If you’ve come to this blog looking for nautical navigation advice for the East China Sea…well, this is not the blog for you.  This is my blog about my upcoming adventure to study abroad in China for two semesters.  I will start off my Fall semester in Beijing, China at the Beijing Language and Culture University.  This university specializes in teaching Mandarin to foreigners like me!   I will be studying, exploring, eating, being touristy, not being touristy, making friends, and blogging in Beijing from the end of August to December.

I will return to the purple mountain majesties from the end of December to mid-January to visit my loved ones.

Then, I will once again trek by airplane alllllllllllllll the way back to China for my Spring semester in Xi’an, the oldest city in the country.  I will be studying at the Shaanxi Normal University to soak up their historic and modern culture.  My experiences, may they be delightful or dreadful, heart warming or heart wrenching, tasty or utterly disgusting, will be captured here through my writing and pictures.

So this is it.  This is my blog.  My big adventure. This is about me and my future experiences but I didn’t do this by myself.  I couldn’t have if I tried.  I’ve had multiple (like 5) advisers, I got the dean of my college to call my cell phone, I’ve spoken with the IRS, I’ve missed deadlines, I’ve rewritten (not edited, rewritten) 1 essay 5 different times within 6 days, I’ve cried in the registrar’s office, I’ve skipped and jumped with joy to class, I’ve applied to scholarships I had no busy applying to, I know how much my medical insurance will cover in case I become dismembered while abroad, I’ve been told no, I’ve demanded people say yes, I’ve searched for great advice and have had it thrust upon me.  And although I’ve typed a plethora of “I’s,” there were always people right along side me to help when I needed it most.  Without them (and they know who they are) I wouldn’t be able to get on that plane and go.

Thank you for reading and please keep in touch.

Yours sincerely,

Eva