Final Thoughts on CLS

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The last few weeks of CLS passed in a strange haze, as we did very little sleeping and a lot of drinking. My host mother originally said that I had to be in by 10 pm every night, but on the last two weekends I ignored her and stayed out ‘till between 3 and 7 am with my classmates. Man I had been missing out! The clubs in Sanlitun were super fun. Gay night at Alfa had my favorite music and atmosphere on the dance floor. The oppressive humid heat and pollution finally broke for our last week, which was amazing! I also recall the night before our final, traveling out to our friends’ host families’ neighborhood way out in the past-the-5th-ring-road boonies where we drank beer, watched the stars (you could see at least 20!) and enjoyed each others company in the cool night breeze. Then I tried some unsuccessful drunken flashcard making in McDonalds at 2 am. Then we all did very poorly on our finals at 9 am. We also went out one night with our teachers to Helen’s, a bar in the Wudaokou area, to drink beer and smoke hookah. The bar was cute and homey inside, plus it was well-lit and the music wasn’t too loud, so it was really perfect to enjoy some last moments with our teachers who had become our good friends. One night we stayed out all night and went to Tian’anmen square to watch soldiers march out very precisely and raise the flag as the sun was rising. In conclusion, this was by far the strangest summer I have ever had! There are many things about China that I still really don’t understand. I meant to see all of my classmates off when they went to the airport, but I was behind on my packing and didn’t make it. Anyway it was not “goodbye,” but rather “hope to see you soon.” The other people in the program were my favorite part of the summer.

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