#abroaddays

[bookwormguri]

Leaving China

So today (technically tomorrow) I'm leaving China after nine months. I'm on mobile so I can't use a read more. Apologies. Followers new and old probably have seen at least one of my posts bitching about China so it's not odd for me to say I'm glad to be leaving. I've had plenty of adventures and made some really good friends. (I'm looking at you Sufan) But the learning program, CET, that we were directed under was absolute toss. I left a scathing review in both Beijing and Harbin for innumerable reasons. I want to thanks my friends back in America and here with me in China for dealing with nothing but me complaining. You understood i needed to vent an didn't judge me for that. I will be eternally grateful and hope that I can do right by you in the future. It's really hard to put these nine months in a nice little box, but I had to I would say that these nine months taught me to be more independent. Even today, it was the first time I was traveling completely alone and all I could do was imagine everything that could go wrong (I'm doing that as we speak and a security officer looked at me for an extended amount of time). I just kept thinking over and over again, "I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared." But I got through it with the help of more than a few friends and a much improved Chinese vocabulary. Despite my less-than-stellar time I felt myself feeling sad when I saw the city of Harbin passing me on my way to the airport. Nonetheless, I'm ready to leave, see some great friends and then return home and pet my kitties.

[bookwormguri]

Who has two thumbs and is done with finals? Who has to pack all her shit to leave the country? Who just bought yogurt flavored potato chips? Who is about to be super productive and NOT take a nap?

Spoiler: the last one isn’t me.

[bookwormguri]

The amount of not caring in my being astounds even me.

[bookwormguri]

Shout out to the first Fatal Frame soundtrack. Particularly "No One Needs You Alive" and “Headless Monk” tracks. Hearing, "Die, die, no one leaves alive" over and over for five minutes really helped me get through studying the chapter on Chinese transportation.

[bookwormguri]

I'm in the homestretch! About 150 more characters to write and I’ve got this damn 2500 character essay as my bitch. Unfortunelty, I just have the conclusion left so I may have to stretch it a bit.

It’s def not anywhere near the best essay I’ve written, after all the teachers here want me to use the vocab and grammar they taught. They usually don’t care if it flows well which is good because my essay is literally just listing things RWBY has in common with Chinese and Japanese culture.

[bookwormguri]

Guess who is rewatching RWBY while writing her Chinese essay about RWBY? I think it’s working pretty well since I’m 100 characters in. Hopefully I’ll get all 2500 done before the end of season 2.

[bookwormguri]

Oh shoot I almost forgot to share a story that would have half the tumblr population in stitches and the others ready to pop a vein.

On Sunday, me and my friend were chilling on the dock facing the North Korean border. Pure tourist trap stuff, but it was gorgeous out and we needed to wait for shops to start opening.

Obviously two lone foreigners drew some people and we wee posing in family pictures left and right. People were less hesitant to approach once they heard we could speak Chinese.

Anyway, I go to the waterfront to take some pictures and a old man starts to chat with me. We talk about the differences between the Beijing and Harbin accent (I got complimented on my clear tone when speaking, score!) and the discrimination farmers and minorities face. In the end he points to my friend and asks where we’re from to which I respond, “We’re both American.”

He waves that off and says, “But she’s black so she’s from Africa right? African American? And you’re European American?” I respond yes, some people would say that. Then he asks, “So where are you FROM?” I nearly lost my shit I wanted to laugh so hard. This was irony or karma at it’s finest. 

Since I didn’t know how to say European mutt I just went with German. 

[bookwormguri]

Still in Dandong

Went to the border of North Korea on Friday and climbed a mountain. nbd Yesterday people tried to get me to climb another mountain and that wasn't happening. Instead, I made friends with an adorable puppy. Today me and a friend are skipping out on this section of the Great Wall in favor of exploring town. No regrets!! Tomorrow we get back to Harbin at 3 am and I'm still on the fence on whether I should actually go to class or not. I may go and just fall asleep because me asleep or awake will be about how much I'll be contributing to class.