Officially one week until I depart on a plane to China, and only 5 days until PDO.
And thank God everything is finally starting to sort itself out. Today I was informed that the Chinese Embassy finally accepted all my paper work and I have been approved for a visa!! It turns out that the Chinese Embassy has been giving heritage participants a really hard time this year, and the American Councils is unsure as to why. Apparently in the past, there hasn't been this much difficulty in acquiring a student visa, but here we are. Honestly, all that matters is I have my visa and I am 100% going to march on that plane and fly to China. It's happening. And it's feeling all the more real.
And speaking of flying to China, the flight details have been finalized! The American Councils sent us our plane tickets. I'm not sure how they work since they're electronic tickets, but I'm assuming the person at the check in will know what the random string of numbers means. (The tickets don't look like tickets.)
Thankfully, none of my flight details changed (apparently there was a risk of them getting moved) and I will be landing in DC at 4:00 PM. They said there will be a NSLIY representative waiting for us by the baggage claim, and my only hope is that I don't make a fool out of myself some how.
The main thing I'm worried about is not being able to put my laptop in my carry-on. I've gotta check up on the rules. Also, I thought most airlines allowed for one carry-on and one personal item, but apparently American Airlines only allows for one carry-on, which kind of sucks. Or maybe that's just because it's an international flight.
We also got an email about our resident director. She's new this year, so no one really knows anything about her, but my group is hoping she's chill so we can go exploring outside Nanjing.
The last exciting piece of electronic mail I received was my H O S T F A M I L Y information! I will be living with a family of three (no pets). My host father works in civil service (which according to Wikipedia means he works for the government). My host sister is in 12th grade, which means that she's only a year younger than me. I'm really excited to meet my family since their's is very similar to mine. I don't have any siblings and I'm going to be a freshman in college. I think this will be a fun connection point between the three of us.
Other fun thing to mention is that my host family only lives 18 minutes away from Nanjing University (where I will be studying) if I travel by car, but if I have to walk or take public transportation, it'll take closer to an hour. I'm hoping I can somehow manage a car ride to the University, but I wouldn't be completely opposed to walking. Every since PE was no longer a requirement, I became about as active as a sack of potatoes. I could use the exercise.
Some China related things that I've done in the past few days include buying a point and shoot camera (because there's no way I'm taking my DSLR).
I've also almost got my host family gifts sorted out. I'm bring a picture book of Memphis, local honey, and a scrapbook which I will give them at the end of the trip. I plan to fill it with some polaroids from the trip while there and then give it to them as a parting gift. I might also bring some Reeses since chocolate and peanut butter is a rare combination outside of the US.
I've also been following up on the "Ask NSLIY Alums" page on facebook for some pro-tips. This weekend, my mom and I are going to do some last minute China shopping for things that alums recommending bringing. The list includes:
Hand Sanitizer (because public restrooms)
Wet wipes (because public restrooms)
Tissues (because public restrooms...)
Bug Spray (100% DEET or go home)
Sun Screen
Granola bars (gotta munch)
Flash cards (apparently these aren't a thing in China)
Pepto bismul (because food)
Advil (because pain)
Other random things I've bought already include:
Travel pillow (14 hour plane ride mate)
Outlet converters (I hope they work)
Point and shoot camera
Everything is becoming so real.