兔子小

    路上，瞥見了一隻兔子。沒什麼，見怪不怪。每天都要看到的。

    但是牠好小，好像不是兔子，而是耗子。

    於是我走過去。OK，確定是隻兔子。

    這兔子小，有兩個層面：

    物理上呢，牠只有一個拳頭小。

    心理上呢，牠很幼稚。

    我找牠玩，傻傻的就過來了，明顯社會經驗不夠。

    玩了玩，牠咬我手指頭。這太暴力了，我生氣的轉身走。

    這時，來了一隻兔子。有社會經驗的。

    耗子呢?

    去兔子下喝奶了。

    

New semester, new Life

Tomorrow is the start of fall semester. I need a good plan to keep excising and studying everyday.

Weekday

1. In the morning, go to Grainger Library to study the courses I take.

2. In the afternoon, stay in my office for research. 

3. At 5~6 p.m., go excising like jogging, practicing Kung Fu or going to the gym.

4. At 6 p.m., have dinner at home. If it is my turn to cook, I will go home earlier.

5. After dinner, study English for about 30 min.

6. Before going to sleep, prepare and review lessons.

7. Sleep before midnight.

8. No computer games.

Weekend

1. Play badminton.

2. Be allowed to play computer games.

3. Study at least four hours a day.

Now, let's wait and see.

Drunk night

    Yesterday, I was so drunk that I threw up.

    It began in a reception in YMCA building. I and my roommate went together. After that, we attended the Union where a lot of activities were hold. There are mountain climbing, talk show, X-box 360 playing, Wii playing and movie watching  etc.. I met people and made new friends so frequently that people around me kept changing.When I was about to leave Union, I found myself was with a totally different group from the one I followed in the beginning. 

    And then, we went to a Chinese student's home to have some beer and wine. There is about 12 people who are mostly from Computer Science. We played two games: one is called something about  chopsticks; the other is called "count seven ". For the former, People sat in a circle with two chopsticks were individually hold by two members. Then member who held a chopstick started to play "Paper, Scissor, Stone" with the one next to him. If he won, he passed the chopstick. Otherwise, he played again with the one in the opposite direction. Ultimately, it came to the situation that two people with chopsticks had to play "paper, scissor, stone" with each other. The one who lost would hold two chopsticks and be punished to drink a cup of wine. 

    For the later game, people counted numbers in turn from 1,2,3 and went on. Whenever the number included 7 like 17 or the number being a multiple of 7, people should say "pass" instead of saying the original number. Once a person made a mistake, a punished to drink followed. And it was this game which destroyed me.  I kept making mistakes, so I kept drinking. They said I am a all time drinker.....

Although I made most of mistakes, other people also made mistakes a lot. This game really made PhD students look so not like PhD students. 

    Finally, I were so drunk. Even worse, I threw up at about midnight. It's my first time throwing up because of drinking wine. I felt awful and sick so I went to some room and slept on the ground. However I can't fall asleep immediately. I heard people talking and laughing in the living until I fell asleep at last.

International night part 2

    This afternoon, it was another orientational activity- chancellor's reception in Krannert center for Performing Arts. Originally, I didn't want to go based on experience of activities I attended days before. However Krannert center is so famous, I thought it's worthy to check it out. After attending the hall, I felt disappointed, again. Reception is held without seats for students. So, everyone just stood listening to the speech for the whole time. ISSS prepared some cookies, cheese and drink. The cookies are so delicious. Not too tough, not too soft. Maybe a little bit too sweet. On the other hand, the cheese is so disgusting that I got to throw it away.

    After the boring speech, there was a short introduction of this center by staff. They tried to explain how great this center is. They said that Chicago Orchestra borrowed this center to record their CD album. In addition, Ma Yo Yo performed this year here. Wow....

    After that, it's time to meet new friends abroad. And I thought that's really awesome. I met a lot of students from Taiwan and China. The best of all, I had a great deal of conversation with students from Europe, Korean, Australia and Canadian. About 15 students went a coffee shop to continue talking. After that, we went to Green St. to have dinner in a grill restaurant. It's a kind of buffet that you put things like meat, vegetables and sauce into a bowl and then the chief will cooked that for you. So you gotta be good at choosing and mixing, or the meal will hardly be better than the one you cook at home. Obviously, I am bad at it. 

    conclusively, I felt great and so international tonight.

International night & Russia girl

This night I attended the activity held by ISSS, international night. It was held in a brain new building named Activity and Recreation Center(ARC). We arrived at 6 o'clock which is when ISSS ask us to come. But we were told that there is a mistake that it's actually 7 o'clock. Anyway, we just waited until seven. In the period, we talked to some new coming students like us. This time, we spoke mostly in English. 

 After we entered ARC, we realized that it's a gymnasium but not a auditorium. And what really sucked is that this "international night" is not shows or parties at all but just letting people using facilities. What a boring orientation!

As soon as I wanted to go home, friends of mine said that we should at least take a look. So, we just fooled around inside and concluded that it's really a high-class gymnasium, although the international night sucks. After fooling around, we decided to do something, so we went playing racket ball. Playing racket ball is really pretty fun. 

When I was about to leave ARC, I bumped into a Russia girl asking me how to get the Union. I invited her to go with me because I would pass by the Union. The girl is from east Russia near the border to China. She said that it took only 5 min. to across the border from her home. She is in my height and looks pretty.  She is Doctor degree seeking in Russia literature. I asked her why don't she study Russia literature in Russia. She answered me but I didn't quite understand her explanation because her accent. We said goodbye near Green & Wright intersection and then I started regretting not had asked for her number.  

House far far away

    Today, I helped a senior member of NPRE package and move to his new Home. He lived on campus before, but now his new home resides far away from campus. It's an apartment near a park  in downtown Champaign. I found his apartment cozy and spacious. Meanwhile, the rent is cheap. So, housing far far away really has higher living quality. No wonder people dislike to live in city, but try to move to suburban  once they have enough money to buy a house and support the cost, including insurance, of cars. 

    And yeah...... the most important thing is car. Without a car, you are disable to go anywhere in US. Perhaps one can take a bus though, it's suffering to wait for a bus in freezing winter. Since the rent of house or apartment off campus is much cheaper, the money saved can compensate the extra expense like gas, insurance, rent for parking lot and maintenance. 

    In conclusion, let me have  a driver's license and enough money to buy a car as soon as possible. And then, let's live far far away.

People practicing kung fu in campus

Finally, I started doing some excise today. I went jogging around campus. Because  I haven't workout since I attended USA, I seemed to be sick. At 5:30, I left my apartment. I started running at Fifth & Clark St. and than passed by engineering library, Union, auditorium & agriculture  collage. I slowed down my speed near agriculture collage and was ready to turn back home. As soon as I  was about to leave, I saw a person practicing kung fu. Surprised, I went to him and ask him about it. He was a Taiwanese with  not-so-fluent Mandarin. His Father is a diplomatic officer so he spent most of his time in USA but not in Taiwan.

The Kung Fu he were practicing is 北少林拳 and he studied that under an American teacher. In fact, it's a registered student organization, kung fu club, in UIUC. I am not interested in 北少林拳, though, I will take a look at it.

After the conversation with him, I left and passed by the under-graduated library. Actually, I have been looking for that for a long time because I want to borrow some DVD in there. It seems that the library is built in memory of president James of US of American. Some of his words is  carved around the top of the patio. I found this building interesting because it is built totally underground. The only portion above ground is its entrance. I guess it is because that this library is for "under"-graduated students, it is then built to be "under"-grounded.

Buying a bike

Actually, I changed my mind not to buying a bike today.

Yesterday, I scheduled to go to buy second-hand bikes with Sheng-Yeh this afternoon. But when I was about to depart, I ran into my landlord. I told him that I am going to buy a bike. "There are almost-free bikes available in mid-September." He said,"UIUC always sold abandoned bikes in campus after summer vacation". "The price is as cheap as one dollar."He continued.

Frankly speaking, I am not in a hurry to buy a bike because department of NPRE is really close to my home. It cost only 15 min. to get there. I don't need to ride a bike unless I want to go to under-library. So I decided to wait until mid-september. 

印地安那州之旅

到美國過了好一陣子平淡無奇，甚至有些無聊的日子後，總算踏上了驚奇的旅程。八個台灣人開著兩台汽車，向東南方的印地安那州前進。我和翔業是這群人中的新生，其它的都是學長姊。

我們首先是去一家叫Wok的台灣餐廳吃飯。這家大概算是香檳附近最好的中國餐廳了，完全不需以重鹹取勝。

然後，我們開了三、四小時的車子，到了Indianapolis玩。這個城市是Indiana State 的首府，所以我們到了之後，總算有了一點都市的感覺。規模還是比台北小多了，但還蠻漂亮的。他的地標性建築是中央圓環裡的一個戰爭記念塔(我私底下叫他靈骨塔)，塔上面有雕刻，一群人由一個拿火把的女人帶領，應該象徵著自由女神吧。

這個城市另一個特色，是一條貫穿城市的河，有規劃過。不過我是覺得除了乾淨、整齊外，不算太有特色啦。

晚餐我們去市郊的一家漢堡站吃超大的漢堡，結果我吃到下巴抽筋……

第二天，我們去參觀「洞」，Marengo Cave。地質上，它就是由石灰岩構成的地層。經過地下水的侵蝕後，形成地下洞的景觀。這個洞穴有多大呢?在最大的位置，可以開一個小形的音樂會了。除了它是一個地下洞穴外，由於石灰岩的性質，內部有相當多的鐘乳岩、石筍地形，在打光之下相當漂亮。

導覽員會玩一個把戲，就是把現場所有的燈關掉。當燈關掉時，真的是伸手不見五指。而我的腦袋裡只想到一個字……「Pure Darkness」。若不是知道待會燈光就會回來，內心還真的是會很害怕。

第三天，我們去離Marengo不遠處泛舟。這是一條比基隆路稍寬一些的、平靜的、黃綠色的、兩岸林蔭的河。我們八個人分成四艘canoe下去。划一划累了我們就會靠岸休息。一開始，只是很平淡的照照像、吃東西。但接著女孩子們就開始挑逗玩水的氣氛，玩到最後所有人都濕透了。然後，我們又到了一處淺灘，那裡有一群美國人(幾個成年人帶一群小孩，有白人有黑人)在玩水。小孩子都玩的非常享受，而且玩的很吵鬧。當他們看到有船擱在河中間，就會瘋狂涉水過來幫忙推船，夾雜著笑聲。

前半段的行程就是如此的新鮮好玩，但後半段就變成無止盡的趕路了。我和翔業這一組不知道為什麼，不管多麼賣命的划，還是一直落後那些只有男生一個人划的情侶組。到最後，我們成為所有人中最後上岸的「survivor」，一共划了五個小時。

三天的旅程，在一家Taxes Roadhose(德州路邊攤)做收尾。這是一家非常有風格的餐廳，裝飾以德州牛仔為主題。一進去滿地的花生殼，都是食客隨手丟在地上的。這邊花生是免費無限的，但只有花生是允許丟地上的。這晚，我喝了兩杯生啤酒。乾杯的很快也讓我醉的很快。然後我就一路微醺的回到Champaign。

開學前的目標

既然開了網誌，就應該要好好的用它。希望可以保持每個月十篇左右的成績。

8/25才開學，還有大約三個禮拜的無聊時光，我打算做下列幾件事。

一、加強英文。

方式：用讀托福的方式讀VOA文章。看看室友要不要一起改用英文講話。

      借美國連續劇來練習對話。

       用英文寫日誌。

二、學做菜。

照從台灣帶來那本傅培梅電鍋菜來做菜。

學做義大利麵。

三、讀工數。

美國文化

不管是什麼樣的民族，什麼地方，都應該有他的文化。但我們卻常常聽別人說：「美國人沒文化」。

今天室友載我到Market Place去弄手機的事，當聊到咖啡時，他說他很喜歡喝啡咖，一天要喝三杯以上。我說，你這巳經是完全美國人式的生活了。他卻說：「美國人是喝很多咖啡，但都是亂喝。」也就是，美國人只是「要喝咖啡」，但好不好喝卻不在乎。

接下來講到穿著。美國的男男女女，都穿的相當「樸素」。普通的T-shirt 加條牛仔褲之類的。而女生很喜歡穿細肩帶。當然，如果她身材很棒的話，這樣是很「HOT」。但是，美國人的身材大部份都是........需要治療的。室友覺得，穿著最棒的是在巴黎。在美國的話，只有紐約勉強及格。然而，紐約之所以能及格，也是因為它有很多「外來人口」。

總而言之，美國是個沒文化的地方。

但我就不得不問了：「若美國那麼沒有文化，那我們到底是為了什麼來美國留學的呢?」

有人會說：「美國沒有文化，但他的科技很先進，我們只要來學它的技術。」

如果說「沒文化」和「科技先進」可以同時成立的話，那麼就表示「科技」不算是文化中的一個項目。反過來說，好像「品嘗咖啡」和「有品味的穿衣服」才算是文化的一部份。我覺得，科技就國家生存和競爭力來說，比對咖啡和服飾的品鑑能力重要多了。而歷史上「文明古國」被「蠻族」毀滅的例子也太多了。宋朝滅於蒙古、羅馬帝國滅於北方遊牧民族。

清朝末年，士大夫對西洋國家的概念是：「洋人是沒有文化的蠻夷之族，靠的只是船堅炮利而巳」。今天，士大夫的聲音似乎又回響了起來。