Another good day...badda bing!

I slept the most solidly last night that I have so far. I went to bed at about 10:30pm and woke up at 7am. Back at home, I wouldn't consider that enough sleep. But I wanted to get up this morning, so I did.

I was the first one up for a while. Michelle got up around 8am and took a shower, didn't come out of her room until about 9 or so? But Annie, who didn't go to bed until 2am, didn't get up until around 10:30. So I had some time to myself to catch up on things. I got a few emails from people back home, which nearly made me cry. I miss home, but it makes me happy to hear from people. So if you're back in B'ham, feel free to send me messages!

It was a very gray day, so the Mall trip was nixed. It's been rainy and nasty outside, and pretty cold, even though weather.com says it's 53 outside. That is a lie. Your breath does not fog up that way when it's 53. Anyway, one of Michelle's college friends flew in this morning, after finally getting his visa and everything. He knows how to say "good morning" in Japanese! Anyway, he came over and didn't have any bedding, so we went on a trip to Target. We tried to tell him how to get around and everything, but I think he was a little overwhelmed. Anyway, we got some food stuffs, too, and some other little random things that we were needing. I also got some of those turn-cans-into-bottles things? That you pop onto aluminum cans to turn them into bottles? I think they're called Bottle Toppers. My parents made fun of me for wanting them, and even Wentao was surprised that I was buying them, but Michelle was impressed like me! I think it's an awesome idea!

We also rode the bus by ourselves! The drivers weren't as nice as the one yesterday, though. Why are bus drivers so mean?

Anyway, we came back home and found out that Wentao, Michelle's friend, had bought a Verizon cell phone, but a T-Mobile card with minutes. Since he can't use those two together, we were telling him that he should return the phone. Apparently this isn't as prevalent in China as it is here? Or maybe it was because he'd already opened it. Anyway, we were trying to tell him that in America, we return things if we can't use them. The thinking is, if we paid money and we can't use it, we deserve our money back. So what he decided to do (what we told him to do, really) is return the phone for a T-mobile one. There is a Verizon store downstairs, though, and he went down there to ask about any pay-as-you-go programs that they have. The guy apparently told him that if Target didn't take back the phone, they would downstairs. I was impressed.

Annie and Sarah are big Vikings fans, so they went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game, and took Michelle with them so she could see what a sports bar is like. I took a nap while they were gone. They came back at halftime, which I'm glad for because I didn't need to sleep any more, and apparently they had scared Michelle with all the yelling and everything. Whoops. She's fine, it's just really different from China. Wentao also came over at one point to give us an update on the phone situation and Annie and Sarah yelled at the TV at one point, which scared him, too. He asked me why I was so calm and I said that I just didn't care like they did. He said, "Oh, okay. Yeah, it's good to be calm." XD Cute. I asked Michelle later if the Chinese just aren't enthusiastic like Americans and she said it depends on who follows sports, but sports aren't like this in China. There aren't any like...nationwide popular sports or anything. If you play it, you're a fan, but other than that, you're not really. Though she did tell me that instead of university vs. university teams, they have department teams within the university. I thought that was interesting.

I didn't eat much today, which might be why I'm so tired. But we have more orientation in the morning, from 9-12:30, then a couple of optional workshops in the afternoon, which I don't think any of us are going to. Classes don't start until Tuesday, so I won't have my first class until next Monday. Therefore, I only have to do the orientation tomorrow morning. I need to go to CVS to pick up a few things, though, and we didn't make it to the Chinese market. We may do that. I also hooked up the DVD player, so movies are a go now. I bought "True Blood," which ran me $50 at Target, but neither Annie nor Michelle have seen it and I love the show anyway. It's a good investment, right?

Okay, time for bed. Goodnight. ♥