One Month Crimson (Part Two)

3. Life

   Thayer Hall is a drama house. As far as I know, the fifth floor is full of drama, so is the first floor. Though I live on the third floor, I seldom hang out with people from my floor, except Christopher, but he transferred to Matthews Hall, since he got two years off from high school and he’s old enough to live in senior hall though he’s a rising junior. My roommate tried to do the same thing, because rising juniors have curfew at 11 every weekdays and 12:30 at weekends, she talked to the assistant dean, Pilar, to try to transfer to other senior halls so that she wouldn’t be confined by the curfew. However she failed, and we still live together in Thayer, much to her disappointment.

   On the first Friday, there was a boy, Ramzi, celebrating his sixteenth birthday. I happened to be there on time for birthday cake, and since then I became familiar with people from the first floor. Jenny and Bianca lived on the first floor too, which gave me another reason not to stay on my own floor. Brandon, Khaled, Shaurya are guys with whom I hang out often.

   Brandon was the boy who went to AT&T with me on the opening weekend. He’s from Indiana, and he’s in Law and Psychology too. After the first week we no longer chilled together, since he began to hang out with people from the fifth floor, but I stayed on the first. It wasn’t until last week that we started to be familiar again. He has serious allergies to a lot of things, so the summer school considers him as student who has disabilities; hence he got a room on the second floor with air conditioner on his own. The past weekend was the hottest weekend since 1930s; the heat was unbearable. Computer labs, libraries and other places with air conditioner were all filled with people who couldn’t stand the heat. Brandon’s room, therefore, became a great place for us to go study. The temperature dropped drastically this week, and he moved back to his previous rGoom on the fourth floor, but we still remain to be very close.

   Bianca and Jenny are among those whom I’m closest with. Bianca is from Romania, and she’s the different from what parents perceive as “good kids”. She smokes and drinks, and she dresses like an adult. She doesn’t look like seventeen at all. Jenny, on the other hand, is a typical good kid at school. She was born in China, but she’s been brought up in Canada. She’s now in Canada’s best girl school. We three have different personalities and we are three totally different people, but we get along well. We paint each other’s nail, we help Jenny ask the boy she has a crush on out, we go to pinkberry together to have our girl’s talk. Everything feels really sweet.

   Khaled is from Jordan; he’s one of the nicest people I’ve even met. At first I knew nothing about Jordan, except for the fact that it’s super rich and the queen of Jordan is really attractive. Khaled answered many of my questions about his country patiently, just like I did when others asked questions about life in a communist country. He talked about religion and the conflicts in Jordan. He goes to school in international school in Jordan, and he’s so hardworking, unlike what I first thought about kids in international schools. Ramzi, the boy who had his sixteenth birthday in the first week, goes to an international school in Lebanon, and he’s quite spoiled.

   Another spoiled kid I hang out with is Shaurya. He’s an Indian, and his parents own a hospital in India. He is basically the exact opposite of what I expected from an Indian. He sleeps in the day and studies at night. He goes to The Essay class at the exact time as I do, and his schedule is really weird: he sleeps until half an hour before class starts, and he goes back to sleep after class ends, which is eleven thirty in the morning. But he’s a very nice person after all, and he’s really funny. I remember once I had dinner with a girl from London, she was born in Hongkong but has a British passport. After dinner we met Shaurya in the basement of Annenberg. I was trying to book a piano room, but it was already filled; Shaurya saw us and we started to chat. Connie, the girl, is one of the funniest person I’ve ever seen. She and Shaurya started to talk in crazy British accent, and suddenly she shouted: “I asked you a date but you rejected me!” Then they started to fight if this really happened. It turned out to be that Connie asked Shaurya out for her friend, but she did ask him for a date after all. After Connie went back to Holworthy, Shaurya told me seriously: “If you let that young lady appear in front of me again, I swear to God, Zoe, I’m going to kill you.”

   And then there’s this boy, Jason Teng, who also lives on the first floor. I met him last Saturday when I was going to play volleyball (though I had no idea how to play it) with a bunch of people from Thayer. Then I found out that he goes to Andover, and we had breakfast together on Sunday morning. He taught me how to make a waffle, and it turned out to be that mine was way much better than his. He started to talk about the waffle makes in Andover. He ‘s really humorous and a very easy-going person. He is an American born Chinese, and really nice-tempered. I make a comparison between his Chinese and Yifeng’s, and he definitely wins. Yesterday night we went to J.P.Licks for Frappe after his chorus was over.

   Generally, people I met here are all extremely nice. Though some of them might have different personalities than I do, due to different cultural background, still it feels awesome hanging out with people from completely different countries, who share different beliefs and social recognitions.

   I’m recognized as the extremely nice Chinese, because I don’t get angry or jealous so easily as other girls do, and I see that as a compliment.

   Other aspects of life are going on pretty well too. For one thing, I started to buy tank tops and I sent several pictures of me wearing tank tops in Annerberg’s brain break one day. My dad saw the picture and he was in fact very mad; he even asked if I borrowed it from my friend, which was seemed as a funny thing to many of the friends. The dressing code here in America is much less strict than that in China. I wear tank tops and flip-flops all day long, and I’m considered as dressing conservatively. There are girls whose skirts or jeans are only long enough to cover their butts. I personally do not appreciate that type of dressing (part of the reason is because I don’t have legs as beautiful as theirs), but I really think there’s nothing wrong in wearing tank tops. They are convenient and comfortable, and nearly suitable for every occasion. Also, I’m literally spoiled by the New England weather, there’s no way for me to survive the hot summer wearing the clothes I’ve brought here. Another thing is that I’ve painted my nails, only because I feel it embarrassing showing others my cracked toe nails and for finger nails, well, they simply look better. I’m not afraid to show it to my parents, because it’s only a change of aesthetic views, and there’s nothing about morals or property involved. Anything beyond that, I wouldn’t even care to try.

    There are a lot of underage students smoke here, most of them started because of peer pressure. From that point of view, I really appreciate the fact that I have been brought up in China. Smoking, drinking or having sex when you’re still a high school student are not something cool at all. Getting high scores in exams and working hard are the criteria of defining a “cool kid”. The peer pressure is much simpler and beneficial. Those of my friends who smoke also think the peer pressure in China is far healthier and more positive. Although I might not benefit from the current Chinese education system too much, yet I’ve learned from the society, from the school and from my fellow students about morals and virtues. I know there are certain things we can’t do, I know there’s a clear line between being cool and being corrupted. Being a Chinese is not that bad at all; I appreciate who I am, what my nationality is and where my motherland is. I’m more hardworking and modest than most of my peers in other countries, and I’m more embracing as well. I believe all these virtues exist not because I am who I am, but instead, I am whom I’ve been brought up to be. I’m proud of the fact that I’m Chinese, and that I have benefited from the social recognitions in my country.

   Being friends with peers from other countries reinforces my idea that I should accept Chinese education and allow it to plant positive impact on me. There’s no single education system that’s perfect; the mix of them all, on the other land, will create the most advantages and bring most benefits.

   Food in Harvard is not that good, but the fact that we are having buffet for three meals everyday contributes to my continuous gaining of weight. I have to stick myself into my jeans. That’s why I got up at six thirty this morning and ran for fifteen minutes along the riverbank. I definitely need more exercise. The pool in Harvard is not even as good as the one in my school, but the gym is pretty nice.

   Rooms are pretty large in Thayer, and my roommate is very nice. But I hate the rule that you can’t go to other floors after curfew, because nearly all of my friends don’t live on the third floor. What’s the difference between staying on your own floor and staying in the building? It’s not like they have gates or locks on the entrance to each floor.

   Other things in Harvard are all pretty amazing. I’m now used to the life with three hours in computer lab, several hours in the library, several hours hanging out with friend, and an hour of soup opera at night. Sometimes I spend like an hour in the piano room as well, though I don’t really like the pianos here. There is one Steinway in the practice room, but the sound is just terrible. There are two more Yamahas and that’s all. Usually you have to book a practice room, otherwise they are often filled with students practicing all kinds of instrument, including but not limited to the piano.

   Talking about hanging out with friends, that’s another thing that I don’t get the chance to do in China. I spend six days out of seven a week at school, so basically I’m with friends all the time. That’s probably why my parents won’t let me go out at weekends; if you prefer to use “grounded” or “confined”, that’s exactly what kind of situation it is. But staying at school and being with your friends is not like hanging out with friends. Usually when a long day is over, I will go out with my friends to walk around the campus, sometimes we’ll go to starbucks or pinkberry in the Harvard Square. There’s a lot of things we would like to talk about, and it’s always the best part of my day. On weekends we’ll go to the free movie shown in the science center together, sometimes with ice-cream or other beverages. Last week when we went there, the movie had already started for half an hour. There were people selling popcorn and soda outside the lecture hall where the movie was played, and when we walked pass they simply gave us the rest of the popcorn and asked us to take whatever drink we wanted. Well it’s supposed to be a secret kept between us and the sellers, but I guess nobody in Harvard SSP will really read this blog, so that doesn’t really matter.

   I really do enjoy my life here, and whenever I think about the fact that there’s only two and a half weeks left, I will be extremely upset. As soon as I fly back to Guangzhou, my chemistry class starts. Since I missed almost a week of class, I’m not sure if I can keep up. And I have the homework issue too: I didn’t take the final exam and I didn’t receive any homework for this summer. Whatever comes after the summer school ends will be pretty terrifying, and I prefer not to think about them when I’m enjoying myself here.

   I remembered what I wrote in my last QQ blog. I said that it would be four months until a middle return.

   It would be two years until a giant return.

   Because. Of. Crimson.

   The End.