Truth or Dare

One morning, fellow MEM student Wyley Hodgson and I awoke at 5am and met Professor Xuebin Yin, power point presentations in hand.  Well, in USB flash drive...  Dr. Yin was taking us to present our summer research to a class of undergraduate students at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) main campus.  He hired a driver to take us to the train station.  As our driver skillfully weaved between police cars and mopeds, Dr. Yin found a way to take my mind off of the constant string of near-death experiences.  He calmly announced, "We will take the train back tomorrow morning and stay at the USTC guess house tonight."

Tomorrow?

I paused, waiting for "April fools!"  No, the Chinese do not celebrate April Fools' Day in June.  We would be spending the night in the city of Hefei.  Wyley and I exchanged looks of concern and confusion.  We packed for a day trip to a university: computers, flash drives, some water, and mp3 players.  None of those things can double as PJs or a toothbrush.  We arrived to find that the guest house was essentially a private hotel, complete with toothbrushes and tiny bars of soap.  No Pajamas. 

We continued to the classroom and presented our intended projects.  I am 100% sure that the Chinese students did not follow my very English presentation.  They pretended very well though.  Later, the class took us out to dinner with Dr. Yin; I ate a small eel.  Ice cream followed.

I did not expect a "picnic" to follow that.  The undergrads suggested a picnic, and we blindly followed despite our sated state.  Our picnic consisted of sitting in a circle on the rubber turf soccer field while mosquitoes picnicked on every exposed inch of me.  One guy, who strongly resembled a miniature Nick School alumni Ben Landis, literally ran back to his room to retrieve playing cards.  To pass the time, the other students tried to convince Wyley and I to sing songs for them.  Not wanting to damage the American stereotype further, we declined.  Tina, the tiniest undergrad, graced us with her voice instead... singing "My Heart Will Go On."  

The Ben Landis lookalike rejoined his 9 classmates, the professor, Wyley, and me.  The cards he brought prompted a game of Truth or Dare.  Rather than singling out specific people with embarrassing requests, in true communist fashion, the group collectively decided on the questions/dares then drew cards to see who would have to complete them.  It was comically PG.  Truths included such classics as "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "Have you ever had a crush?"  Dares featured acting drunk, asking a random girl for her phone number, and hopping like a frog while singing "Happy birthday."  This continued late into the night.

I will help lead a sampling techniques seminar next weekend, when these students visit Suzhou.  I fully expect to disappoint them with my lack of boyfriend and singing skills.