My host university's long break, which is essentially the same America's summer break, has finally ended, which has made our campus a lot less desolate. The students' return has revealed a number of specifities of Chinese universities, most notably the daily blaring of music. Each day, after classes end, speakers placed all around campus loudly play Chinese pop music. When I asked one of my teachers to explain this custom, she told me that administration requests that music play all over campus and in the students' dorms (just the domestic students, thank God) in order to make everyone feel relaxed after class. However, she said, this is an ostensible explanation, as the administration true motive is to keep students from falling asleep after class. Indeed the synthesized wailings of a Chinese pop star makes it difficult to doze off.

My bike was stolen despite tremendous effort spent locking it properly using only a puny Chinese lock. The realization that it was stolen was not accompanied with the usual feelings of violation and anger, as I would feel in the US. I assumed that was a sign that I was still not entirely accustomed to China - to me, my environment is strange and dangerous, so I half-expected it to get stolen. However, when I told my teachers, they also were not at all surprised, as it is a common occurance in Beijing.