Registering for Classes

After a train ride from Xi'an to Lanzhou- this one was only 8 hours, I arrived at Lanzhou University at about 6 in the morning on Thursday. Mr. Li from the Foreign Affairs Office met me at the train station and took me to the International Guest House, where the international students live. The guest house doubles as a hotel for visitors, so my room is essentially a hotel room that I share with a girl from Kazakhstan.

I registered at the university, registered for classes, and bought my textbooks that morning. The Beginning Chinese program consists of Chinese grammar, spoken Chinese, and Chinese characters. My five books cost the equivalent of $20. In America, I probably would have spent between $300 and $500.

My classes start on Monday, but I looked over the books and they start out very basic with the Chinese words for hello, how are you, etc. Learning the characters will be hardest for me, I think. I only know about five characters because until now, I have been using pinyin, which is English characters that correspond to Chinese sounds.

Once classes start, my roommate and I will try to only speak Chinese with each other. I can't wait to learn more Chinese.