The End

This past week we wrapped up finals (written Chinese, spoken Chinese, a final Chinese essay, and a research paper written in English) and since then have been doing all the Nanjing things that I was supposed to but had not yet done.  Pictured here is Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum at Purple Mountain, considered by Guomindang and Communists alike as the father of modern China.

In addition, we spent 6 hours over the last two days at the same tea shop, buying wonderful tea after discussing everything under the sun with the owners.  Apparently our Chinese is now good enough to banter on with natives about Chinese class relations, the owner's hopes for his new son, why Americans are excited about Obama, and social mobility in our respective countries (in addition to the simpler things in life, like jointly making fun of Canadians and Britons).  I'm having a rough time telling all my program mates good-bye (you know those war-buddy kinds of friendships forged in adversity), but am pretty ready to return home.