Introduction Before I Leave

Hey everybody! So it looks like I have acquired quite an audience for the stories of my many travels, haha. For this reason mainly, and because it looks like this will be the easiest way to make my posts (I can add pictures and stuff, yay!), I have decided to put my entries on a blog. Warning to the people I have sent this link to before I have left for China (aka- if you're reading this before the 20th of February): I am not completely certain whether this site is accepted in China. Sometimes they block certain American social media websites (Facebook and Youtube are the two big ones I know of). So just as a warning, if you don't see a post within the next two weeks, it will be because I can't get on to this website. During that time, if this be the case, I will try to find a blog site that works in China and then send the link to everyone. And if that doesn't work....I'll  just email the posts to everyone manually. But until then, I'm trying something new by setting up this blog and really hoping that it will work out.

SOOOO...before I go, here is a quick overview about the situation. I will be going to a fascinating city in China called Kunming. It is located in the Yunnan Province, which borders countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos. I've got a map here of Yunnan Province and a map of Kunming.


Kunming is also known as the Spring City (or City of Eternal Spring) because its temperature remains very moderate throughout the entire year, and its vegetation (especially its flowers) remains fresh all year. Someone once told me that in Kunming, the flowers don't ever wilt! Well, I can't wait to find out!

Another thing about Kunming is that it has a bunch of ethnic minority groups, at least twenty. Many of the groups in fact wear their traditional outfits as a part of regular, every day life. These are the types of outfits I've only seen in movies, and I'm going to be able to see them for myself! (chills)

Though I'll be living in Kunming, one thing that I will certainly have to do while there is go and see the many different places outside of Kunming that Yunnan Province has to offer. One is the town of Lijiang, which has history going back to over 800 years! Another is the famous Shilin, or Stone Forest, where there are so many extremely tall and sometimes narrow rocks all together that it looks very much like a forest! To the left is a picture of Shilin from Google just to show you, but I hope that during the time I'll be able to take some pictures of my own.


I will spend a little over four months in Kunming, and then I will head over to Beijing, have a three week break between programs, and then I will begin my second program at Beijing Language and Culture University for a month. I'll be back in late August, about three or four days before school starts up again at Carnegie Mellon! Can you believe it? But hey, that's adventure for you...and to be perfectly honest I wouldn't have it any other way.

So...why Kunming? Well, I could just say I closed my eyes and pointed to a place on the map and that's where I ended up...but that's not exactly what happened. While I was going through the process of choosing a university, I can't really say I knew a whole lot about all of the different choices...I have to thank my Chinese teacher/advisor for help with that. What I did know was that I wanted to go to a place that tourists didn't go to as much.  So places like Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were out of the question for me. I could go to those places anytime. But I wanted to go to a place that scared me. I wanted to go to a place that would challenge me the most. I wanted to go to a place with really nice scenery, the Chinese scenery I always hear about. And most importantly, I wanted to go to a place where I would see a different side of China...a side of China that is completely different from what one normally can find on television or in movies, but is still no less Chinese than any of the places that are most well-known to the world. That is why I chose Kunming, so that I could obtain the maximum experience where I could learn things about China that I couldn't simply Google or look up on Wikipedia, and where I could improve myself by learning about different cultures and how to respect them.

I would not have been able to do any of this had I not received a huge scholarship called the Chinese Government Scholarship. I got the full scholarship, so it covers pretty much everything except food and plane tickets...I even get a bit of living allowance. I'm still surprised about it all. It's pretty awesome. My university of choice is Yunnan Normal University (Yunnan Shifan Daxue...I'll probably refer to it as ShiDa from now on, because that's what everyone there calls it). From the pictures and clips on Youtube that I've seen, it looks like a great school. And I believe I will have a great learning experience there because it's a school that (from what I've read) has a focus on teaching Chinese language and culture to foreigners. I read that it has programs that teach the teachers about how to teach Chinese to foreigners, so I'm pretty excited about what I'll find. I've studied Mandarin Chinese for almost six years now and spent two months in China before...and though I've gotten a lot better with my Chinese (I can pretty much get around and say necessary things...I just can't talk in paragraphs and talk about really deep and profound stuff), I still have some ways to go. I'm hoping that being in Kunming (where I expect it'll be tough to find too many English-speakers) will help me get to the place where I can truly say I'm pretty fluent...at least I want to be able to watch Chinese movies without help from the subtitles anymore, haha.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. So next time you'll hear from me, I'll be in China!

P.S.- Take a look at this picture I found of Yunnan Normal University. I NEARLY DIED. Sooooo pretty! Oh, the pictures I take will be many.