Hello From My Apartment!

I have internet! Wooooooo!!!! Me oh my has it been a busy past few days. Orientation started on Friday, which went from 9 am until 5 pm (with a 2 hour break for lunch). We had a wonderfully frightening talk from a policeman about safety in Nanjing, which mostly consisted of him telling us not to drink too much or do drugs or be stupid. Nanjing is aparently a very safe city with a low crime rate, but that doesn't mean that you should let your guard down (as if I would in a foreign country). I am also very glad that my apartment door is a steel slab with no door handle (see pictures) and that all of my windows have bars on them that would only allow an arm through. We got an introduction to Nanjing University and took the placement exams for our writing and media courses. On Saturday we got an introduction to Flagship courses and expectations, and found out what our placements were. I am in Writing C class and Media A class. I'm not sure what the letters are in terms of rankings, but it means I don't have class before 10 am so I am happy :)

Saturday also brought my internet installation! There were some small confusions (such as the word extension plug, which I did not know) and the installer had to drill a hole from the outside to let the wiring in, but I am now online!! Saturday also brought the discovery that my hot water maker was broken! After some calls with the landlady someone showed up to change the gas tank, and after that we discovered that the problem lay in the water heater. So today (Sunday) a handyman showed up and worked for about an hour to fix it. So now I have hot water again!! I spent the time he was fixing it thoroughly scrubbing my bathroom from top to bottom (the shower head is movable, so I scrubbed everything with soft scrub and then just rinsed the whole thing down!)

I also had a fun adventure replacing my cell phone. A bunch of us went out last night and I put my cheap 100 rmb phone in my bra and I think the sweat broke it.... So today I picked a direction and started walking, thinking that I would eventually run into a phone store. 2 or 3 miles later after making 3 turns I found a tiny store and bought a phone. Then promptly hailed a taxi back home (man I am still not used to walking so much in a day, my legs are tttiiirreeedd!! I've actually been using my knee brace while it adjusts to all of the movement). Tonight we are going to the Confucius Temple, which apparently has a huge open air market surrounding it. More on that later, for now pictures of the apartment!

 My room/bed (walls have yet to be decorated)

 The picture wall of all my loves :)

 Other side of my room. TV under the yellow sheet, closet, and makeshift desks.

 My laundry balcony. About 2 feet long and with poles on the ceiling to hang dry my clothes.

 The now very clean bathroom

 Dining room/Living room/Fridge area

 The kitchen, which has not been used yet because I haven't had a chance to clean it. The white box on the left is the water heater, and the hole on the bottom right is where the gas tank is.

 My soon-to-be roommate's room, which is actually an office.

My door. Notice the lack of a door handle. Makes me feel a lot safer actually!

That's all for now. More pictures to come from the temple and first impressions of classes! Love,

Maggie