China is cold. It is cold outside and most buildings do not have central heating so it is cold inside too. We wear our coats at dinner. There is heat in the classroom but if you sit by the door it doesn’t make much difference. I’m going to start bringing a blanket to class I think.

For the internet alone I now love American efficiency. Only the hard work of our Chinese classmates and the administrators, and their efforts to try to make us comfortable keep me from being angry at the poor planning of this whole program.  That and the reminder that by the end of France we had worked out most of the kinks. Though I am stressed now I know peace comes to the patient. And if all else fails I can always go out for a $10 massage. I had my first massage last night, and at 68 RMB for an hour it is definitely going to be a weekly occurrence.

This semester is going to be much harder than the last one was. We have class morning and afternoon, in addition to our project and homework assignments. I feel we will learn a lot though and really buckle down to the work. They are just trying to show us how Chinese students study.

The food is good but it will be rough of four months straight Chinese food. They cook a lot with pig oil so everything is greasy and heavy. And veggies are much harder to find than I thought they would be. And fresh fruit. But what I have had is delicious.  Even the dish with the chicken toe. Up until that point it was lovely, but there is something about fishing around for breast meat and coming up with a claw that kills your appetite. Not to say I won’t try chicken feet- I just need the proper preparation time!

One class I am very interested in is the Family Business class. I am glad we are touching on that side of entrepreneurship as well- a reminder that entrepreneurs and small businesses are a respectable job and necessary part of society and economy. It isn’t all about the massive corporation!