This was the letter I received in my mailbox on Friday afternoon, informing me that I will be taking part in the fall '07 study abroad program in China and Japan. I decided on applying after my experience in France and hearing great feedback from friends about this trip. It's unique in the sense that it is a duel country trip. We will be in Beijing (home of the 2008 Summer Olympics) for 8 weeks and Kyoto, Japan for 7 weeks. 1 of those weeks in Beijing is China's national week off (not the real name of it) in which the entire country is off of work and school. During this time a lot of people travel and we will as well. You're on your own when it comes to this, and Nick and I have discussed South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and others. We still have a lot of time so we'll see what comes about.
We will be taking 3 credits of Chinese and 3 credits of Japanese in the respective countries. This way I can fill my language requirement since I already took 3 credits of French this fall. It should be interesting trying to learn these languages, but a good experience none the less.
As an added bonus, Erik will be in China at the same school as us. He is going on a more independent program to work on his Chinese, but he will be in Beijing for the entire 15 weeks, where as we will leave after 8. It will be good to have a familiar face who has a familiarity with the country and the language.
When we head to Japan we will be going to the same school as my friend Hiro. He has been studying at north central since the fall and leaves to go home in a couple of weeks. It's crazy to think I will be able to look up friends when i get to Japan, but it's just another unique opportunity that Ncc has allowed me.
The program goes from the end of August through the middle of December so I will be gone about 4 months. I will turn 21 in China - which isn't that big of a deal there - but it's more than worth it for the experience.
I google imaged some pictures of what we will hopefully be seeing on the trip. Here you are:
Beijing's Forbidden City
Beijing's Tiananmen Square:
People riding bikes; my kind of people:
The Great Wall (it has a slide going down it...not a lie)
Kyoto, Japan
courtesy of parker gadbois
What I'm looking forward to the most, Tokyo:
Ok, that's enough, sorry for the picture brigade.
I love British accents. I think they're adorable (on girls). I think I chose the wrong trip to go on...
good day
