异地恋: Long Distance Relationships

I have been doing a lot of thinking about Will and I's relationship, and how it will evolve after I leave in August. Having just moved back home to Rocklin, splitting us up by about 200 miles, I feel like it is a good transition phase: it is easy to just take the bus to see one another, and we have been getting used to long distance communication. Things have been going well, and frankly, I feel excited for our future together, even though it won't be the most traditional type for the next little while.

I have been mulling things over to myself, but I finally did what I do for all of my problems: Google it! so after googling it, I came up with a few interesting pages/articles that I might recommend to others who are in the same boat.

Loving From a Distance: It is a little cheesy, but it has some fun ideas for the more adventurous long distance lover: lists of activities, fun gift ideas, inspirational stories... A community for people in long distance relationships. There are even forum boards where you can chat with LFAD Alumni.

Long Distance Relationships .net: This seems like some legit info about long distance relationships. From the Former Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships, it claims that long distance couples do not have a higher rate of breaking up than regular couples, and that many feel just as fulfilled as if they were living in the same location. It also has some great questionnaires to help you and your partner know what to expect, and some recommendations for time away and transition periods. Watch out, Will, I might be coming at your with some questionnaires soon ;).

Of course, Oprah has something to say about this, so go ahead and check out The Long and the Short of Long Distance Relationships, on her website. The article is barf-tastically gushy, but has some truth to it too.

And lastly a funny article from GQ, titled "Honey, this FaceTime is torture." Also has some spot on nuggets of advice and a good description of what using Skype is actually like.

After looking at these articles, I feel more prepared to get more real about my future. After thinking about it, it doesn't seem so scary any more. If you have been in a long distance relationship and have advice, or will be and have thoughts, please share with me in the comments! I would love to hear! 'Till next time, adieu mes amis, 拜拜!

I won the Confucius Institute Scholarship! Yay! 谢谢孔子学院！

I just heard the news yesterday by email! I won a scholarship from the Confucius Institute at Nanjing University to study Chinese! It covers my tuition and hopefully some of the cost of living! I haven't won a ton of scholarships, and, this one being kind of a big one, I feel super excited.

The Confucius Institute is a Chinese organization promoting Chinese language and culture abroad. There is probably a chapter on your campus! They host many cultural competitions which have some really wonderful awards for funding and study abroad opportunities, so I would urge you to go in and say hello! For this particular scholarship, I was the only one on my campus to apply, which really upped my chances, and I hear that this is not a situation which is unheard of. If you want to study abroad, want funding, and want ways to practice your Chinese, definitely go check it out.

You can check out there website here.

Yay!!

ISIC Cards?

There is sort of a loose "requirement" from the Office of International programs that says you should buy an ISIC card. It is supposed to be an international ID card that comes with discounts around the country. But I say, isn't my passport an international ID card? And the benefits aren't all that great in China. Most of the discounts are in Shanghai, only one in Nanjing.

 It's $25, and I feel like it wouldn't really be worth it. Has anyone ever used the ISIC card abroad? Did you find it convenient? Would you recommend it?

My Chinese Friends from Work, Some Travel Advise

Lately, I have been making friends with some coworkers of mine who are from China. They have been so wonderful to talk to and hang out with, and they have given me some great advise on in country travel that I would never have gotten anywhere else.

We were all hanging out on Sunday night, chatting and having a snack, and I realized that I hadn't told them I would be leaving work soon. When I told them about when I was leaving, I became unexpectedly sad! I hadn't thought about how we might not see each other again for a long time. So if any of you guys are reading this, 離開了科學館以後會很想念你們！你們給我的建議真幫我很大的忙！我們保持聯絡吧！

If you are reading this as a flagship student, I would really recommend that you get in touch with the Chinese community at your work. It is a wonderful opportunity to use your language skills in real life situations, and your coworkers or people that you help there will be so impressed and glad that you can use their native language. I have had the opportunity to practice Chinese at two of my jobs since I started studying, and I really think that part of the reason why my Chinese progressed as fast as it did.

Additionally, here are some tips from my friends for getting to and around China:

-Beijing and Hong Kong airports are the largest international airports in the country.
-Fly into either of these, at which time you can catch a domestic flight to the city of your choice.
-Domestic flights should only be about 400 RMB (~$70!!)
-Check both Chinese and English language websites for prices. I have a suspicion that Chinese language ones will be less expensive. I was recommended this website: 携程旅行網
-When you book your flight, book a hotel for a night or two as well. These should also run about 400RMB. There WILL be less expensive options, but these will come with less amenities. Go for the mid range one.
-Make sure that you know the address of the place you are staying at. Have a printout with the address, and hand it to the driver.
-You will want to google the distance between the airport and your hotel. Look up local taxi fares, and do the math. Know what to expect regarding prices, so you don't get tricked.
-You might consider getting in touch with a Chinese travel agent when you are still in the US. They can help you navigate all of your options, and some even have some connections, useful if you (heaven forbid) run into some trouble.

Hope this helps! And thanks for everything CAS Friends!

Let's Get Oriented／外國留學引導會議

Study Abroad Orientation was today... I had seen this presentation before, and being not so stoked to see it a second time, I was late. Had some good bus times with Will on the way over though:



Or mostly just me. Haha.

Anyways, when I finally made it, I found that it was more helpful that I had been anticipating. We mostly went over your plans and goals for study abroad and how to accomplish them, and then watched a few clips from Turistas and Taken to illustrate ways of how NOT to go about your study abroad year. Check out the cheesy cheesy trailer down below. I also got a sweet book called Maximizing Study Abroad: Students' Guide.  It looks pretty academic-y but its got checklists and strategies which are sort of useful, so I will probably cruz through that and let you know how it is. I got some good information from alumni of my program, and hooked up with some classmates too. And even David Wick from OIP was on his best behavior. So I would say it was pretty successful, not so painful. I shouldn't whine so much about these meeting type things.

Travel Physical, pt. 1

The latest project for my study abroad plans: complete a physical.

Doesn't sound too hard, right? Go to the doctor, they check your pulse, knock on your chest a few times, and call it good, right? Thats what I thought too. But in Study Abroad Land, going to the doctor is not really about your physical health, its actually about forms. Filling out paperwork.

The amount of paperwork that I presented at the downtown SF Overseas Medical Clinic was indeed so trepidating that I was refused outright by the doc herself. And then the best I could do after negotiations was a promise that "if you do it here, it will cost you $500." So, needless to say, I will be pursuing another route.

What could have been so bad about a few pieces of paper? Well lets start with the amount of 10 full pages. We have three sets of medical forms that need to be filled out for three different organizations: SFSU Study Abroad, Chinese Overseas Flagship Program, and for the Chinese Visa. They ask you all the standards about your personal medical history, mental health history, immunization record, does the physician recommend you for the program, etc. And then there are some more involved procedures like a physical examination and tuberculosis screening. But then the Chinese Visa application gets real weird, requiring a chest X-ray, and ECG, and a lab exam for HIV and syphilis. The lady at the Overseas Medical Clinic also made mention of a stool sample which she thought needed to be taken as well... yeah.

So with an estimate of $500, I sad no in lieu of some other options through my regular health care provider. Having said that, I'll also note that my regular health care provider is located two hours drive away from where I live now... so that will be a fun trip. 4 hours driving and a whole bunch of crazy tests all in one day. I scheduled that for a Friday in the next few weeks here, and should cost me nothing with insurance, a good trade of for the 70 bucks I would have spent at Overseas Medical.

Anyways, thus is the story of my travel physical, pt. 1. I will let you know how the rest of this goes, I have a feeling that I'm gonna get a little TESTY.

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Notes for Study Abroad Students:

Overseas Medical Clinic- If you need a regular physical, or have to have the standard Study Abroad forms filled out, they should be okay. But do look over your forms first to make sure that you don't need any complicate procedures, besides maybe having your blood pressure taken, or maybe your eyes checked. Anything more, just take it somewhere else; when in doubt, just give them a call and go over your forms with them before hand to make sure that you will be in the clear. You don't want to get down there, just to find out that they can't help you (this is the part where you learn from my mistakes/前車之鑒). They don't have their own website, but you can see their Yelp for contact info here.

Update on 5/5 with a photo: