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In the last few months, I have talked a lot about the fact that I am going abroad to Beijing to study for the 2010-2011 academic year. But I haven’t really discussed why I am going to Beijing, or what I will study there, or why I am studying there for a full year rather than just a semester. Seeing as I am departing for China soon, I figured now is as good a time as ever to explain everything, as obviously my experiences abroad will influence what I write about in this blog.

When it was time for me to start figuring out my junior year study abroad plans, I didn’t really know where I wanted to study. I had a French and Chinese language double minor at the time, and all I knew is that I wanted to go abroad for a year. However, I ended up dropping my French minor, so that wrecked my plans for a semester in Paris. I thought about going somewhere in Europe for the fall and Beijing for the spring, but that idea didn’t really sit well with me as I wanted to spend a year in one place, not two. Since I still had my Chinese language minor, it made the most sense to spend a year in China. My school happens to offer a top notch program in Beijing, so on paper, that was why I chose to study in Beijing.

In reality, though, I also chose Beijing for a lot of other reasons. I visited mainland China two summers ago and loved it there; there really is no place like it in the world. The energy, the food, the people… it’s a really great place to choose for a year of study. Not to mention that ethnically, I’m half Chinese, yet have spent my entire childhood (minus the first few years of my life) growing up in Western countries. I felt that it was finally time to go and get in touch with some of my roots.

In Beijing, I am enrolled in an intensive Chinese language immersion program for the fall semester. I will be taking only Chinese language classes and will spend both my mornings and afternoons in class five days a week. The intensity factor is a little daunting, and I’m a little wary of spending my nights up to my ears in Chinese homework, but I’m also really, really looking forward to it. The best way to learn a language is to completely immerse yourself in it, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing with Chinese. It also helps that I love learning languages and learning Chinese in particular. Not to mention that one of my really good friends is enrolled in the program too (and also studying abroad for a year in Beijing, just like me), which eases some of my nerves.

For the spring semester, I will still continue studying Chinese but in a non-intensive, non-immersion setting. I will also be studying other subjects. I’ll be able to take courses such as Sino-American Relations from a Chinese perspective. Since I’ve taken a similar course from an American perspective, I’m really interested to see what the differences in the perspectives will be. I will also (hopefully) be interning twice a week at a yet to be decided location. That’s going to be a great work experience, and it’s going to be so awesome to say that I’ve interned in Beijing before!

That, in a nutshell, is the 411 on why I am studying in Beijing and what I will be doing there for a year. Even though I’m a little nervous (and who wouldn’t be nervous at the prospect of studying abroad in a country for an entire year without returning home during the school breaks?), I’m sure Beijing will be everything I hope it to be and more.

In other news… it’s my birthday today!! I have officially left my teen years and entered my twenties. Eek!

This past weekend, Australia held a federal election. From what I’ve gathered based on my Australian friends’ tweets and skimming related headlines in Google News, Tony Abbott, the leader of the conservative party, is tipped to win by a razor thin margin. Jess has a fairly good summation of the whole election debacle in Australia from a non-conservative’s point of view, for those who are interested.

Several months ago, the UK held an election for a new prime minister as well. The UK had a hung parliament, which was a big deal, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in sorting out the new governing party. Again, most of the information I got about it was through my friends’ tweets, with a pinch from the Google News headlines.

I wouldn’t know about any of this election information (in Australia, in the UK, or any other country) if I didn’t have friends in those countries, both online and offline, which alerted me to the fact that there was an election occurring and prompted me to do some independent news research. None of this election stuff is really covered in the US media. The only election in recent years I can recall getting any US media coverage is that of Iran in 2009, which is obvious because of what happened with the protests. I know that whenever the US has a presidential election, the entire world covers it in the media. But when other countries have elections, US media is largely indifferent.

I remember in the lead-up to the 2008 US presidential election, a friend of mine from England told me he thought that the entire world should elect the US president, not just US citizens. He said that because the entire world is affected by who the US chooses, the entire world should vote. I guess that’s why US presidential election media coverage is global while elections in other countries get no coverage in the US. Whomever countries like Australia and the UK elect as their leader largely do not affect the US¹, but the decision in who becomes the leader of the free world impacts everyone.

1. I told a friend about the current election debacle in Australia and his response was, “Why should we care? It’s not like Australia is going to suddenly turn against the US no matter who they elect.” [↩]

It’s been over 85F in Chicago ever since I returned from Europe which is hot, hot, hot. (Today, thankfully, is a little cooler than it was yesterday.) Actually, 85F is typically rather nice weather if there’s a nice breeze and the sun is out and there’s no humidity. But still, in that scenario I picture myself living in a house with air conditioning. Right now, that is not the case.

The air conditioner in my house broke down the day before I left for Europe, right when Chicago was going through an unusually long heat wave. When I returned home, I knew the air conditioner would still be broken (duh) but I hoped that the Chicago weather would have cooled down at least a little. I was wrong. The weather now is actually hotter than what it was in late July, and I am sweltering in this heat. It is hotter in my house than it is outside. I don’t even have fans to help cool off!

It is disgustingly hot both outside and inside my house (the inside temperature almost hit 90F once, which was only two degrees cooler than the outside temperature; right now it is 72F outside and 85F inside) and I constantly want a bucket of ice that I can plunge my head into. It’s bad enough that I don’t have a fan to cool off with, but about 90% of my house is carpeted. I’ve always thought carpet was disgusting (do you know how much dust gets trapped in there? Unless you get your carpets professionally cleaned, you’re not getting any of that dust out when you vacuum) but it does nothing to help cool down the house. The house I stayed at in Germany had no air conditioning but it had wooden and tile flooring, which did wonders to keep the temperature in the house down.

I hereby vow to not have any carpet in my future home. That, and to make sure I have an air conditioner that won’t break down in the middle of a heat wave!