Hello everyone,
Merry Christmas! I've been back now for a couple of weeks, and have gotten pretty well adjusted to life here in the states again. I've even been back to a day of work already at the bank in my home town. It took a few days right away of sleeping in late and going to bed early to get caught up, but I did it, and now I'm back on regular time. Just in time for the holidays, even. :P
Overall, I'm going to have to say that the China program was a good one. I enjoyed it, it didn't really take me off course for my degree, and it gave me a chance to experience another country and make memories with new friends and professors. For example, my Chinese Literature professor bought a copy of the book we were reading in class for me. Not only that, but this was a printing in mandarin Chinese that is looked for within China. And if you want to see the memories with my friends from foreign countries, just take a look through my recent Facebook photos. There are plenty there to look at. :)
Now, it wasn't always easy. The beginning was a struggle, and communication with everyone at home was hard during the entire trip. At the beginning of the trip, I would have said that, if I could go back, I wouldn't have done it. However, by the end of the trip, I was very glad I had done it. I have grown as a person, made many friends, learned a lot of things, and overall had a good time while I was there. Will I go on another study abroad experience in college? No. But this experience has definitely made me want to visit other countries through the rest of my life. Not for four months at a time, but good ten day to two week vacations would be great to take in the future. :) Hopefully to some of the countries where my new friends live as well.
Well, that's about it as far as my experiences, and so this blog, go. Thank you again to anyone who read this, and to anyone looking to study abroad, I would suggest taking that leap and doing it. It may seem scary or not worth it at first, but after you get adjusted, its quite the experience. And it could be a once in a life time experience that you don't want to miss. Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and I wish you all the best,
Adam
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
The Last Week
Hello again,
For the final time in China, hello and welcome to my blog. Well. Its over. I'm just finalizing my last paper for Vani, the other two papers are done and turned in, and the language test is done and I messed up on only three questions. :P We're all winding down our time here, and starting to get everything ready to return to the states. Doing last loads of laundry, figuring out what to pack and what to throw away, and, the most dreaded of all, cleaning the rooms. :P
This last week is going to be very busy still. That will make it go quick though, which will be both nice and not. As I said last time, leaving is going to be both welcome and unwanted. I want American food again so badly I can't hardly stand it. After cooking our Thanksgiving food, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And, even more than that, I want to be back to everyone in the states. Family, girlfriend, friends, acquaintances, even more new people I haven't met yet. There is so much talking and catching up and hanging out I have to do.
But, I don't want to leave the friends I've made here. The professors and other foreign students and other Chinese students and even just people that recognize me when I go to their restaurant to order food. I'm going to miss all of them. I've made quite a few good friends and not getting to see them again for a very long time, if I ever do get to see them again, is going to take quite the toll on me. Thankfully, I've got a lot of good people to return to.
As far as the events of this week, I've basically already listed them. This last Monday through Wednesday were the last three days of our classes. Next Monday we meet again with Vani one more time to give a short speech over what we've done and experience here, but that's not even really a class. As I said at the beginning, most of my time has been spent getting everything ready for my return trip. I am, however, not finished with sharing interesting tidbits about the Chinese culture. And this time, I want to show everyone an example of how quickly the Chinese construction is. Following are two pictures. The first is the view from my window in August, and the second is the view today.
For the final time in China, hello and welcome to my blog. Well. Its over. I'm just finalizing my last paper for Vani, the other two papers are done and turned in, and the language test is done and I messed up on only three questions. :P We're all winding down our time here, and starting to get everything ready to return to the states. Doing last loads of laundry, figuring out what to pack and what to throw away, and, the most dreaded of all, cleaning the rooms. :P
This last week is going to be very busy still. That will make it go quick though, which will be both nice and not. As I said last time, leaving is going to be both welcome and unwanted. I want American food again so badly I can't hardly stand it. After cooking our Thanksgiving food, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And, even more than that, I want to be back to everyone in the states. Family, girlfriend, friends, acquaintances, even more new people I haven't met yet. There is so much talking and catching up and hanging out I have to do.
But, I don't want to leave the friends I've made here. The professors and other foreign students and other Chinese students and even just people that recognize me when I go to their restaurant to order food. I'm going to miss all of them. I've made quite a few good friends and not getting to see them again for a very long time, if I ever do get to see them again, is going to take quite the toll on me. Thankfully, I've got a lot of good people to return to.
As far as the events of this week, I've basically already listed them. This last Monday through Wednesday were the last three days of our classes. Next Monday we meet again with Vani one more time to give a short speech over what we've done and experience here, but that's not even really a class. As I said at the beginning, most of my time has been spent getting everything ready for my return trip. I am, however, not finished with sharing interesting tidbits about the Chinese culture. And this time, I want to show everyone an example of how quickly the Chinese construction is. Following are two pictures. The first is the view from my window in August, and the second is the view today.
Ahhhh. The wonderful view of an empty, unpaved, not even leveled land.
Well... that's new. 0_o
And, if that weren't cool enough, they messed up once. They had concrete poured for another structure, found out they didn't need it, jack-hammered all the concrete away (at two in the morning every morning for a week... not that I'm bitter), and then built all of this. In just four months. Now, I love America, but all of that would take at least 3/4 of a year there, if not a full year. All of the trees, and dried concrete and stairs and everything. Props to China for how efficiently their workers work.
Well, with all of that interesting information out of the way, I would like to tell everyone thank you again for reading this blog while I've been here. Its been fun, and I'm going to miss it. But I'm also looking forward to getting back and being able to talk to everyone in person. In just six short days, I leave Shi Jiazhuang for Beijing, and just two days after that, I fly out of China, headed back to the states. I won't be making another post from here in China, so I hope you all have enjoyed reading everything so far. I do still intend to write one more when I land, however, just to recap the entire trip and let everyone know I'm back safe. Thanks again everybody, and goodbye for the last time from China. :)
Adam
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