2nd Sem

Hello all!
I can't believe I'm already back for a second semester! I returned on the 21st but but I have been catching up with friends and trying to get over jet lag, so I haven't been able to post anything. This semester will be a little bit harder, I am taking both Calculus and Statistics for my business requirements as well as  8:15 Chinese, and of course GPS. This semester in GPS should be especially interesting, because the university has made plans to have four guest speakers to come and lecture us. It will be really nice to mix it up in that class, and hear other perspectives.
In other news, Meichen just got back from a trip to Beijing and Nanjing where she was visiting her old classmates. In just three more weeks I will be going to Inner Mongolia with her. We are so excited! She told me that when she went back home to tell her extended family that I was coming, her cousin, who has been learning english for some time, now wants us to come and stay with her for a day so that she can practice her English on me. Apparently she has never met a "Foreigner" before, (that's a lot of pressure).
Today we are just going to enjoy our last day of freedom before school officially begins, so we are touring through Shanghai. We figure if we stay in our rooms too long we will fall asleep and ruin our progress getting over jet lag. The smog here has been pretty bad the last couple of days, and I can no longer see the Pearl Tower from my building. They say it probably won't clear up until after winter, so I have been wearing my mask pretty diligently since I arrived.
I cannot wait to see what this semester has in store for me!
love from Shanghai,
Maddie

I'll be home for christmas

Those four months just flew by. I remember sitting in this exact position writing my first entry in China, and now I am wrapping up my first semester!

Things are crazy as ever, as we are all scrambling to write our papers and study for finals. It's been a pretty hard semester academically, but I made it. I'm just thinking about how in just two days I'll be sitting on my couch in America while the rest of my classmates scatter across the world back home to their families. It's weird to think that our home base will always be China.
 MeiChen doesn't leave until the 24th. She didn't even know that was Christmas Eve (so cute). I have been teaching her Christmas Songs for the last month and I finally got her to sing White Christmas. Thursday, after our last final, I am showing her Annabelle's Wish! She seemed very confused by the whole idea of the movie, but she agreed to watch it. The Christmas spirit is a little lacking here (unsurprisingly) and I am afraid I will have reverse culture shock when I come back to America to find Christmas lights and music playing everywhere. As much as I love China, you just can't get that anywhere else but home.
I'll be in America for about a month before I return to school. Next semester is going to be pretty busy. I am taking two math courses, GPS and Chinese Intermediate I. I will also be traveling to Inner Mongolia with MeiChen for Spring Festival with her family. She is so excited to show me off to her Senior High School friends. She warned me that I will likely be one of the only foreigners that a lot of the people in her town have ever met, and that I should be prepared to take a lot of pictures. She has also made a rule that I can only speak Chinese while I am there. I am up for the challenge!
In May I will be running the Great Wall Marathon in Beijing. Naturally I am dragging MeiChen along so that I don't end up lost in the middle of China, but she is excited for the trip and to meet me at the finish line.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break. I will not be posting on the blog during the winter break, but expect a post some time in January.

Love from Shanghai,
Maddie

KOREA PHOTOS

Hello All! Here all the photos from my trip to Korea! Sorry I won't be posting in the next couple of weeks, as finals are approaching! See you all in a few weeks (13 days, to be exact)
Love from Shanghai,
Maddie