First Week of School 😁

Today marks the end of the first week! So exciting to start school and get into the swing of things. Here is a brief  overview of the school I’m at and how things work: we are studying at a school called Beijing Number 80 High School. This is a public school that many Chinese students attend. The other NSLI students and I are part of the I international  department. Below is a photo of my friends Alex and Mia, standing in front of our school building!

We spend most of our day in classes devoted to learning Chinese with other international students, but we have lunch, electives, and gym with the Chinese students. Everyone lives in dorms on campus and gets a uniform. Below is a picture from a ceremony that happened yesterday, the NSLI students are sitting on the far right.

Below is a picture from the first day of school, all of us repping our Beijing No. 80 uniform! 

Here is a picture of our classroom.

Class has been pretty hard! All the other students here have taken Chinese at their high schools, and since I never have I am more of a beginner than them. The classes are taught mostly in Chinese so it is a challenge, but I already feel myself making progress. There has been a ton of homework, lots of memorizing characters and new vocab! Even though the class work and homework is very intense (we spend about 7 hours a day in Chinese class and then 2 hours a night on homework), the teachers are so nice and adaptive, and have been very helpful and encouraging . Below is a picture of some of the vocabulary I’m learning, along with my notes where I practice the characters.

Besides class, I’ve enjoyed eating ALOT of dumplings, working out, and playing soccer!! 😁 再见!