Emily told me Registration begins at 8:30AM. I woke up early, showered, dressed, and went back to sleep until 8:20AM. Never a moment wasted for sleep, in my book.
When I made my way downstairs, registration was in full swing. It had started earlier, apparently. Emily and I got in line, filled out all the paperwork, (as in she helped me a lot (as in she did almost everything) while I got to look at a slew of international students (ladies) as we waited in line) as we reached the last line of redtape, it turned out we needed passport sized photos. Something I'd neglected to bring.
This led us to a small photography place across the street, where for 20元, we got about a zillion photos of my smiling mug. Which we then used to get my registration completed, with Emily sneaking into the front of the line, and quickly resolving the issue.
And then there was the test.
I'd thought the language proficiency test was next monday, so I'd only studied a little, planning on using my whole week to prepare. Turns out, it was today. I would have studied more if I'd known. But, all in all, it was a fairly simple test, where I was asked to read a passage in Chinese and didn't recognize all the characters in it, but was better suited than the lower level of textbook, that I recognized everything easily in. And that was it. Class assignments are posted Saturday.
After that, I took another long walk to the north of campus this time. I saw a few places, Helen's, PBD, and more restaurants. I walked out to 4th Ring road, a massive river of traffic and fumes, with concrete walkways over it to the attractions located on the other side. I'll be checking those out next trip. There's a Pizza Hut over there. Which, in China, has become a fine dining eventspace, serving a varied menu, wine, high quality pizza, younameit. I still prefer american Pizza Hut pizza though, from experience.
When I returned, I discovered something wonderful! I had a new roomate! But he wasn't in at the time, so I left a note and wandered off again. As I was on my way out, I came across a man trying to carry his suitcase up the staircase, and having trouble with the awkward size of it. Being a good chap, I helped him carry it up to the 6th floor, only to discover he actually had a room on the second, which was another trip down. He introduced himself as Vincent, and we parted ways.
I spent a pleasent evening pestering friends asleep in Kentucky with texts at what was 5:00 AM for them, and returned to meet my roommate. His name was Andrew, and his sister was already studying here. He'd just graduated from Illinois, and was here to learn Chinese.
Turns out Andrew and Vincent are friends, and were previously roommates. Small world or something like that, right?
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