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春天终于到了！Spring has finally arrived!

The weather has been absolutely stunning this week; even on rainy days, it feels warm and sweet. 

This Monday was the final soccer game of the tournament! Our boys took first place (4-0) in a gallantly played match against the Xin Jiang team. 

Maike's Thai friend Yok who was in town came to visit the school that day. She is so sweet and cute! 

On Thursday, I signed up for the HSK (the language level test required by my program). It'll take place May 10th. 

I decided to take the HSK 5 rather than the 6 (the highest level) because I would be the only one doing it and although I think it would be possible for me to pass the 6, I'd have to spend the next month studying my buns off. So I decided I'd rather do swell on the 5, be with my friends and and enjoy other aspects of this experience during the last couple months. 

Additionally, the HSK is only really used in attending Chinese university or getting jobs in China and since it expires after 2 years and I'll be at university in the States for 4, there's no point to stress over it just for bragging rights. Finally, the AP Chinese test (which I'll take May 7th) is actually more important/useful to me because Stanford will take it as a language credit! Anyway, it seems I just have the final academic hurdles of the HSK, AP, finals and research presentation in May left! 

Friday we went to the Shanghai botanical gardens, which was not as impressive as I was expecting (a tad bit too manicured for my taste), but was pretty splendid all the same (especially since I am slightly obsessed with plants). 

Saturday, I went back to my host family's apartment in the suburbs one last time to say goodbye. 

Due to a variety of complicated factors, I am unfortunately having to switch host families. It makes me quite sad, but honestly it's best for everyone involved.  I am so grateful to them for opening their home up to me this year and know that we'll still maintain a good relationship into the future. 

The plan as of now is that I will meet my new host family this week and go home with them next weekend (which is actually a long one because of the tomb sweeping festival or Qing Ming jie 清明节). 

There is apparently a sister (who is in the IB department and plans to study abroad for college) and a younger brother! They live very close to my original host family's old apartment (about a 10 min walk from school and a 5 min walk from the metro station). 

I look forward to spending these last couple months with them and having more access to all that the city has to offer during the weekends.