Things I've seen today

A list of things I've seen today:  Students marching in military formation, men’s basketball team practicing, students playing ping-pong, badminton, lifting weights, martial arts, break dancing, a speech competition, basketball after dark, and a wild dog.

This morning I awoke to the sounds of students chanting, again.  Day after day the incoming freshman rise at the crack of dawn and march until after dark.  As I understand it, all of the freshman (except those at NYIT) are required to go through military training for two weeks before any of their classes start.  Basically, their introduction to college consists of marching for long hours, chanting really loud and keeping me from sleeping. Everyday I can look out my window from class and see then marching group after group in the sun.  It looks miserable.  On my way to the cafeteria this afternoon, some of groups were sitting in the road in neat little lines while other groups were practicing marching with their legs out straight in front of them and their arms swinging across their chest.  At one point I was completely surrounded by camouflage, looking for my best route to escape!  They were everywhere- on the track, on the basketball courts, on the road.  On the field each group was practicing some sort of combat with kicking, punching and yelling in unison.  It was a sight to see!

On my way back from lunch, I stopped into the gym and found the wood floor covered with badminton nets and four basketball hoops.  I found a few students I knew and joined them in playing badminton.  It was funny because right next to us the men’s basketball team came in and started their practice.  They moved a few of the badminton nets and made way for their court, not making any of the students playing badminton leave.  It was quite strange because in NY we have gym time and only one team is in at a time.  Everyone just seemed to share their area and didn’t bother one another.  I met the assistant basketball coach who actually is also the badminton instructor and volleyed back and forth with him.  Afterwards when I was leaving, I saw students playing ping-pong in a room of probably 12 tables.  I also saw a brand new weight room where one team was lifting weights. 

Later in the evening I was asked to be a judge for a speech competition and on my way to the event I saw a room full of students running around a room kicking each other doing kung fu.  As for the speech competition there were 5 people who competed and about 7 people in the audience.  It was the preliminary round for a national competition that many other universities are competing in.  After the speeches I walked back to my apartment and passed the basketball courts where it was completely dark, yet the dribbling of those orange balls could be heard from the road.  I also passed the new student building where music was seeping out of the second floor where students were break dancing.  I stopped and ate an ice cream called a Magnum (tastes like a Dove bar!) and watched them for a few minutes. 

Just a few days ago I was thinking to myself how bored the students must be here.  I didn’t understand what they did in their free time.  Their social environment seems so much different from the college environment we are used to like hanging out with a group of friends in the dorms or going to parties.  Yet today I got to experience a wide variety of what Chinese students do for fun.  It’s not your typical crazy American college campus but it was buzzing with students out and about doing what they do for fun here.