Vlog #1 - Boston - Small Update

Hello everyone!

Here is a short vlog/ progress video I have been meaning to make. As I mention in the video, I have been pretty busy lately. School and exploring the city don't leave as much time as I had hoped. Nonetheless, I will find the time to share my experience in Beijing with you all (who really cares about Boston anyways, am I right?)

All joking aside, here is the vlog I mention. I include subtitles in the video for those of you who don't understand Mandarin. I won't make every vlog in Mandarin, but occasionally I will just to show you my progress with the language. As you can probably tell, I was a little 紧张(nervous). I hope to get a little bit more comfortable talking to the camera. The video quality wasn't the best, nor was the editing. I apologize in advance and promise the quality of both will improve with time! Hang in there people, don't quit on me yet!

To end with, I need to report that I am having the time of my life out here in Boston. I love the environment and more importantly, spending some quality time with my brother! I will be sad when my time in Boston is done, but I also can't wait for the next chapter in Beijing!

Only two weeks, two days, and 23 hours left..

Cheers,

Zachary Zehner
张睿杰 (For those of you wondering, this is my Chinese name. It is pronounced in the video. I plan to do a short video on my name and its meaning in the future!)

From Boston - 0 to 你好

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I would like to congratulate the newlyweds, my sister and her husband! It was a lovely wedding in my hometown last Saturday. By now, I am sure they are enjoying themselves on their honeymoon at Disney World.

In much less exciting news, I finished my first week of class at Harvard University. I must admit that I am glad for the weekend. After 4 hours of in-class lecturing/drills and 2-3 hours of outside homework + study, I am tired! But all the work wasn't for nothing, I learned a lot! I had already studied all of the topics and vocabulary, yet I still never got around to writing the characters. I learned over 60 new characters this week! 

Speaking of characters, I also made a lot of new friends. In my class there were 10 students other than myself, however, 2 students dropped. One student had grown up in Beijing, China so the class was a little too easy for him. The other was only in the class as he waited to be accepted into the Latin language program. My other classmates are great. They are struggling a lot with the tones and pronunciation (just as I did when I first began), but they are staying motivated. My tones and pronunciation has improved tenfold. We were drilled for about 2 hours every day this week just on pronunciation! The teacher would point to a word and we would have to say it with the 5 different tones. It proved really helpful as I can speak without having to think of tones or pronunciation anymore! 

My daily schedule seems to be along the lines of:

7am: Wake up and shower

7:30am: Head into campus to study before class

8:30-12:30pm: Class

1:00pm: Eat lunch

1:30-5:30pm: Practice/study Mandarin

6:00pm: Dinner

7-12:00am: Finish Mandarin homework/ Free time

Even though I am still busy, I am still finding time to do things I enjoy. My brother and I are planning to get back into boxing soon (he has been too busy with teaching his MCAT course lately). Hopefully, I can motivate him into getting back into running too! But I must keep in mind, "one step at a time."

Well that is all for now! I hope next week's blog post will have a better update and maybe some more exciting things will happen! 

Stay Tuned

Zachary Zehner

张睿杰

5/23/14 Introduction Post

Hello Everybody!

Thanks for checking me out. Throughout the course of the upcoming year, you will find stories, pictures, videos, and Chinese progress on this blog. Since I can't come into everyone's home to give them a tour of the blog, I made a short video. (shown below)

If you have any further questions about the blog or myself, just shoot me an email at zrzehner@gmail.com. (Beware: If I am in China, it might take me longer to respond.)

Now onto what a blog should really be about.. ME!

All joking aside, here is a short schedule of what I have coming up for the month of June.

I plan to start blogging weekly as soon as I arrive in Boston. As a side project of this blog, I am hoping to do a Chinese video log (vlog) to show my progression for the summer in Boston. Once I return from China, I will revisit these Chinese Progress vlogs to show you all how much I learn! Have no fear though. This doesn't mean that I won't do a regular "Where in the World is Zack Zehner" type of vlog while I am in China. I really hope to give you all as much of the Chinese experience as I can while I am in China.

For this first post I had the mantra, "short and sweet." I think I fulfilled that task and so I am signing off!

Thanks for reading,

Zachary Zehner
张睿杰