Hey, it’s me again! I mean, who else would update this blog… Anyway, it’s kinda ironic that I made new posts regularly back when it was ~70/60 days left, but as June 19 drew nearer, I just lost motivation to update this blog. I dunno. I guess the huge initial excitement gave way to the distractions of daily life and other priorities. I’m definitely still excited and a little nervous, but not as much as before – now, I just feel ready to take on whatever’s coming.
So a load of stuff has happened since I last made a post. Actually, the last “post” I made was just a title – “Goodbye, Junior Year”. Speaking of which, I should really go finish writing it… I guess I’ll do that after I finish this one.
Last Wednesday, June 8, was my last day of school. I was relieved, glad, and only the tiniest bit sad. Junior year was awful 80% of the time. Now, I suppose I’m a senior. To be honest, I’m just ready to leave my stifling town where nothing happens and where I have zero freedom. When I’m in China, I will miss my friends a little, but I think I need time away from them because we get hyper-competitive at times. It’s kind of hard to not feel inadequate when your friends are scoring in the 99th percentile all the time. I’m proud of them, sure, but it seems like I can’t have a conversation with them without someone mentioning standardized testing at least once.
On June 9, NSLI-Y sent out the host family Information. That day was actually very very bad because of other reasons, so I wasn’t in the best state of mind when I opened that email, but I’m really happy with my placement. My host family lives in the Xiangzhou District, like most of my group mates’ host families. It seems like it will take me ~40 minutes to get to BNUZ. I have a host mom, dad, and younger sister, who’s 14, just like my actual sister. My host parents have interesting names – Rula and Tiger – but my younger sister is named Nicole. I used the email provided in the pack of information (which also included my address, the occupation of my host parents (civil servants), curfew (9:30 PM), and a short message from them) and got in contact with Nicole. She and I communicate now through WeChat and she seems really nice. I immediately recognized her profile picture, which was a work by Keith Haring. Thanks, AP Art History! Her English is really good. I asked if there was a piano at her apartment, and she said yes, a piano and a guitar. How convenient! I think I’ll really like living with my host family. (Side note: I have a Keith Haring shirt b/c I like his art style and I’d love to wear it when I meet Nicole, but the shirt is so awfully see-through and the fabric is so thin that I just can’t. Why can’t Forever 21 just make regular T-shirts…) I’m going to get my host family Florida stuff, American snacks, and pens for Nicole’s pen collection. I sent her a picture of my mediocre magnet collection, but I don’t expect to find many souvenir magnets in China. Last year, they didn’t seem very common.
(Side note: If you’re wondering what it says to the side of the magnets, it’s a list of things I want to become. A polyglot, linguist, activist, teacher, game developer, and doctor… Yep. I want to be a lot of things someday.)
On Thursday, I also did my second to last office hour session with Erik, but that was just uneventful. Once everyone got their host family info, I organized peoples’ addresses in a document on Facebook and Alisa made a shared map for everyone to mark on. We marked our Zhuhai homes and U.S. homes on the map. I’m glad to be in a group with others who enjoy organization.
NSLI-Y followed up with an email titled “Shoe Size for Culture Activity” or something. We had to provide our shoe sizes, converted from U.S. measurements to Chinese, so we could get kung fu shoes, or so I heard from a group mate. My Chinese shoe size is 39, and it’s 8 in the U.S.
Just today, NSLI-Y sent an email about procedure for my domestic flight and more info about the PDO. It gave me instructions for what to do when I’m at the airport and how to find the shuttle, which I’ll have to take to Columbia. The email also provided a tentative schedule for PDO. Wow, it’s really hitting me that there’s less than a week to go…
By the way, bad things have been happening in Florida. Not just pertaining to my life, but to bigger things. This past weekend lots of people died. Christina Grimmie, a singer from Youtube and The Voice, was shot and killed. I’d only listened to her a few times, but I really liked this song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2RA0vsZXf8. She shouldn’t have died. Moreover, the deadliest shooting in U.S. history thus far happened at 2 A.M. Sunday morning. The Orlando shooting was at a gay club, Pulse, around 30 minutes away from my house. So far, the count is 50 dead, 53 injured. The attack seems to be motivated by homophobia, which is just fucking disgusting. The news is tragic and I hope that the government does something about gun control. If they don’t, they’re seriously ignoring reality. I wish nothing like this will ever happen…
Later Sunday, the Tony Awards came on T.V. Hamilton won like 11 awards, which it totally deserves. Lin Manuel Miranda made a very touching speech when he accepted his first award, addressing the Orlando shooting with a sonnet. It was great. I love Lin Manuel Miranda.
Ok, so it looks like my laptop might die soon. In other happenings, I took the SAT Subject Tests in WH, USH, and Lit two Saturdays ago and the ACT this past Saturday. I think I did fairly well on those tests. OK, I’M GOING TO PLUG IN MY PC NOW B/C HE IS ABOUT TO DIE. Ok, so I’ve got him plugged in now, don’t panic. Little Boy (my laptop) is safe. Anyway, I’ll be getting lots of scores in the coming weeks – first, with ACT scores on the 21st (the day of my international flight), AP scores in early July, and SAT Subject Test scores in late July. Hopefully, none of them will dampen my spirits while I’m abroad.
Recently, I’ve also managed to cut my college list from 39 to ~15. It was really hard, but the application fees were racking up to $2000+. Why can’t schools just be like Reed and Wellesley and NOT have application fees?! (I’m looking at you, Boston University. $80…smh.)
Since summer started, a lot of my time has also been devoted to dogs. I’ve cleaned poop and pee countless times. My family also has two male dogs, not yet neutered, so they fight whenever they get the chance. It’s nice to pet them (I especially like to hold their paws), but it’s just lotsa work. They get bored, aggressive, and hyper very easily. Maybe when I come back they’ll be less so?
Today, I rewatched Harry Potters 1 and 2. Yes, I know the titles, but I’m just too lazy to write them out. It was great to just sit on the couch and watch movies, but Harry Potter made me feel really nostalgic. Maybe it’s a message from the universe telling me to go reread all the books. I need motivation to write again, anyway. I’ll probably go watch more Harry Potter tomorrow, after volunteering at the hospital.
Right now, I’m having a lot of jaw pain and I don’t know why. It started after I chewed some bubble gum. Maybe it’s a message from the universe that I need to go put my retainer in. Yeah, I should. Right now, all I’m doing is listening to Disney / Christmas music, looking over today’s NSLI-Y email about PDO, and waiting for my suitcase to pack itself. Just kidding, I’m going to pack soon, all 90 items on my packing list! I’m pretty sure I thought of everything I’ll ever need on my trip, and it won’t be too heavy either – most of the items are small.
You know, I think it’s kinda funny that today’s NSLI-Y email had the sub-title “Let the countdown begin!”, because I actually started my countdown 73 days ago. Hahaha….
5 hours and 20 minutes till I gotta leave for the hospital. Anyway, I may update one more time before I leave for PDO. Here’s to my preparations for NSLI-Y!
P.S. I almost forgot to mention that I chased a rooster this past weekend! I posted the video on Snapchat. I think my Snapchat stories are turning into a series of Eileen’s Animal Encounters. Squirrels, lizards, dogs, and a rooster so far. Dangit, there was a turtle and some cranes crossing the road the other day but I didn’t get to take a picture. Well, there’s always next time.
P.P.S. group chat
Hey, I was on NSLI-Y this summer in China too (not with iEarn but with a different organization). I was really excited to see your blog, and I was wondering if you had ended up posting about China somewhere else? Always excited to read other NSLI-Y blogs!
I’ve finally updated my blog so there’s a lot more content now, but I unfortunately didn’t upload while I was on the trip. Glad to know that you were interested anyway!
Did you have a blog? I’d be happy to read through yours as well.