There's a little more of the Chinese I've learned. The title is pronounced wo shi Tsinghua Daxue de xuesheng and translates to "I am a Tsinghua University student."
That's one of the first phrases we learned and one that I use frequently when trying to explain to Chinese people I meet what 50 American students are doing in Beijing. First they are surprised that I can speak Chinese, and second they are very impressed. Hen hao daxue ("very good university"), they say. Usually ranked in top 1 or 2 universities domestically, Tsinghua is recognized for its academic strength internationally as well.
It's a great school with a beautiful campus and I feel very lucky to be here. The campus itself is like a small city, entirely enclosed a by gate that separates Tsinghua from the surrounding area. We only experience a very small part of the campus on a day-to-day basis, so in honor of the beautiful weather we've been having, myself and a couple friends decided to take a bike ride around campus.
The campus is beautiful, lots of pretty buildings both large and small, and a surprising amount of wildlife. It is brimming with hidden treasures; gardens, bridges, pagodas, and lagoons. We'll often hear about different places on campus--a store or a park, for example. Generally you will only ever find these places if you are lucky enough to stumble upon them. A hopeful attempt to find a campus restaurant often begins to feel like a wild-goose chase after a half hour of fruitless wandering.
Our bike ride did, nonetheless, have a specific destination in mind. We had heard that there was an SPR Coffee (rumored to have great food and low prices), and we were determined to find it. With Kelsey and Lindsey's direction, we managed to locate the coffee shop with relative ease.
It had great atmosphere, a large outdoor patio, and, as promised, tasty, inexpensive food. I got an iced coffee drink and set up studying for a few hours; it was very reminiscent of my frequent study sessions at Norbucks during the school year.
Some other photos from our campus tour:
a street market on campus
a tiny pagoda near a small lagoon
a street market on campus
a tiny pagoda near a small lagoon
Tsinghua has an arch too!
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