I’m now only 9 days away from getting on my 13 hour flight from O’Hare to Beijing. I finished finals last Wednesday so since then I’ve basically been hanging out with friends and slowly getting ready to go. I just ordered new contacts which should arrive before I leave, and have been slowly (as my mother can attest to) unpacking everything I brought home from my Madison apartment. It’s quite a lot of stuff and much is still sitting in the basement, where it will probably stay for the next 8.5 days.
I haven’t really started packing yet, other than to make a mental list. I’ll need to remember to bring hand towels, among other things, as they don’t provide those despite the fact we are living in a ‘hotel.’ Mostly though, packing will be sort of like for a long vacation: laptop, camera, large bottles of toiletries instead of travel-sized, tons of shorts and shirts, 1 pair nice pants, 1 pair jeans, and that’s it. The room I’m in will be lacking a proper dresser so I’ll be living out of my suitcase, technically speaking.
One fortunate thing is that I have been granted a multiple-entry visa. This will allow me to visit Hong Kong, Macau, or some any other country if I so desire. The visa is in my passport below:
Last year I was given a single-entry visa, so this may end up being more convenient. The 多 means many, more, multiple, etc… We have a ten day field trip during the program, and I have also decided to stay in China for a week after the program ends. I have a friend from high school who goes to Northwestern University and we will have some time to go wherever. Macau is China’s gambling capital (it is illegal on the mainland) so that might be fun.
When actually in Tianjin, I’ll be taking Classical Chinese along with one semester of fourth-year Chinese. The textbooks for these will all be available in China so I don’t need to pick them up here. I did however go to the bookstore and buy plenty of Wisconsin-themed gifts. Last summer I met a friend named Shino (her Chinese name is actually Xiaohuan) and her parents and aunt invited me to eat with them several times, and simply everyone in China loves American stuff and anything with English on it, so they should like the various clothing items I got them.
That’s all I’ve done to prepare. Spring Break (in Guatemala) took care of all the shots and such that I need. I have already notified my bank that I’ll be in China. The next week will breeze by then I’ll be back in Tianjin again. I’m already salivating over the food I’ll be having soon.
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This post was made on my new blog, http://blog.studyabroad.wisc.edu/index.php/archives/category/summer-2009/eric-mathis a week ago. I will be dual posting to both blogs probably.
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