Last weekend, I went to Universal Studios with my friends. Many people had told me that Universal Studios was a wonderful place, so I went to there with great expectations.

But as a matter of fact, Universal Studio was far better than my expectations. During the studio tour, the sightseeing guide showed us many film stages. But you can’t see anything from the outside of the stages. After that, they showed us how a car explosion scene was made. That was amazing, you could never imagine such a dangerous stuation happen right in front of you. But it did happen and with such safe control. What followed was a flood. We sat in the tour car and saw the flood coming down along the river with great sounds. We screamed with the fear that the flood would go into the car we were sitting in. But everything was safe and under control. And we happened to see the rehearsal of an action film. After that we saw the street of Desperate Housewives and an airplane crash scene. And it was said that the crashed plane was a real plane but a retired one. But of course the crash was man-made. But the scene was quite real, you could still saw the smoke coming from the plane and cars near it.

The studio tour was so wonderful that I felt it was too short. After that, we joined the other programs of Universal Studios. The house of horror was just so-so, and the most formidable part of it was some staff of Universal who acted like ghosts and came out from the corner to give you a great fright. The most wonderful thing of Universal Studios were the rides. It had three different rides. The Simpsons’ ride was the most interesting one. It was indoor and the actual motion of the car was not so great. But there was a screen before you, showing a scene from the Simpson cartoon. So, by looking at the screen you will feel that you were in the car travelling to different places. The Revenge of the Mummy was the most high-speed. But it was quite safe too. The rail before me made me feel very safe. So during the whole ride I was clinging to the rail tightly, and feeling the wind pass me by. The Jurassic Park ride was a river adventure. The car would drop from a high place, and you would get totally wet when you finished it. But Jurassic Park was the most exciting one. Because during the time you could feel the gravity thoroughly, and you felt that your heart was almost broken. So I was kidding with my friends, we agreed that jumping from a high building could not be the best choice for suicide.

Besides, there were a lot of 4D movies in Universal, too. You needed special glasses to watch them, or they would kind of blur your vision. Shrek was a wonderful cartoon, and the Terminator was violent. But they were quite rare. When you were watching that you would feel that you were just in it. Those were things happened just before your eyes. Quite amazing!

And we also saw a live action film. It was a sea battle. Some stunt actors gave us a wonderful show. What’s more, in the program of special effects, the staff showed us how those special effects in a movie were made. I marveled at their brilliant ideas.

The trip to Universal Studios was terrific. But beyond those exciting experiences, what gave me the greatest shock was the brilliant film makers behind all those things. They were so smart that they made those marvellous scenes available for a film. And I believed that in their brilliant minds they must have great passion about film. During this summer, many things around me bettered my understanding about passion. Being passionate about what you are doing, being passionate about your work and your career, being passionate about your own life. Being passionate means I can do better in my life. Besides, being passionate I would never feel tired or boring about what I am doing. And I would always be in a state of happy and vigorous.

So, maybe just like professor Michael Phelps’ daughter said, “children always feel excited about what they will do tomorrow”, I should always keep the nature of a child, being curious about the world, being passionate about what I will do, and being innocent.

I still remember the first week when I was enjoying breakfast with Roxxane. She told me she misses Hangzhou, the city and the people. “Want to bet? I’m sure you will not have the same feeling when seven or eight weeks have passed.” I said. So we set a bet, since both of us are pretty sure of winning this game.

<Now seven weeks have passed. On Sunday when we both sitting in the cafeteria, enjoying dumplings made by the Chinese crew, I realize that she wins the bet. I’m not saying we want to go home ASAP, instead we are enjoying the feeling called nostalgia.

Yesterday I went to Santa Monica with my lab mates. After dashing and jumping at the beach we’re all exhausted. Sitting on the beach chair facing the ocean is the best way of recreation. There were seabirds hovering over my head. Some times they were flying very close to me. Wind was blowing softly from the ocean. Suxian said only birds can understand wind. She was right. Airplanes only mimic the birds but cannot understand wind, just like artificial intelligence mimics the human brain but can not really think. I love the sea since I live far from the ocean.

<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin: 0in 0in 0ptOne of us, Song, a Chinese boy from Beijing University, sat in the front facing west for three hours without doing anything. I stood side by side with him, and heard him say: “From here I can see my home.”

Dr. Zhu said there’s nothing standing between Shanghai and LA on the earth, only the Pacific Ocean. Suxian argued the that earth is round. But I said light can be bent due to gravity. Anyway, one thing is clear: Song can see his home.

Actually I like Los Angeles very much. This is a city with a wonderful climate, beautiful sights, outstanding universities, excellent facilities, and warm-hearted people… All of those cannot be realized in Hangzhou. In my opinion (maybe Roxxane, the Hangzhounese, will not agree), LA is definitely a better place to live or do research than HZ. However, these are not adequate reasons to love LA more than our hometown. I cannot explain it by reasoning and scientific analysis. Maybe that is just like a girl with the best qualities who doesn’t necessarily turn out to be the girl you love the most.

I miss my home. It does not mean I want to go back home immediately. If someone asked me to stay two more months I think it is okay. I enjoy the work here. I enjoy the life here. And at the same time, I miss my home, very, very, very much.

爬了2千多米，终于到顶了，感觉获得了重生，感谢党 感谢人民，祝奥运圆满成功

See, I can make it! It’s a piece of cake.

Yang Cao

The co-op workshop is a part that only students from Zhejiang experience. We have two choices–be a chicken or work on the facility. Since I have no experience with either, I chose the facility workshop that seems appropriate for a boy. But I was wrong. This is a job that belongs to a true MAN.

The first week’ s workshop began with moving heavy boxes. The sentence that I heard repeatedly was ‘Move this there’ or ‘Move these (>=4) there’. With no doubt that after 4 hours

Hard at Work

The following week’s work is of great variety. From cleaning the shutters on windows (see the picture) to washing the stairs; from refurnishing the bathroom to fixing toilets; and so on. Every time a completely new task is there waiting for me.

What will be the next? I totally can’t tell what it will be except that it is full of mystery and might make me even more manly 2.5 months from now.

So far (by the end of the third week here), I have seen four movies in L.A.: WALL-E; The Dark Night; the X-Files: I Want to Believe; and Mama Mia. For this blog, I will not only talk about these movies, but also about the movie culture in America.

About the movies, they are all from different genres. WALL-E is an animated movie and it was Amaaaziiiiing…!!! A very beautifully made movie, not only visually stunning but the plot, the content were wonderful; it just made you think deeply about your relationships with the people around, the world and the earth. Unlike animated movies in China which are simple, sometimes naïve and targeted directly to children, American-made animated movies are broader in terms of the scope of the audience. In other words, parents obliged to take their children to see these movies will not be bored at all.

From the box office results, you can see that there’s another film sitting comfortably for the second week in a row: the new Batman movie, with a gross income of over 300 million dollars. Somehow people, including me, feel compelled to see the movie because everyone else has watched it. But, in reality, it was hideous……just kidding, it was a great movie and the performances are really strong and impressive, especially the joker, played by Heath Leather (also in Brokeback Mountain), who died tragically early this year allegedly for a drug overdose. I particularly like the part in which the joker tells the gangster the reason for his scarred face. And when the joker says “why so serious?”, I got goose bumps and chills all over my body. I was scared and impressed at the same time. In fact, I asked a few friends of mine who said that they are motivated to see the movie because of the joker and the underlying tragedy. Anyway, it is a must-watch movie of the year and is setting new records every single day.

As for the last two movies, the X-files movie is OK. I don’t think people will love it unless you are a hard-core fan of the corresponding TV series like I am. The style of the movie directed by Chris Carter follows  the original TV series and so do the two characters: Molder and Scully.

Mama Mia is more of an upbeat, live, entertaining comedy-musical movie. I never thought Meryl Streep would fit in this genre; but like the “Devil Wears Prada” movie, she can play anything. The most memorable part of the movie was when Meryl sang the “Winner Takes it All” song with such commitment, passion, fervor that you can feel every word of it. This is the second time I got goose bumps and I really enjoyed the movie.

Americans are proud of their movie industry, which entertains people and brings shock waves to America and the world at large. And the epicenter is of course the grand Hollywood, L.A. I am a great American movie fan and definitely I will never miss an opportunity to watch them while I am here. I love the movies I have seen so far but what impressed me more is actually the audience; how they appreciate a good movie!!! I remember at the end of the WALL-E movie, people were so captivated by the scene that it was dead silent and you could literally hear the drop of a needle on the floor. And when it ended, almost everyone applauded and when the director’s name appeared on the screen , they applauded again. And most people didn’t leave until the music subsided. It amazed me the degree of appreciation among American people for an excellent piece of visual art and their politeness and respect for it.

I also made a friend right before the Batman movie and we talked a lot about our opinions of films in a general sense and found out that we have a lot in common. I made a friend just in a few minutes; after the movie, we went to a fast food restaurant and continued the talk and we promised to see a movie together every weekend. It is amazing that a single interest can lead to a possible friendship for life. And it proves that movies, consisting of music and a flow of pictures, is quite a  universal language in that human nature is at its core the same everywhere: curious to find the beauty of everything.–Quan Guo

Peace!

Will he ever get out?

On top of old Smokey...

We made it!

Sand and Sea

瓶中沙，装的话，我用笔写下 , 海风刮，竹篱笆，我们埋下它

Yummy!

 很能吃啊

Cool Sunglasses