Blog 8

Thursday and Friday:

Thursday began with the weekly meeting for the lab group. I am happy that I did not have to present today, but I will be presenting next week on my progress in the lab! This meeting usually lasts all morning, so by the time it was done, I had to scoot out to make it to lunch.

For lunch on Thursday I had the opportunity to meet another American student, Sarah, studying at USTC! It was so interesting to exchange stories and hear about how she began studying at USTC. Sarah has been in China for about 4 years and will be here for another 2 before going back to America. It was so nice to talk to someone who can relate to all of the awkward, funny, unusual, and difficult experiences of traveling abroad to China. I am hoping that I can get lunch with her again sometime soon! Below is a photo of Sarah and me. It is very blurry, but it was the best one that we were able to get!

On Friday morning I finished up my presentation and started to learn more about SolidWorks. I am hoping that I can learn to use SolidWorks so that I do not need help from other students to create the model of the eye. After lunch I had my presentation. There were about 20 other students and staff at the meeting, and overall it went pretty well! It seemed difficult to get more group participation, but afterwards I was told that I need to give the students more time to think about the answer to the questions. I need to keep in mind that the questions I am asking may be more difficult for people when English is their second language. I also need to work on talking slowly during my presentation. Next week I will be giving a presentation on chapters 5 and 6.

One thing I learned on Friday that I found very interesting is that I have been on average spending between 5 and 6 yuan per meal at USTC. This is less than 1 dollar in American money. My freshman year at OSU we used blocks that were worth 5 or 6 dollars for each block. I think it is crazy that I could get about 6 meals in China for the same amount I could get 1 back in America.

After dinner a friend from the lab, Li Yang, and I went to a yoga class! I was so excited that he invited me to go with him so that I can go on my own in the future. When we got to the class, Li Yang made me go to the very front of the class so that I could see the teacher. I was hoping I could stay in the back, because I am not very good at yoga and I am horrible at balancing. I felt uncomfortable in the front of the class because I was about a foot taller than all the girls around me. I also couldn’t understand the teacher, so I was always the last one to catch on to the new move. This yoga class was very different than the ones I have been to back at home because the skills were much more advanced, and the teacher would walk around and push your body into the right position. At times I thought it was difficult not to laugh because I felt so out of place. I think that next time I go I will try to take a spot in the back of the classroom. When class was over, I went home to shower and watch a movie!

On Friday another student in the lab, Mu Kai, was wearing an OSU basketball shirt!