This is an article that was done on me in the Kenosha News (my hometown newspaper).  I’m very excited.

Kenosha News Article

Click on the link above to see a picture of the article.

Big day tomorrow.  I leave the United States for five and a half months at 5:10 PM from Chicago.  This will be a long 23 hours.  I will arrive in Shanghai after a seven hour layover in London. All my bags are packed, and I’m starting to get excited.  Tomorrow, I will arrive at Ohare with two very large suitcases, one backpack, and a very pretty purse my mom made for me.   I can’t say I’m looking forward to the two very long flights I have ahead of me, but I am excited to finally go to China after months of planning and preparation.  It’s been a long journey, but it’s finally here.

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Where will I be in China?  Well, the current plan is that I leave on January 28th, 2010.  I fly into Shanghai with a layover in Heathrow (London).  I will spend my first weekend in China with my sister, Dani, in Shanghai.  She has arranged for us to stay in a hostel.  On Sunday, the 31st, I will take a very fast train (WOOHOO!!) from Shanghai to Nanjing, where my sister lives and works.  Until February 10th, I will stay in Nanjing with my sister.  She will help me get used to the culture shock (well, as much as she can).  From Nanjing, I fly to Xi’an to meet my best friends parents.  I am extremely excited to meet them finally!  I have seen both of her parents briefly in online video chats.  Spending Chinese New Year with her family will be an experience I will never forget.  I’m not sure when I’m flying out of Xi’an, but I will be flying between the 18th and 21st of February to Kunming in Yunnan Province.  My study abroad program starts here on the 21st.

The study abroad program I will be doing is hosted by SIT Study Abroad, a World Learning Program.  The program is called China: Chinese Culture and Ethnic Minorities.  The Chinese host university is Yunnan Nationalities University in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China.

Program Schedule:

Feb 22nd-26th:  Program orientation in Kunming and Tonghai.

Feb 27th- April 10th: Language Study, Various Seminars, and homestay with a family in Kunming.

April 11th-26th: Language Study, Minority areas educational excursion, Various Seminars, and minority homestay.

April 27th – May 26th: Independent Study Project!!!

May 27th – June 4th: Presentations in Kunming, Excursion and program evaluation in Beijing.

The program ends June 5th.

Places I will visit while in the Chinese Culture and Ethnic Minorities program:

Dali and Shaxi: home to the Bai nationality.

Lijiang:  higher altitude and closer to Tibet.  Home to the Naxi, a previously matrilineal society.

Zhongdian:  Tibetan area (altitude over 3,000 meters), now more popularly known as Shangri-La.

Kunming:  Captial of Yunnan Province.  This is the base of the program.

Beijing: Captial of China.  I will visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.  On a previous visit to China, I visited all three of these places, but this time I won’t let my battery die in my digital camera when I visit the Forbidden City.

So many questions – I’ll keep you posted as to what’s a help or a hindrance to this travel thing, alone.

Will my access to this blog be blocked from within China?

Will I remember my basic Chinese?

Will I be able to read anything?

Will I speak like a baby?

Will I find my way around Chinese airports?

Feel free to add questions that you think of…

Will I survive squatting in the bathroom?

When will I get my itinerary?