Parting

Finals have passed and went well.  It wasn't a stressful process at all, I approached them as a reflection of the entire summer's effort rather than the reflection of one or two night's work.  Nonetheless, finishing the final test on Friday morning was a good feeling.  No assignments for another month haha.

After a long afternoon and night of packing, messing around, wrapping stuff up and hanging out, I got up this morning and went with a classmate to Laodingfeng, Harbin's most famous bakery, and got a cake for the program directors.  We couldn't figure out a suitable gift, so we figured sweets are always a good choice.  I gave my own teachers organic apricot jelly that I brought from home, a fitting gift given my one-on-one research topic.  It was a bittersweet parting because the teachers have all truly been great and we've gotten to know them pretty well over these 8 weeks.  We'll all miss them.

A classmate and I represented the students and gave a short speech together about our time here.  We cracked jokes about our classmates, some of the teachers, our dialogues, etc. in a simple dialogue and then thanked the teachers and our roommates for their patience and support.  Fun stuff.  Surprisingly, I also got the award for "most outstanding student," which was flattering and unexpected, but also serves as good motivation for the future.  It's more of a testament to the teachers and program than anything.  I had a great time overall and am really glad I got the chance to come to Harbin.  I've said that many times in the past few days, and it's always been sincere.

After the closing ceremony, our language pledge ended, and it's been weird.  My first reaction is still to speak in Chinese, and I have trouble understanding people when the speak in English for the first few words.  I'm honestly a bit anxious of how people will change now that they can speak English freely and openly.  It's inevitable, but I hope it doesn't change people too much.  I'd like to keep speaking Chinese with everyone, but I know that'll be a unreasonable expectation for many people, particularly after not being able to speak English for so long.  It's funny how English can sound strange, even my own voice is going to take some getting used to.

Anyways, short post today.  Feeling good again, relaxed, and ready to take advantage of this upcoming month.  My next post will probably be after Mount Tai and Qufu, and hopefully I'll have some nice pictures and a better chance to reflect on what I've gotten out of this program.  I'm going to try and take a pretty relaxed and unplanned approach to travel in the next month.  I'll see what comes my way and try and take advantage of it.  I've got a decent budget, a decent amount of time, train tickets are cheap and available, plane tickets if needed are cheapest the day or two before the flight, and I've got fallback options in Beijing if nothing works out that I would be more than happy with.  I'm looking forward to it. 

My theme for the next week or so, as it turns out (I randomly chose from a stack of cards I made) is "adventure."  I may choose another companion card when I leave tonight, together with my roommate and whoever wants to as well.  But for now, adventure awaits.

Pictures:
1.    Calligraphy class with our teacher, the stud on the right
2.    My 1-on-1 teacher and I
3.    1-on-2 teacher and I
4.    Business Chinese class
Good times