Survival Kit

So, I was home alone today when the UPS man stopped by. This is a pretty typical occurrence  but it's usually for my mom's work. So today I went and got the package and casually glanced at the address label. It was for me! I don't know about anyone else, but I always get super excited whenever I get real snail mail. I opened up the package and inside was this awesome survival kit from my study abroad provider! It had a shirt, pen, notebook, luggage tag and backpack (of course, a free backpack comes the day after we buy a brand new one online, but I'm not complaining)! It's really weird, but this thing is actually starting to feel real now. T minus 27 days!

Gambling

One week ago today, I went gambling. And by gambling, I mean I got surgery on my foot. Which doesn't sound like a big deal, but the healing time for this kind of surgery is 4-6 weeks, and I leave for China in, now, 5 weeks. But it had to be done.

Okay, so a year and a half ago, I broke my foot by playing kickball barefoot. Of course, I managed to miss the ball and kick the ground. Ouch. I had what's called an "avulsion fracture" on my first metatarsal (by the big toe) which means that a chunk of bone got pulled off by my tendon. I was in a boot for about 2 months. But once I healed, I noticed that I couldn't move my big toe very much and I had a lump of bone kind of sticking out of my foot. It didn't hurt or anything, but the bump would rub on shoes and generally be annoying. So, this most recent Thanksgiving break, I had an appointment with my podiatrist (whom I've been seeing since I was in 7th grade) and I asked him to x-ray my foot. He did and it turns out the chunk of bone that came off when I broke it was lodged in my big toe joint, and was possibly causing cartilage damage. Needless to say, I needed surgery. So we scheduled it for New Year's Eve, almost exactly 6 weeks before I leave for China. On New Year's Eve, the doc knocked me out, numbed my foot, and went to work. He shaved down the bump and took out the chunk of bone in my joint, which turned out to be about the size of a pea (seems pretty big to have floating around in a foot). I went home that same day with my foot all wrapped up in gauze and looking something like this:

I've been spending the past week on our couch with my foot elevated in the hopes that the healing process will go well and I can still go to China. On Friday, I went back to the podiatrist for a dressing change and snapped this picture of what was under that bandage (warning, it's pretty nasty):

Thankfully, my doctor said that it looks like it's healing really well and I should be good to go for studying abroad! I guess sometime gambling really does pay off.

Up To Speed.

大家好(dajia hao)！Or, in English, hello everyone!  I'm so glad that you're taking the time to read my blog! As Im sure many of you have figured out, I will be using this blog to share my experiences in Beijing, China next semester, where I will be from February 18th to June 1st.

So, why in the world would anyone want to go to China, especially a tall, pale, 19 year old girl (aka, me)? Well, the first answer is...because I'm minoring in Chinese! I know, I know, it's not a particularly usual minor, but I've been taking Chinese for 3 semesters now (the whole time I've been at college) and I absolutely LOVE it. I find the language so fascinating and challenging to learn that it really keeps me on my toes. As for why I decided to study Chinese...as everyone knows, China is an up and coming country that the USA has, and will continue to, have a lot of interaction with. Therefore, I thought it prudent to learn their language, a skill will hopefully make me invaluable when I graduate.

My program is through a provider known as CIEE which stands for Council on International Educational Exchange and the program is called Intensive Chinese Language. The title is pretty self-explanatory. Based on what I've read about the program, I will be taking Chinese language classes everyday from 8-Noon plus a couple other electives and after-school activities (like Kung-Fu!). Not only that, but I will be signing a contract during orientation stating that I will speak only Chinese while I'm over there. And if my teachers catch me speaking anything else, my grade will be docked. Hmmm, we'll have to see how that one goes. I'm hoping I'll be allowed to speak English when I call/skype home.

While in China, I will be studying at Peking University which is Haidian district of Beijing. I've heard that it's kind of like the Harvard of China. It's also built on an old imperial garden so the campus is really pretty and looks something like this:

As for the living situation, I'll be living in what's called the Zhongguanyuan or Global Village which is a 5-minute walk from the South Gate of campus. It's a compound that was built to house foreign students as well as foreign businessmen and other visitors. Considering it's called the "Global Village" I'm hoping that I will run into all sorts of people from all over the world!

I think that's all I have to share with you guys so far! As long as I'm in the states, and I don't leave until February 17, I'll have access to Facebook (apparently it's blocked in China) and will post links to new posts on there. Keep and eye out for some upcoming posts about how to learn Chinese at home! If you all have any questions, feel free to comment or email me at melaniergoebel@yahoo.com.