9 Days! And Really Important Info

Saturday, February 12, 2011

9 Days! And Really Important Info

WHOOHOO!!! Things are getting pretty close! I've got some really important info. (Followed by a few thoughts). I know these blogs are pretty much all the same info every time, but trust me, that will most definitely change once I'm in China. I think my next post will be something along the lines of "What I Will Miss Most (or Not At All)" in a video form from my Travelistic Account (will be mentioned soon)

This blog site IS currently blocked in China, BUT thanks to a tip from my buddy Kushal Hada, I can actually update it through my email using mail2blogger! Thanks, Kushal!

If you are interested in seeing any videos I send from China, I have set up an account at http://www.travelistic.com/user/AustinDFTBA (WRITE IT DOWN) :) It's basically a YouTube that's designed specifically for people who travel abroad. It's pretty cool!

This website is NOT blocked in China (as of 2 days ago, when I last checked), so I will be able to upload, read, and respond to comments and questions directly :)

My Skype name is acousticmusic10

My QQ number is 1400669014 - this is like China's AIM - everyone uses it! It also has a "Buddy Page" which functions kind of like a MySpace. My QQSpace is http://user.qzone.qq.com/1400669014
I will have a phone in China, but will have to set it up once I get there, so I don't know what number I'll have. I'll relay the info ASAP.

So, for the past month or so I've been excited, but the idea that I was going to China was just that, an idea. Now it's beginning to register that it's coming. I'll be going by myself, no one else, to a school that has never had international students before in a city that is well off the beaten path and rarely sees Westerners and tourists at all. (Big run-on sentence)

It'll be really interesting to get off a plane in a country that I have a limited competency with their language in the middle of Beijing's 22 million people and navigate by myself. It will without a doubt be a scary 3 days, but it'll be a good test of my self-reliance and language ability. I'm not the kind of person who really wants to have a tour guide, so I'll be giving it a go by myself. It's just a strange mental picture of me walking down a street in China with some money in my pocket with my mouth hanging open for about 3 straight days. :) It'll be cool :)

It's exciting! I have a plan, but I hate excessive planning even more than being led around by a tour guide. (Unless of course it's Lynn Wartberg's tour of New Orleans ;) )

I'm coming, China!