More and more I am putting my discomfort aside and embracing the every day life of Beijing no. 80 high school. I’ve been grieving the past days, being away from what you have known your whole life is hard. Now I have made some new friends and that is the perfect remedy for the homesickness I’ve been having. I’ve been able to talk to my parents’ seldom on skype but as of now email is the main form of contact. So if you’re reading this take the time to shoot me an email (ilovelampley@gmail.com). The internet over here is completely on lockdown as the Chinese government monitors everything. Facebook, YouTube, even the blogging website that I need to post these blogs is blocked. Thus to keep this blog going I must email the post to my mother and she take forth the responsibilities of the blog.

Life in the dorms has kinda grown on me the past few days. First it was an old soviet prison, now it’s a way of life. With a little cleaning (a lot of bleach) and some TLC the dorm is mine and my roommate’s home. Dorm life is actually pretty cool. I’ve made friends with some of the international students. On our floor we have about 3 Germans, 4 Kazaks, some Koreans, 1 Japanese, 1 brazilin, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Mongolian, and us (3 Americans). The Germans are the best to relate with as they all know English pretty well. They have been at this school since August and know all the ins and outs of the teachers and the school in general. Their very techy as well so they have shown us some very cool stuff that China offers, free downloads of anything-games (full sized xbox games), music, movies, whatever!

Food is ok, the café we have at BJ 80 is not the best but I can be described as “different”, One of the Germans told me once we went to ladle some soup and he lifted a whole baby duck out of the soup, yuk! But aside from the café, food outside the walls of Beijing 80 is very diverse and outstanding. Sushi bars, hotpot bars, authentic Chinese food, McDonalds all are easy to access and cheap. But the only time we are aloud to exit BJ 80 is 4-7 o’clock, this is when school ends and we must be back in our dorms by 7 for mandatory study time. It really isn’t that bad.

First day of actual class starts today and I’m excited. My teachers name is li laoshi and seems to be one of the sweetest Chinese ladies I have ever met. I’m starting in a basic Chinese class and I am with a few of the Americans I came with and about 5 other Korean kids varying from age 13 to 18. We got our books and study materials yesterday and it seems like it going to be a good refresher to the Chinese language for the next several days. I do see it getting challenging it the future.

In short I’m having a blast here. The whole experience is wonderful. The residents of the international dorm are all working together to make this place more like home, new wifi router, cultural decorations, stocking the communal fridges with international foods. The school even has a huge gym on campus, yay!