Today I saw a bird, which is one of the only live animals I've seen in the city so far, besides pets. It made me miss living not in the city.
One of the major parts of the program is the duli baogao (independent project). A component of this includes mandatory interviewing of at least five Chinese people. Since I've only been here a few weeks I don't really know many "real" Chinese people, so I ended up interviewing the people I spent New Year's with and then I sat in a Starbucks and waited for people to come talk to me. I've learned that foreigners are especially intriguing when they can speak (or try to speak) Chinese. So I often study the new characters and lesson texts in Starbucks or other coffee shops and people will inevitably come and talk to me.
My roommate and I also found a store where everything is liang kuai (about thirty cents). They have quite a selection of strange items, like screwdrivers, spatulas, cookware (pots and pans for 30 cents each!), socks, children's toys, etc. I'm still surprised by how cheap things are here.