Week 9

The University of Akron had Spring Break a few weeks ago. This was a new experience for me. For an entire week the University held no classes and many of the students left campus and went home. In China, we do not have a Spring Break from classes. We are on a semester system but it is set up a little differently than the American semester system. I was pretty excited to have a break in the middle of the semester. It gave me a chance to get ahead on some work. I was also able to spend some time with some friends and we were able to take some time and travel. In China, most of our universities have a fall and a spring semester. There are typically no summer semesters. We also have a month long winter holiday, which occurs at the end of the fall semester. This break is fairly equivalent to the break we experienced at the end of fall semester here at Akron. This break occurs during Chinese New Year celebration. This year our New Year was celebrated on February 3rd. The New Year celebration is similar to the Christmas celebration in America, full of many stories and traditions. It was very difficult for me to be away from home this year, during the New Year celebration. After spring semester we typically have a two month long summer holiday, which is equivalent to the summer break at Akron. Unlike Akron, however, we typically do not offer classes for students to take during this break.