Saturday, August 28, 2010

3 Days Until China!

Well, technically four. But I leave for China in three days, even though I don't get there for 4 more days. I figured before I leave, it would be wise to do a background post on this blog, so anybody who discovers it years from now in a google search has a hazy idea of who I am and what I'm doing.

This blog is intended to catalog my adventures (hopefully not misadventures!) abroad in Beijing, while I'm there studying abroad. I started the blog for several reasons:
1. It's an easy way to keep a journal of my experiences abroad, and keep my friends and family updated while I'm gone.
2. I've scoured the internet looking for blogs about living in China so I'd have a better idea about what it will be like, so hopefully this will be useful for other students thinking about going to China, or just studying abroad in general.
3. I'm a Gilman Scholarship Recipient, which is helping to fund my study abroad. As part of our requirements, we have to complete a follow-on project, which involved sharing our experience abroad w/ others after we get back. This blog is part of it - I'll also give a presentation at school during Winter quarter.

Finally, as to the name of this blog: The night before my Chinese 102 spoken final during Winter quarter last year, I dreamed in Chinese. Seriously. It's never happened since, although it would be pretty cool if it was a common occurrence, but it only happened once. It served as the inspiration for my Gilman essay, so it seemed logical (and pretty cool) to name my blog Dreaming in Chinese, too. I was going to post that Gilman essay, but unfortunately, it seems to have disappeared from my computer, so this slightly less dramatic and eloquent (at least, I like to think) explanation will have to do. (Funnily enough, my brilliant idea was not original. There's already another Dreaming in Chinese blog on blogspot [dreaminginchinese.blogspot.com], so I had to insert dashes in my title. Nothing new under the sun, I suppose)

Also, please leave comments/questions for me. I'd love to know that people are actually reading this. :)

~Karissa

1 comment:

  1. Hey Karissa,

    I already enjoy the blog and look forward to reading more! :)

    ReplyDelete