Final Impression

After dinner, I walked alone on the road to the classroom, the road that I walk on everyday. The sun had already gone down while the sky was still bright. There were some students on the road ,going to take their night class. Time goes by,  it's only three days away from the end of this program while I can still remember the night that I came to Yale.
Walking and thinking, six weeks ago, all about Yale was just like a dream, I could only get some information and photos of Yale from the Internet. But now, I have lived and studied in Yale for nearly six weeks, everything about Yale has become familiar to me : Morse college, the WLH, the gym, all the libraries and even the Yale farm.
In my First Impression, I said that I hope the good impression of Yale could continue to the end. Now I think this wish come true. And I love Yale even more. I love the teachers here, they are really different from China's teachers, so I can study something new from them and I really admire the way they teach students. I love the clean and quiet streets here, which make me walk more leisurely. I love the weather here, it's much cooler than it is in Shanghai, so I don't need to worry about the high temperature. I love the blue sky and the white cloud here, they always bring a good mood to me. Well, to be honest, there is one thing I don't really like: the food. I miss the Chinese food very much.
Maybe it is the the only time I can study and live in Yale, maybe I will have another chance in the future. Anyway, I will treasure up this six weeks in my memory.

New York Boat Trip

The mountains of people and the seas of cars reminded me of Shanghai, but the churches and the American-English around told me : Welcome to New York.
The main thing in New York for me was to enjoy the boat trip. It was really a big boat with two floors above the deck and another floor under the deck. There were so many people and we were in a hurry to board the boat so that I had no chance to take a photo of the big beautiful boat. A friend of mine told me: "Don't worry, you will have plenty of opportunities to take photos in the boat." He was right, from the boat, I could see the green sea, the blue sky and the New York city becoming an integration. New York was famous for his skyscrapers and so was Shanghai. As a person who traveled in both of the two cities, I thought Shanghai was better in the absolute height of the highest building while New York was better in the number of skyscrapers. However, no matter how high the building was, it looked just like a toy when you were very far away from it.

Sea, Sky and New York city

The crowd started cheering like crazy when the Statue of Liberty appeared in my sight. It was just like a spot at first and then began getting bigger. I was so excited to see the Statue of Liberty because of the importance and the historical significance of it. It is just like the Taishan Mountain of Chinese culture - the representative of American culture. And it not only represented the liberty of the America, but also lightened the freedom road for the whole world.

the Statue of Liberty

Finally, a machine that could create coins with interesting picture attracted my eyes. It needed 4 quarters and 1 cent to start work. I didn't have any coins but it was not a big problem. I changed 1 dollar to 4 quarters in the canteen and asked my friends for 1 cent. Then I carefully put the coins to the machine and turned the machine four times. With a crisp sound, a coin with the Statue of Liberty picture on it came out. It was really wonderful, I would treasure it as a good memory of the New York boat trip.

the interesting machine

the memorial coin

    

Harvard and MIT

There are only three subway stops’ distance between Harvard and MIT, but the differences between them are like men and women, out of reach.
I could easily find the difference when I was just out of the subway station: There was a sea of people in the  Harvard Square while I could only see a big ball in a fountain and a few people out of the the MIT station. 

outside of the Harvard station

outside of the MIT station

Harvard was lively and crowded, there were many beautiful libraries, lots of schools, a lot of students and even groups of visitors. MIT was calm and quiet,  there were few buildings and fewer people, and it was hard to find the campus of MIT.   

Harvavd

MIT

There are also other differences which can't be found by eyes: MIT is focuses on science and technology while Harvard is better at social science and humanities. The ways that they train students are also not the same. Students can get more free time in Harvard if they want, but it is something  the MIT's students can't imagine. The students of MIT have to work hard and hard to finish their homework and experiments, many students don't even have time to visit the Boston Bridge until they graduate. There is a saying that it is hard to enter Harvard while it is hard to get out of the MIT. 

Harvard Business School

MIT Computer Building

However, no matter how many differences between Harvard and MIT, there is one thing they share: they are both in the pursuit of truth.   

Zhenmushou

As we can see, this is a sculpture of a beast, whose face looks like a lion, with two horns in its head and dressed an armor. It looks really horrible, right? It's name is zhenmushou in chinese and be translated to Tomb Guardian Creature. And we can get some information about this sculpture from its name. Yes, it's used to protect the soul of the tomb's host and the funerary objects because its fearful outward and can frighten the demons. The other function of it is said to guide the dead's soul to the sky because there are some connections between zhenmushou with the dragon. And we can see this zhenmushou was made in Tang dynasty. It is more than one thousand years old. So the initial color of it faded from red to khaki. The first zhenmushou in the history appeared even another thousand years earlier than Tang dynasty. It's the warring States Period of China. And it disappeared after Tang dynasty. It was very popular in the whole Tang dynasty. The well-made, magnificent and eloquent zhenmushou is not only a cultural treasures of China, but also a representative of the Tang dynasty's culture.

911 Memorial Museum

Although there were many clear signs and we confirmed it to police, it still took us a bit more time to find the entrance of the 911 event memorial museum. It was so small a door that we almost missed it. But there were many people in the lines and we realized it was the museum.

What made us surprised was we needed a ticket to enter in. We thought the memorial museum must be free because it had important historical significance and free would attract more people to know this event correctly. Whatever, we bought tickets and entered the memorial museum. It was very noisy outside while inside was so quiet though lots of people were here. We could see the live video and hear the sound when the event happened. People were all very panicked whether in the World Trade Center or out, whether in New York or not, whether they saw it in the scene or on the screen. I couldn't stay here because it was so sad and then I went forward. There was a photo wall, plastered with photos of people who died or missed in this event. They were smiling in the photos, while their relatives and friends must be very sad.

photo wall

I found some audio story in the underground. The people who told the story all had a trembling voice though they tried to hide it.

audio story

I felt a little difficulty in breathing, so I prepared to go back. A little cute girl happened to appear in my eyes. She was so beautiful and full of the smell of life, which made me relax and breath better.

little cute girl

We all have precious lives and a beautiful world. But wars and conflicts are hurting our lives and ruining the world. We should stop them and give peace back to the world. And people can also get a more peaceful and harmonious life. Although, it is still a long road to reach.        

My Home

There were 3 days holiday because of the International Labour Day. I decided to go back home. After 3 hours of flying and 2 hours of driving, I finally came home. I opened the door, then passed through a corridor , I came to the drawing room. I was really tired so I went to a chair to sit down.

drawing room and the chair I seat

My mom was sitting in another chair ,

drawing room and I seat in the middle chair

She asked me how about my life in the university. Dad told her I was good before I opened my mouth,because he had already asked me in the car. It was 6 pm and I was very hungry. Mom said she prepared a wonderful dinner for me. The dinning room was just beside the drawing room so I walked to the dinning room immediately,
finding there were so many delicious dishes.

the door links drawing room and dinning room

dinning room

I really had a big meal with my parents that day. It strengthened my thoughts that our home cooking was the most tasty food in the world. Then I passed through the drawing room to go to my bed room. All things were familiar: my bed, my computer, my studying desk , my bookcase，two maps of China and the world and three posters of my favorite players.

my bed room

I stared at the posters on the wall for several minutes and they brought me back to my childhood.

the posters of my favorite players

Then I walked to the balcony, which was just beside my bed room, to see the primary school I studied in. Something changed, there were two more teaching buildings than the time I studied. But one thing would never change. I lived and grew here. Here was always my home.                  

Stroll

When I went out of  WLH, there were some people sitting on the bench. They were friends, couples and maybe strangers. They talked to each other in a low voice, afraid of being eavesdropped upon by the others, I guess. So I couldn’t hear what they said. A beautiful girl lay on the grass and immersed in the warm sunshine, which made her even more pretty. Then I walked to Wall Street. The street was clean and quiet which I didn’t realize before. I really enjoyed the feeling when walking through a quiet street in the morning. A group of students headed toward me. I realized where they  came from when I heard the familiar language they used. Time went by quickly. I prepared to go back to class but something horrible happened. I saw Dasha, Monica and Melissa sitting on the bench so I walked to them and asked them to go back to class together. Suddenly, I found something on the ground beside the bench. Then I bent down to pick it up. Oh my god. I just found it was a toy baby with a frightening appearance. Her hair was disheveled and her face looked really terrible. The other three girls were also frightened by the toy baby. Fortunately, they didn’t see it until I came. And a boy like me can always give girls some courage to overcome  fear.

The moment I grew up

It was in my 16^th year. My father came to Beijing from my hometown, which is 2000 kilometers away from Beijing. I had to choose the university before the college entrance examination that weekend. It is really a risk to choose the university without knowing the score you would get in the examination so my father came to help me. He came Beijing by train and I went to the train station to meet him. It took us some time to find each other because the Beijing West Station was so big and there were so many people. But the moment I spotted my father, he wore a white t-shirt and black trousers and stood beside the stairs. He looked a little shorter than I last saw him, which was half a year earlier. When I walked up to him, he saw me and gave me a big smile, which made his crow’s-feet more obvious. I hurried to him and gave him a big hug when I came to him. And at that moment I saw his left temple full of so much grey hair, more than any time before. In that night, he told me it was the last big decision he would help me and I would make decision by myself in the future. I realized something after that day. He was getting older and I was growing up. I need to assume the responsibility of a man, becoming more independent and mature and making my parents have a better later life.

A Great Study Break at Mory’s

Listening to the song by Yale singers, with delicious snacks and nice juice. I was enjoying our study break at Mory’s. Mory’s temple bar was a Yale tradition, which begun in the ninety century and was established by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Moriarty.

I was very excited when we received the e-mail from the Yale office and got the information that I was invited to the study break at night at Mory’s from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I decided to have dinner at an early time in order to have a fresh stomach for the study break. I waited and waited, I was sleepy so I went to the bed for a nap. When I opened my eyes, it was 7:50 pm, I shall go.

Arrived at Mory’s with my friends at 8:00 pm. Strangely, we didn't see any other students we knew here. "Maybe we were early" a friend of mine said. We agreed with her and decided to waite for five minutes. But things didn't change after five minutes. We couldn't wait and asked the waiter for help. A tall waiter came and led us to the inside of the Mory's. It was so big inside, with many delicious snakes on the table. There were already many students here, with a glass of juice in everybody’s hand. I asked for a glass of juice mixed of pineapple, orange and apple because I heard that it was the most popular type.

Mory's

About 20 minutes later. The officer told us there would be some songs sung by Yale chorus right now. There were 9 choristers, consisting of 5 girls and 4 boys. They sang 5 songs and there was always applause when a song ended. We talked to each other, drank the nice juice, ate the delicious snacks and listened to the wonderful songs. What a great study break at Mory’s!

Yale Chrus

Yale Farm

Braved the hot sun, my friends and I went to Yale farm on Friday afternoon. It was not far away from our college, just ten minutes bus and another ten minutes walk. There were about ten people here when we arrived the farm. They were working just now. We told them that we wanted to be volunteers. They were happy to hear that and told us we could participate in right now.

The work was to put the gravel in the soil where there were some vegetables. The gravel could keep soil’s temperature in a low level and avoided the sunshine shining in the soil directly. I was good at that because I had done that in my grandparents’ farm. It demanded not just physical strength but also patience to do a duplicate thing dozens of times. It was so hot that sweat drenched our clothes. It took an hour to do this work and we were tired and thirsty. Then the staff led us to a water-tap and told us the water here was natural. We were too thirsty and drank the water as much as we could. It was really cool and I loved the natural water. There was a pity that the pizza didn’t offer that day so we can’t try to make the pizza by ourselves. But we still got many happiness here. It was a worthwhile exploration. 

A Dream

Jack was sitting in a cafeteria, looking at the face of the woman, who was sitting in the corner. She was really beautiful and the sunshine on her cheek made her even more pretty. It reminded Jack of his dream. He could not wait and he walked up to her.
 “Excuse me, are you Rose?” 
The woman was a little shocked.
 “Yes, how you know that? I’m sure I haven’t seen you before.”
 “May be you can’t believe it,” Jack smiled, “But you told me in the dream.”
 “Really?” 
The woman was more surprised 
“So, what else did I tell you in the dream?”
 “You were born in 1936, the third child of your family. You began to love music since you heard a song of Beethoven. Now you are studying at music school of Yale University. You don’t like salty food and sweet food is your favorite. All right?”
 “Wow, that’s right. But you could get this information from my friends or relatives.”
 “It’s a real thing, I’m serious, " said Jack, "And you told me we were couples in the previous existence.”
 “It’s not good to accost a girl by lies. I have to leave.”
 The woman stood up and then the bell rang.
 The woman woke up from the sleep.
 “It’s just a dream” The woman thought. 
But what she didn’t know was in another city, Jack woke up from the same dream and he can’t remember how many times she appeared in his dream.

The picture I choose

Adventurous Hunt

We were on  College Street, hesitating which place we should go. “See! Shuttle bus!” We just ran to the shuttle bus like a hungry tiger hunting for the prey. When we jumped off the bus, the Phelps gate was waiting there to embrace us. How lucky we were!

We were trying all the directions to the Art Gallery until we got a glimpse of it just as we turning  the corner. We were jogging quickly towards it just like children who finally found the candy store. There was already a team there which added to our anxiety. The expression on their faces was surely mixed as the door hadn’t opened yet. Finally, they decided to go but not us. We were waiting heart beat accelerated as the time was running so fast until suddenly we heard a click of the door.” It opened!” we shouted.  The other team had already gone further away “Come back!” we called out before we hurriedly went in.

When we came out the gym. “It’s 10:30, my god, we’ll be late” Henry shouted. “Let’s go” Mohammed said and led us running to the classroom. We rushed in at an unbelievable speed and eventually arrived in the classroom in 10:36. It was also a good fortune that we were not the last team.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. And to be successful in an adventure, the luck is very important. What a fantastic adventure!

The first weekend of July in Yale

In the class on Thursday, the teachers told us we would have our weekend from Friday because Friday was the Independence Day. And my first weekend of July in Yale begun.

the dinning hall full of national flag of America 

There was a film about Independence Day in the morning on Friday. It was really a good film actually about the whole history of America. But I didn't understand much about the introduction, it was very different from the spoken English. Then it's the BBQ which I was excited to go to. However, it was raining all the time when we were in the BBQ.

BBQing

It was not very bad because we could speak English to each other to improve our speaking. And when we were back, it was time for the World Cup.
There were four World Cup games in the weekend and I watched three of them. I was a hardcore fan of Argentina and Argentina beat Belgium by one goal from Higuain. Messi, the captain of Argentina, was my favorite player. He was the best player in the world now and he could be the best of the history if only he led Argentina to win the World Cup.I had been looking forward this day.

My favorite soccer player-Messi

Besides the World Cup, I also did many other interesting things like I visited the library of Yale and played soccer in the grass with some friends. I even went to the church on Sunday and experienced the whole mass in a solemn environment. Of course, I din't forget my homework, it also took me several hours.

The Sterling Library

What a rich and colorful weekend!  

First impression of America

When the plane landed with a huge roar at JFK Airport, seeing all the signs in English, I knew I was in America now.

JFK Airport

It was my first time to go abroad and of course the first time to America. I was full of expectations but something bad happened at the beginning.
It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon when we begun to check in. There were four officers at first and the line go on with a fast speed. But when it was our turn, the officers all were gone and just left us to wait. It was nearly an hour that we waited in line. It made us dissatisfied and had a bad memory with America at the beginning.
However, things became different when we on the way to New Haven. There were lots of trees and grasses everywhere. The sky was so blue and the air was so fresh compared with Shanghai, where I was from. It reminds me of my hometown, a small country town in the south of China with wonderful environment. I begun to like America from that moment, I thought.

New Haven

Things became better when we arrived at Yale. The enthusiastic Yale security, with bright yellow uniform, guided us to the Morse college. The officer of Morse welcomed us with a nice smile and told us what shall we do. The food in the dinning hall was good, at least I thought so. The classmates I met were all very kind. May be I was falling in love with America. I hope this impression could continue to from the first to the end.              

Morse college 

An exciting moment in my childhood

I had a wonderful childhood. There were lots of unforgettable moment that I can remember now and in the future. I would tell you one of those today.

This is my primary school which I studied in in my childhood 

It was my ten-year-old birthday. My cousin, who was four years older than me, came my home and we played together. We have many similar hobbies, we all like playing ping-pong,chess，badminton and so on. We played chess first. Thirty minutes later. He won the game and said “you can’t beat me anyway” in an arrogant tone. I was very angry, thinking how could I find a game that I could beat him. When I saw the new bat that my grandfather bought for my birthday, I got an idea and suggested to play the ping-pong by my new bat.

My new ping-pong bat

I played ping-pong since I was 5 years old. I really loved it and I believed I played it very well. I wanted to beat my cousin in ping-pong, though he was ten centimeters taller and stronger than me. It was really an intense competition. We were very closely and got 3 to 3 in the first six sets. In the last set, it’s about three quarters since the game begun, our score was 10 to 9. I was 10. It’s just one step away to win the game. I served the ball aggressively and his back ball was high. I caught the chance and smashed the ball with an extraordinary speed. He couldn't do nothing but shook his head. I won the game! I beat him! I was very excited!

It is really a fantastic moment and I have a very happy birthday in my ten-year-old.

This was the photo taken in my ten-year-old birthday.