Hey, welcome back to my travel blog. If you saw this on Facebook and clicked though, thanks! If you received an email or notification because you forgot you had followed the blog, thanks for keeping up with my stories! The blog layout has changed a bit and I tried to make it more user friendly. It’s also chalk board themed because I’m going to be a teacher. Did you get that? I also added in an ask page, so please feel free to ask away about my travels or for clarification on a post. You can even ask anonymously! There’s also a comment feature on each post, you can use that as well. 

This summer, I will be teaching a three week English course to rising sophomores at Tsinghua University in Beijing through the UF in Beijing program. My group is 12 students and two faculty members; there are nine girls and three boys, and all of them are new friends. I am one of the oldest on the trip, there are only two of us that are 21! Our classes will mostly focus on American culture and aims to enhance the conversational English skills of the students. 

You’re going to Beijing! How long will you be gone?

I will be gone for a total of six weeks. I arrive in Beijing on June 21, and that week will be spent touring Beijing and visiting businesses, such as a noodle factory and Hyundai. After playing tourist, we move in to the international dorms and teach for three weeks. Camp is over mid July and after I will visit Hong Kong, Shanghai, and some other cities I can’t remember.

How was this summer camp program established?

This comes directly from the UF in Bejing press release: “As China’s leading university, Tsinghua has a reputation for innovation. As evidence of this innovation one need only look to their English Summer Camp. Launched in 2004, Tsinghua implemented this program to ensure that all of its students would be prepared to serve as volunteers in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Due to its success, Tsinghua decided to reinstitute the program in 2011. More the 50 faculty/staff and more than 100 undergraduate students from universities around the world come to teach Tsinghua students about western culture and conversational English.” 

What have you done to prepare for your time abroad?

I took a two week course during Summer A on what to expect in Beijing. The first week was focused on Chinese culture, history and government structure. In the second week, we learned how to make an effective lesson plan and practiced teaching in front of the class. My lesson plan was on weekend activities in a college town.

I’ve also looked online for random essays on China through Thought Catalog and Reddit. Research has come from everywhere. 

So wait, do you speak Chinese?!

Not at all! I have a cheat sheet of some phrases, like hello, how are you? but I’m so afraid of accidentally saying the wrong word and having it be offensive. The language is tonal so a change in tone could be a completely different word.

If you’re not studying Chinese, what are you studying?

I am a fourth year advertising major with dual minors in business administration and retail. I switched from a marketing major last semester, and gained an extra semester of class. My new graduation date is December 2015. As of now, I have no interest in becoming a teacher.

You had a pretty interesting experience in an apartment last summer in Madrid. Do you know your roommate yet?

Last summer, I had five male roommates and it was so much fun! They are great guys and I see them around campus sometimes. This time, I’ll be in a dorm with one other student not from the UF program. She will also be a volunteer at the summer camp. We are not called counselors but volunteers, and we are also paid. Woo! Volunteers are from other American universities, as well as Canada and England. All volunteers are native English speakers. 

What’s going to happen to Shit My Roommates Say??

I’m trying to establish an equivalent of that while abroad. Don’t know yet, but there will be some comedy to the postings.

I remember you posted a lot about food and how you wanted to be a more adventurous eater. China is the place for that!

Definitely! But I’m still super nervous. I’m keeping not eating pork as a hard limit in what I won’t eat, though I’ll try the more unconventional meats and seafood. Can’t guarantee I’ll like it all or that I’ll necessarily want to know what I’m eating, but I’ll do my best to post pictures and explain what the dish tasted like. China is the land of rice and I love rice!

Can you travel freely in China as you would Spain?

Jason, one of the faculty members leading the program, highly recommends against this. His go to phrase is, “It’s China. Anything can happen at any moment and nothing is for sure.” So no, not really. 

Do you keep in touch with the people from Madrid last summer?

I do! As I said before, I see some of my roommates around campus, and the girls and I have had a couple reunion dinners. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up. I actually keep in touch with one of the Dutch students more than the ones from UF. We use WhatsApp to talk a few times a week. You can use this app to text me in Beijing. I love sending voice recordings over it, too!

So is WhatsApp the only way I can reach you?

Nope! I’ll still be on Facebook and be posting to this blog, as well as the UFIC blog and the UF in Beijing Blog. Because this post is personal, it will be more informal. However posts from me across the three blogs will be about the same. Seriously, please feel free to comment on any of my tumblr posts or ask something in the ask page.

Your posts from last summer ended after Berlin. Did anything happen after that?

I traveled with Mallory and Matt to Amsterdam where we met up with Dirk and Jeroen. They spent the day with us and we went to the Heineken Experience and a few other places. I then continued to London by myself, picked up some goodies for mom at Tesco, and got to see Stonehenge!!! I also did a pub crawl and a (you guessed it!) FREE WALKING TOUR! Then I flew home and had withdrawal. 

Back to China, are you excited? Nervous? How many emotions are you feeling right now?

There are so many emotions of nerves and excitement and holy crap I’m going to China that I can’t process them all right now.

I will post more in a couple weeks updating you on plans and preparation. Thanks for following my blog!