China In The Global Economy

On Tuesday, I had the first class for China in the Global Economy. This is the only course that I am taking this semester in a style that I am used to. The syllabus looks pretty interesting, so I’m hoping that a lot of the things I learned in my Legal Issues in Globalization class last semester will come into play.

The professor for the course has amazing credentials, however he is so important that it seems as though he is going to be away a lot during the semester. He actually cancelled class for next week because he is going to be in Seattle working on a US-China energy alliance committee that was initiated by Senator Maria Cantwell. In March, our professor is going to be in Africa working on some issues related to Chinese-African economic relations. In April, he will travel to Boston to do more work for the energy alliance. He definitely seems like an expert, but I am disappointed that the classes he cancelled have been rescheduled in the middle of Saturday afternoons. I feel like this is really going to inhibit my plans to travel around China.

Other than that campus is really starting to come to life. Everyday more and more of the Chinese students come back and there are more and more things open on campus. I’m really glad that I was finally able to get my meal card and that most of the cafeterias on campus are opening up. There are so many options for food, which is a nice change from eating at TDR for every meal every single day. So far we have tried one cafeteria, the jiaotsi hut, the biaotsi hut, the noodle house, and another café. The food is actually pretty good. I also like that it’s convenient and that I can typically eat all of my meals on campus for less than a dollar in one day. I also tried xiang bin for the first time today. Xiang bin is really good. It’s like a doughy omelet with egg, cilantro, scallions, sauces, and a crunchy pastry. It’s really filling and makes a great meal!

The bad thing about Chinese food is that no matter how full you feel once you are done eating, you are always hungry again about an hour later. We try to keep a lot of snacks around, but it’s not the same as eating an American meal. I think a lot of us are beginning to really want just grilled chicken breast or a steak because all of the meat served here is usually cubed into small pieces, still on the bone, and pretty fatty. A lot of the places on campus close pretty early, so we usually go to Wu Mei after dinner to stock up on snacks.

I really like living in Shaoyuan, but it is nearly impossible to get work done. Now that everyone is super close, we always leave our doors open so there is always a constant flow of people coming into and out of rooms. Next week I think I am going to check out the library on campus or try reading at the Starbucks up the street.