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While many of the guesses as to what happened were very creative, none of them were actually close to the mark. But a common theme was the language ability of myself and the three boys, so I should say that I, as well as the boys, all have an intermediate working knowledge of Mandarin.

I’m not sure how well I will tell this story seeing as there’s a bit of a backstory to explain, but I’ll do my best. It’s also quite convoluted and bizarre!

Next year, I want to study abroad in Beijing on a year-long program. I have three guy friends that, as of now, are also planning on participating in the program. Two of the three (Boy 1 and Boy 2) will only be studying abroad in Beijing in the fall, while the other (Boy 3) is also going to be there for a year. Boy 1 and Boy 2 are friends and I have known them since the first day of Chinese class freshman year. Boy 3 does not know the other boys and I have only known him since the beginning of this semester.

In the Beijing study abroad program, there are two options for study: a regular track or a language immersion track. In the regular track, you take classes taught in English about Chinese history, politics, economics, etc. In addition, you can take a Chinese language course on top of the English-taught classes. In the language immersion track, you only study Chinese. It’s an intensive program that really focuses on learning and using the language; students in the program usually are housed together and pledge to speak only Chinese during the course of the immersion. This pledge might interfere with how social immersion students are with the regular students as it has the potential to create a language barrier depending on the individuals’ level of spoken Chinese.

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As I begin to prep for the start of the 2010 spring semester tomorrow, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s in store for me for the next five months or so. I have a lot lined up and while I actually am excited for all of it, it’s a little overwhelming. Krissy recently told me that she didn’t know how I found the time to sit down. While it was a joke, I think she might have a point…

Classes-wise, I am taking a full course load of five classes. Three are for my major/minor¹, one for a General Education requirement and one as an elective. It’s not going to be a particularly easy semester, especially as I’m starting to get into the heart of both my major and minor, but every single class is one that I want to take. I’m actually interested in all of these subjects, which will make a huge difference when it comes to my motivation towards academics this semester².

In addition to my classes, I am also working this semester. I have an on-campus job as a peer advisor (there are six of us total) in my school’s career center where I hold drop-in hours for students to get their resumes and cover letters critiqued, present in classrooms to promote the career center’s resources and facilitate workshops about all things job search related. It’s an amazing job; I love it. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to work in such a professional environment where I can establish contacts and network with experts while getting paid!

I also landed an internship this semester as the public relations intern for an international news broadcasting agency. I was interviewed for the position last month and was offered the job not even five minutes into my interview, which was a pretty big boost to my self-esteem! I’ll be drafting press releases, communicating with outside media, assisting with event planning and promoting different projects. This internship is what I am most excited for this semester as I want to work in the field of PR on an international scale and I’ll be able to experience just that as an intern at this agency. I’m even hoping I’ll even be able to assist in the Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese programs as I have the language skills to do so, although really, just being able to intern there is a huge boost to my career experience and resume.

I still maintain my web editor position of my school’s literary magazine³ but I’ve quit my museum job. I didn’t have the time for that as well as my internship, and I valued my internship more than my museum gig. I figure I’ve enough on my plate already without working at the museum, as I still have to fit in time to eat, sleep and oh, have a social life…

If I disappear from the blogosphere, you’ll know it’s because I’m insanely busy⁴. It’s going to be an absolutely crazy semester… but I’m hoping it’ll be the best one yet.

1. I’m a Public Communication student with a minor in the Chinese Language. [↩]
2. Last semester I had to take micro for a GenEd requirement, and I just about died because I discovered that my brain is most certainly not wired for econ. [↩]
3. I’ve been bumped up to Web Editor fromn Assistant Web Editor. [↩]
4. I’m really hoping it won’t come to that, though. That’s part of the reason why the blogging schedule is no more! [↩]

I’m not really a resolutions type of girl, because I either forget about/have failed them by the second week of January. Instead, I’m going to try and set some goals for myself this year¹.

• Read more (fictional) books
  I have always adored reading but my life just got so crazy in 2009 that when I did have free time, I wanted to spend it either sleeping or doing mindless stuff like watching TV. I definitely want to read more this year cause I miss it!
• Complete Project 365
  I did Embodiment successfully for the first half of 2008, and then I just petered out due to lack of time. I still want to document my year, so I’m going to try using photography instead of writing. I created a Flickr account for this, and my most recent photo is featured in this blog’s sidebar.
• Get into a year-long study abroad program of my choice for next academic year
  I have my heart set on getting into a year-long study abroad program for the 2010-2011 academic year in Beijing, China. If Beijing falls through, I’m looking at other places as my overall goal is to go abroad for all of next year no matter what the place.
• Maintain good grades and get on Dean’s List for spring 2010 and fall 2010 semesters
  I’ve been on Dean’s List for all of my semesters in college. This is something I want to continue and hopefully it will be pretty achievable.
• Finish first draft of my novel THE MOST HAPPY
  Last summer, I began writing the first draft of my novel THE MOST HAPPY. I was aiming to finish it sometime last semester if I found the time, but that never happened. I want the first draft completed this year or else I’ll never finish it.
• Comment on more blogs/comment more often
  I very rarely had time to comment on any blogs in the last half of 2009, and when I did, a lot of my favorite bloggers were on hiatus/disappeared. Assuming real life doesn’t get too insanely busy, I want to comment on blogs more often as well as discover new blogs to comment on.
• Focus more on the “now” rather than the future
  This has always been a problem for me as I never see any point in following through something if I know it won’t pan out in the end. While that makes sense logically, it means I miss out on a lot of the little things, especially when it comes to friendships and relationships and being a teenager/college student in general. I’m aiming to be more relaxed and carefree when it comes to allowing myself to enjoy things now rather than discarding the opportunity altogether because it won’t work out in the long-run. Maybe that means I’ll be a little wilder and more reckless but hey, this is my last year as a teenager so I have to make it count! ;)

1. Or maybe I just like the term “goal” better than “resolution”, cause they pretty much amount to the same thing. [↩]