Study Session

Let's see, so much happened today (I know! That never happens!) So today we reviewed in class for our first test tomorrow. It doesn't sound too bad but at the same time I'm still worried. Afterward I went to the dining hall for lunch and got bao zi again. I would eat something else but this I know will be warm whereas everything else is cold by the time I get it. And cold broccoli just isn't good. Afterward I watched Snow White and the Huntsman which was pretty good. They definitely didn't explain well enough why Snow White was the key. I get that she was the fairest but like... it seemed like her mom performed the same spell as the Queen's mother did without realizing it. And then the huntsman is her true love? I read a review that said after the fairyland thing happened the movie just didn't make as much sense anymore and I totally agree.
Anyway, afterward I had to meet with my language partner at the dining hall so I went there to eat beforehand. It was just starting to rain when I left and, of course, I didn't pack my umbrella. One more thing I have to buy here. We ended up going over the words mostly because I knew I struggled with that far more than the grammar. I didn't find it incredibly helpful- especially since she speaks English most of the time. I really need to perfect my Chinese so she won't feel the need to do that.
An hour later I was walking back to the dorms when I walked past Adam, Theo, and Theo's girlfriend Vicky. They invited me to join them and study and I figured I might as well study more. Besides, both Theo and Adam are in my class so basically our entire class would be studying together. We went to the 4th floor of the dining hall which has this awesome cafe that has expensive but awesome food. I ended up getting a caramel frappe.

It wasn't my custom Starbucks frappe with more caramel than coffee but still really good. Especially for China considering my Chinese teacher didn't even know what a frappe was. It was super expensive though- more than $5 and it's not even a big brand. Ironically the food costs about the same so I'll just get that now whenever I go there. Anyway, Theo's girlfriend is Chinese so she read off the words for us and then corrected us. That was actually super helpful and it was nice to study with others. Adam (who's in the picture) actually came up with a story about one word that has now made it possible for me to remember how to write it! Hopefully we'll make studying together a common thing because I feel like we're all going to do better now on the test.
So tomorrow is the test but I might also have an interview for that radio internship! They said I could perform English interviews instead and work my way up to interviews in Chinese so hopefully that will workout. I also have an abstract due for my internship paper which I am worried about. I basically have one month to write 20 pages. That's 5 pages a week which doesn't sound bad except that I have to find all of the research as well! Also, this Saturday a trip to the hutongs (which apparently means alleys) of Beijing is scheduled and Theo said there's a place I could buy clothes at nearby so that should be fun on multiple levels. Basically things are starting to pick up and get busy and I really need to stay on track.