today to talk about classes grades and such.  It was fine, no big deal, except for one thing.  Wednesday during my 8 AM class, I was a bit tired and not exactly on focus.  I mentioned to my teacher that I was up late finishing a movie I was watching (after I had finished studying, mind you), so what does she proceed to do? Tell the head of our program that my class performance is suffering because I've been watching too many English movies and English tv shows.  What the heck?  Was she kidding?  I mean, really, who does that?  Anyway, so instead of having a constructive talk today with the head of the program, she instead berated me for 20 minutes for not "immersing myself completely" in the program by being in contact with English too much.  I'm in college now...pushing 22 years old.  I think I can handle things myself without someone telling me to stop watching tv.  And the thing is, I'm not watching that much, if it even makes a difference.  Ugh, whatever.  I'm so over this program at this point.  I'm just ready to finish up and looking forward to my next few weekends of travelling.

Elementary School...

Just got back from a trip to a local elementary school with my classmates.  On Wednesdays, my classmates and I usually go on trips organized by the school here.  Last week, we went to a small tea village where we got to look around, help pick tea, and climb into the hills to talk with the women picking tea. Quite fun.  Anyway, today we went to an elementary school to look around and see how they're run in China.  It ended up being really fun, though I was really tired going into it.  We sat in on two classes: the first was an art class where they painted and performed with shadow puppets.  We all got to help make the puppets, so that was fun.  The second class was an English class, maybe?  Anyway, alot of the kids has questions written out to ask us in English like "What's your favorite color/food/type of weather/etc.?"  I signed my name there more times than I can count.  It seemed like every kid in the whole school wanted our autographs...it was fun for awhile, but got a bit overwhelming when there were literally 15 kids swarming around you demanding your name.  It was weird...but fun.  

Anyway, just got back from that, and now I'm about to watch some Offce on the computer.  Might go to the gym in a bit, but will probably just go eat Korean food instead, haha.  Update again later. Bye!

Here's a link to my Picasa Web album with all of my pictures from China so far...this one is far better organized than the stupid Photobucket.com account.  Anyway, Thailand pictures are up. Please have a look!

http://picasaweb.google.com/cnreves

P.S.  Added comments on lots of the Thailand photos...so have a look.  It's easier to do it and and just link to it than try to upload them all to here.

Short Post...

Wore shorts and a short sleeved collared shirt today because the weather was nice, but I swear I've never gotten so many stares in my entire life.  People in China don't seem to change clothes with the seasons seeing as everyone is still decked out in winter coats, boots, and jackets.  It's really strange, so I thought I'd be a rebel today and dress weather-appropriate.

Went to a market today with a friend to buy some luggage for Thailand.  I have a weekend back but it wasn't  big enough for everything I need for a week, and I don't particularly want to bring a suitcase.  I'm not sure I trust SoutEast Asian airlines with my luggage.  Anyway, went to the market, and it was an experience.  Nothing has tags so we got to bargain which was fun.  I bought a fake NorthFace duffel for 40 kuai (less than 6 dollars) which was a pretty good quality.  Think I still paid a bit too much, but whatever.  My friend bought a couple of nicer quality bags that were sorta expensive (though still under 20 bucks, haha) so all in all, it was a fun trip.

Currently trying to finish up studying for midterms.  I only have 2 more this week.  Additionally, I have to register for classes at Ole Miss later tonight, which is proving to be quite a hassel.  Regardless, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Anyway, update again before I leave for THAILAND ON SATURDAY!!!!!!