Echoes of a Distant Tide

On the second day of the program, the Program Coordinator, Robyn, told us that the program will be an academic one.

We had to attend classes (effective communication and topic development ) and finish a final project.

To finish the project, we needed to do survey.

Participants are divided into six sections based on the score placement test with fifty listening questions and speaking test.

At the beginning, I supposed that the listening test would be like TOEFL test.

But I was surprised when I saw the questions because they looked like intelligence test.

The questions were not very easy, we had to listened to the speaker carefully in order to answer them correctly.

The speaking test was like a chat, we were asked some questions about our background and thoughts.

There's no significant difference between sections. 

The homework was the same, but those in section 6 had to do more surveys and more citation.

Besides, the higher the section was, the harder they could get high scores. 

That is to say, the teachers had higher expectation on them.

I was one member of ALC2 section 6, and it is my pleasure to have these terrific classmates.

Together, we went through mutual introduction, observation homework, group survey, idiom and slangs presentation, and so on.

Most important of all, the final project, which took us several nights to finish it.

Because we spent so many times together, I learned a lot from my classmates through observation.

What's more, we had more chances to understand different cultures from place to place.

So many funny things happened during the class (like I LOOK AT YOU), they are our permanent memories.

With all of you, the class was never dull.  We had countless sweet memories.

In EC class, I learned a lot from feedbacks of my presentation from teachers and outstanding classmates.

In TD class, we were asked to finish our project step by step.  I learned some very useful academic writing skills.

I spent a lot of time working on my paper and slides. 

The day before I handed in my paper, I slept for only two hours.

I had to wake up early the next day and rushed to computer classroom on the second floor of tresidder to print it out.

(p.s. tresidder is where the food court is)

I even slept on the sofa in the hall the night before my presentation because I was trying to add more metaphors

to my slides and lines.

So I was glad when I was told by teachers to have very solid references and nice final presentation.

Even though I am sure that I could do a better job if I had more time, I am satisfied with my work and left no regrets.

Maybe we are not the smartest section 6 ever, but we are sure to be the best one.

Thank all of you for granting me such a wonderful summer vacation.

Even though it was so brief and evanescent, it would be a lifelong memory.