四川大学。

Today was productive, but I'm sick. I was up all night coughing, and then I woke up sneezing. Regardless, I trekked across campus to turn in my papers, set up a phone plan with one of the coordinators, and then went to Trust (Wal) Mart again to buy stuff for my dorm.


Yesterday, I woke up in the hostel around 8am. I did not sleep well at all, from coughing, and because the heater was broken and the blankets weren't warm enough. I had breakfast at their restaurant (a Swiss breakfast?), which was awesome. Oatmeal with cottage cheesy-tasting stuff mixed with fruit, scrambled eggs, toast, and fresh (seriously) squeezed orange juice was 25 yuan, which is just under $4. High up on their walls were posters of Bob Marley, Tupac, and Malcolm X - which is nothing but fucking awesome.

  Afterwards， I decided to catch a cab to the school but... I wanted to walk around first. I pretty much walked halfway there before finding a safe(ish) place/feeling balls-y enough to catch a cab ("Wo yao qu Sichuan Daxue..." + map pointing). I got dropped off right at East Gate. :)


So, I arrived at Sichuan University around 11, 11:30am and ran straight into Nikki - who, as expected, is my roommate. :D Took a little while to get the room straight, but the dorm was a pleasant surprise compared to what I had seen/heard about it earlier. Compared to the "quality of living" throughout the city - and I've seen a broad range - I'm feeling quite spoiled. Our suite is very spacious. We have running (sometimes hot, other times not) water, a Western toilet, and heaters (the kind that break a lot) in the living area and bed room.

After dropping my stuff in the room, we went to the Tex-Mex place so many people have recommended (all the waitresses wore Texas flag shirts and bandannas). I don't know if it was the jet lag or what I ordered, but it wasn't a very emotionally satisfying meal. My stomach is actually *just* getting a leg up on the plane food. After that, Trust-Mart - China's Wal-Mart. Nowhere near as big, but pretty much the same. Very overwhelming. People pushed, shoved, bumped - very obnoxious to a foreigner not used to having their space invaded so freely.

 We took a rickshaw back to the dorm (it took about 5 minutes that way) with an older driver. From what I've heard, Asian students often get charged 5-6 yuan ($1) while foreigners pay 8-10 ($1.50). One day I'm going to ask why, but seeing as I probably *do* have more money and its such a small amount in the first place, I can't complain.

Went out with other exchange students to get some real Chinese food (the kind with the spinning table) but my stomach was still upset, my throat was bothersome, and I was exhausted. They decided to go to a bar, and on the way I stepped into a pharmacy. Thank God for my dictionary, I managed to buy some cough syrup for 15 yuan ($2.27)

Everyone from the dorm seems very sunny so far... I just wish I had had more energy myself, because I've hardly made any connections. :\ I must look like a downer, but I just need to rest more.



Some more important things about Chengdu, Sichuan, China:

Chengdu Traffic Inn

From second floor

• The pollution is horrible. There is fog all the time, everything is damp, and when you wake up, there is condensation everywhere - on the inside of windows, underneath the metal thermos' the school provided, in your slippers. 
• Pedestrians DO NOT have right of way. Traffic regulations are just guidelines. 
• There are rooms where we can collect hot (presumably boiled) water in thermos' on every floor.
• I think Sichuan University is very much like MICA; there seems to be no actual campus, because normal people live in residential units between each university building. Many of the buildings I walked by are dilapidated, but people live in some of them. It's easiest to tell when they're hanging laundry.
• I'm not huge here. There is actually a vast height range.
• The stray dogs ARE really cute. I caught some pictures I'll be uploading later.
• People keep commenting on my short hair. When I don't have to wear hats anymore, then what?
• And lastly, imagine a world without diapers. When you're done, ask what's worse: letting children shit anywhere (literally) they needed to no matter who was around, or letting them shit their pants and sit in it until you had time to change it?