Took another test drive over to Beijing U today.
The city of Beijing is essentially set up in a series of expanding rings. Each one wider than the previous and each one numbered 1 through 5. I’m guessing, but I think that the center of the city is probably the Forbidden City (at least that’s what it was like in the old days). Whatever, the point is that Beijing U is hella far away from my hotel. It takes about 30 minutes without traffic and since this is Beijing and there are 5 trillion cars and 47 gabillion bikes, it typically takes about an hour to two hours to get from point A to point B. Traffic is…there’s really no describing it. I mean, when I say there’s traffic, I think of DC traffic and getting out of 495 during rush hour. It sucks, but it’s doable…but Beijing? Man…it’s just another world entirely. It’s the worst traffic I’ve ever seen before in my life. Doing it everyday? I don’t think the US ever needs to worry about China trying to take over other countries or anything…the army will NEVER make it out of Beijing!
In addition, it’s cold. While I thought that Nanjing was cold, I was quite mistaken. It’s hella windy here. Beijing is not only quite far up north, but it’s also surrounded by Mountains on three sides so it’s windy pretty frequently. According to my friends, the cabbies, it’s going to be really cold tomorrow morning. (Yay!)
I got here on Friday and have taken two trips over to BeijingU to see what it’s like. The first day I got lost and it took me about 45 minutes of walking around and looking for the test center. It didn’t help that the directions the LSAC provided me only said ”#4 Classroom Building (by the Sportsfield)” That was fun to translate in Chinese during frigid temperatures. On a positive side, I did get to talk with awesomely cute english girl in the awesomely cute dark pink coat. (Sorry Ali) But she apparently had heard of Alicson’s wrath, so she ran away pretty quickly.
I finally found the place and this classroom building…to be polite…sucks.
A) it smells of urine. Seriously. Pee.
B) it’s cold. Heating system? Not so much.
C) I stopped by again today and there’s now construction. Seemss as if the building next to #4 Classroom Building (by the sports field) is getting torn down. (So does #4 CB change it’s name? Will it now be #3?)
So yes, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s exam with glee. In addition, my Reading Comp is kicking ass, my Games are ‘eh’ and my Logic feels up in the air. But still, I’m feeling pretty confident considering that this is the last time I’m ever taking them. If I don’t get a good score, then I’m going to take it that God simply wants me to take over the world via Grad School.
On a good note, the hotel/apt I’m staying at is awesome. Better and more homey feeling that my Apt back in Nanjing. It’s really just…nice. The showers have incredible water pressure. I’ve been raving about it to my family in emails, but wow! So good! They also have a great gym that I’m using a lot.
Sleep time now. Test time tomorrow. Leaving hotel at 7am so I can be at BeijingU by 8ish.