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Hi Everyone,

During this week, the pollution has been extremely bad. A good, clear day would be 50 PM or less, but a couple days ago it was about 500 PM. It was really interesting to see this. The world looked so much more gloomy than ever before. If take glance outside, it actually looks brown outside. I really do like living in Beijing, but having to breathe such polluted air is one of the downsides. Right before these couple of days of extremely intoxicating air, I experienced the coldest weather in my whole entire life! It was unbearable and I was completely shocked! I wore one thick pair of wool leggings, a couple layers of sweaters a coat, and a scarf. This was not enough to beat the =8 degrees Celsius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit)!! Well after this experience, I made sure to definitely bundle up with more clothes! It’s funny because I told some friends about this (from back at California), and they were saying they were really cold at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I remember feeling the same exact way when I was in SoCal. However, in Beijing, if I see that the sun is out, and the temperature is not below 0, I think its a good day out! :)

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How one of the worst polluted days in Beijing looks like! :o(

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Me and Nora outside of our classroom! :o)

Other than the weatherโ€ฆ next week is my last week of school. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this because I am feeling a mixture of emotions! One part of me feels ready to leave Beijing because I miss home, but then there’s another part that does not want to leave. I’ve made amazing friends in Beijing, and it is sad thinking about the fact that I will not see them for a very long time! :(

-Jen

Jennifer Au

Ni hao! My name is Jennifer Au and I am a fourth year Biology major at the University of California, Irvine. During Fall 2015 I have been given the amazing opportunity to study at Beijing Normal University for four months to learn Mandarin. I chose this program because it was the one option that included an intensive Chinese language program. I want to learn Mandarin so I could better communicate with other individuals including my family in China. It has always been my dream to reach in and discover the culture of my ancestors and who I really am and through this study abroad program, I will be able to incorporate academics and social development with cultural cognizance. My deep rooted desire to study abroad in China as a Chinese American may seem a little predictable, but this desire mainly stems from my upbringing in a predominate Latino neighborhood, in which I assimilated more with the Latino community and felt significantly displaced from my own culture. Iโ€™m looking forward to meeting the locals and practicing Mandarin with them everyday and trying authentic Chinese cuisine, like Peking duck! I also hope to use my Chinese acquisition as a physician assistant to communicate with patients who may speak Chinese.