千里之行、始于足下- A journey of a thousand miles starts beneath one’s feet.

-Laozi

So, I don’t really know how to blog so I’m just going to start writing from the top of my head and hope it works out. Thanks everyone for showing some interest in my trip! It really means a lot to have the support from all my friends and family.

I’m currently going through all the last minute things that you might expect; figuring out what to pack, buying things, saying goodbyes, and pretending to learn some Chinese before I leave. I’m leaving in 5 days from now, so some of the stress/anxiety/excitement is starting to build up. I feel like I’m mostly prepared, but there are always those things that I could have done more of. The big one is that I really should have put more effort into my Chinese over this last semester, but now its too late to make up for that. I’ll be able to survive, but I should have been closer to conversational than where I’m at now.

I’m going to be studying abroad in Chengdu, China for 4 months. I leave January 7th and return May 12th. I included a map in case my description of “Central-ish China” didn’t do it for you.

I’ll be doing a lot while I’m there, but it still is going to be a semester of college. I’ll be taking 9 credits of Chinese Language, 3 of Modern Chinese History, and another 3 of Government and politics in China.

I’m planning on putting one of these out every week or so (no guarantees though) where I talk about what’s been going on and any cool experiences that I’ve had. I’m planning on taking a ton of pictures and sharing them here. I’m not too familiar with how this site works, but I’m also planning on responding to the comments that people leave. (I’m working on formatting and waiting to replace pictures for when I have some. Will probably end up doing some of that on the plane)