The 图书馆（library）

I've already touched on this a little, but to be blunt the diligence of Chinese students freaks me out. There is no better example of this than in the library here. By far the most populated building of campus from its opening at 8 to its closing time at 10pm, it is an enormous at least 5 story structure (I've never had to go past the 4th) that houses mostly study space for UIBE students, oh and maybe some books too I guess. Our classes start every weekday at 8, and the building is close to the library. So, every day at 7:50am I see students lined up to enter the library. These students aren't a few nerdy outliers, they're the norm(there are hundreds of them). Even if they have class soon after, they come so early to claim a seat, leaving a book or papers there so that even at the most crowded points they can have an insured place to do work. Occasionally I will head over to the library to memorize my characters, etc after dinner (standard I think for an American student), and after searching for a few floors to find a vacant seat, will start studying. After sitting down and starting to study, my I am always shocked by the silence. Generally speaking I am no stranger to libraries, but after growing up in a culture where everyone has just a little ADD, it is shocking to sit across from someone who does nothing except stare at their paper and/or write for 3 hours straight with no distractions of any kind. At home students more often than not have music to listen to, or a friend to whisper with occasionally, but not here. Unsettling...but I think I envy the drive at least in some ways.
Probably the most interesting time to be in the library is closing time. At 9:45 on the dot, loudspeakers break the silence with some unexpected extremely smooth jazz. From that time until 10, students pour out of the library's front doors in astounding numbers. The feeling I get is vaguely similar to that of being at the circus and seeing too many clowns climb out of a tiny Volkswagon. With the same song in background every night, students turn off their studying side and get social. They meet up with other friends coming out of the library and talk (presumably about the day's study topics). Below is a picture that I took of the first wave of students exiting: