The last week of classes today officially begins. Most students are taking final exams throughout the week, by Wednesday the first wave of students leaving for home will begin, and by the end of this week, our campus will be deserted yet once more!
Midterm exam week for the freshman students is here, which means, half the semester is over already!
I can’t believe that it’s been so long, but exactly one year ago I launched my blog for the first time. Happy Birthday to MistyHilltops.com! Didn’t really have a clue what I’d let myself in on when I started, but it’s been quite the journey and a lot of fun. When I first started blogging, I was afraid that I’d be either running out of things to say within a week (I’m glad that didn’t happen), or that whatever I’d have to say would really bore the world (you’d have to decide on that one!). But 365 days later, I’ve come to realize that my blogging-worries were in vain: NUMBER 1 I’ve got topics I want to talk about lined up all the way through the middle of December already, and new ideas are coming every day! So stay put to see what’s coming! NUMBER 2 I have anywhere between 50 and 100-something visitors a day, and that number’s growing. And while I know that compared to the most popular blogs in the world this …
Starting on Monday, October 31, and lasting until Saturday, November 5, our school is celebrating the biggest event of the year: Culture Week 2011.
As of today, the Fall Semester 2011 has finally begun for the freshman students. In order to make up for Thursday’s and Friday’s classes, teachers and students have to attend classes on Saturday and Sunday, a common practice in China.
Today is National Holiday, one of the biggest holidays of the year. Most Chinese don’t have to work on October 1, and students have no classes for almost a week. In China it’s time to travel.
Tonight the Opening Ceremony will be held to welcome the new students at our university. Included in the event are a candle-light ceremony, lots of speeches, and of course the grand show performed mostly by the students from the artistic departments (music, dance, etc.). A full report will follow. Even though the freshman students have been here since the beginning of September, they’ve been involved in the military training so far, and no official welcome has taken place, so, tonight it’s time to say: Welcome Freshmen of 2011!
Today marks the official beginning of the Fall Semester 2011. Students have returned from their summer break, and for everyone (except the Freshman students) classes begin this morning.
The first group of new students are arriving on campus today. They are enrolled in the international program, which means classes for them (and us) start earlier than everyone else’s.
The summer break is quickly moving to its end – the new teachers for the school year of 2011/2012 have arrived. And they bring some fresh air into our routine. After all, their excitement about being in China hasn’t worn off yet, so they pretty much like everything, get excited about everything, and have not yet learned what it means to struggle with the differences of the culture. In any case, for me it means there’s new people to meet, new colleagues to work with, new friends to be made.
