Elle croit que tout change, et seule elle a changé

So I have several things to discuss today. I am pretty sure that after my culture class on Tuesday and my Chinese foreign policy class on Wednesday- I will generally have a lot to say. Today in my Chinese class, we gave presentations about landmarks and famous places that we have been to. Because I had my pink life scrapbook, I retrieved some photos to use to discuss my trip last summer to Shanghai. This is when it really sank in how much my trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and a little bit of Beijing affected me. Marketus told us at orientation how different our first trip to China would be from other trips. He also said that every trip to China would be different from each other and that is important to never think you know everything about China. I feel like Beijing can never be like Shanghai. I have such a special place in my heart for Shanghai and all the adventures I had there. My experiences in Beijing will never compare to my first visit to China, but they will be amazing in new and different ways. I also don't know how I will reflect on the experiences I am having right now in a year. Maybe, it will have the same tone that Shanghai does now.


It's funny my friend Andrew Salsberry told me something about the day that he left for Spain for a year. He told me that he looks back on the day as a happy day. When I left for China, I cried from Concourse A to Concourse E at the Atlanta airport and it was really sad at the time...rather it was bittersweet. It was my first, I'm sure of many, international flights by myself. I was literally traveling to the unknown with no real friends, no concrete idea of what I was getting myself into, and with blurred expectations about what the next few months would mean for my life and my career. But Today, I look back at the experience as a really good experience and a new beginning to my life in China.


Oh also....I WANT TO CLARIFY!
Many of my friends are reading this thinking my life in Beijing is just crazy party fun yay! Well...not really. Sunday night through every other thursday is more like this:

This is me studying until I fall asleep with my books in my bed. I have at least two hours of Chinese class Monday through Friday with three hours on Tuesday and Thursday. I also have homework and a vocabulary everyday. I have also have a three hour Chinese foreign policy class on Wed and a three hour Chinese Contemporary culture class on Tuesday. After all of these classes, we've got a nice 2-3 three of studying to do.

So friends and (my mom) this is not just one big Beijing party. It's a lot of work and then we go out on the weekends and rage.

I'll write more later- I have to go meet my language partner!