Less than 3 hours before I head to the airport to catch my overnight flight to DC and I don't exactly know how I feel right now. It just doesn't seem real. I'm excited, yet anxious and nervous.
This trip will be the first of many things. It will be the first time I:
Travel by myself without any friends and/or family members
Spend an entire 7 weeks away from my parents (the longest I've gone was 3 days)
Travel to DC and China
Travel outside of the United States (yep, this is my first international experience!)
I hope my parents and my sister have a fun & safe flight and trip to Vegas and California! They'll be leaving 2 hours after my plane departs. I'll miss you guys a lot!
Less than 24 hours till my flight to DC, and I am finally done packing. I just need to put my retainers and etc in tomorrow and then I'll be ready to go (:
I am the worst gift giver ever. After much advice and suggestion from past NSLI-Y participants, I finally finished my gift shopping...sort of. I'm still trying to figure everything out.
I am incredibly happy with how the photo book turned out. I made it at Walmart with pictures I took around the island.
PS : the thing in the bubble wrap is a hand-carved candle that I am planning to give to my host mom (: The color is a mixture of white, purple and pink-- super pretty!
Edit: Okay, for some odd reason, I couldn't post this through my email. It wouldn't work. I tried 3 times on my Gmail and 1 time on Yahoo Mail, but it failed each time. Apparently it went over the size limit...so I'm assuming that I won't be able to post pictures on this blog while in China.
Lets just say I will be doing a whole lot of flying this summer-- the most I will have ever done in my entire life.
HNL to DC = 9.5 hours
DC to Chicago to Shanghai = 18 hours
Shanghai to Chicago = 14 hours
Chicago to HNL = 9 hours
I don't fare well on long plane rides, so lets see how this goes. I mean, I get antsy on a 5 hour plane ride from Oahu to LAX. Hopefully, I'll just fall asleep or do my summer reading or anything to keep me occupied. Perhaps even review some old Chinese characters?
The airline website says I can collect up to 23,761 award miles from this trip.
I received my host family information earlier this morning and was delighted to find out that I will be staying with the He family for the six weeks that I am in China!
My host dad is an engineer, and my host mom is the manager of a company in Hangzhou. I also have a 16 year old host sister, which I am completely happy about. She attends the same school that I will be attending, so we'll probably be traveling to school together in the morning.
No other information was provided about my family, such as hobbies and etc, but I was given their email address, home address and phone number. Apparently, I live 10-12 minutes away from school by car and 45-50 minutes away from school by bus. Hmm, I wonder what mode of transportation my host sister takes to school...
Okay, I feel really creepy for saying this, but I actually google searched my sister's name. (I'm sorry! I just wanted more information on my host family since I'm so impatient.) Google says that she's a top student in her school, and she also does debate...which is pretty amusing. I used to debate within the NFL (National Forensics League) back in 7th and 8th grade, but gave it up in favor of speech and choir.
Congratulations to all of the CIEE finalists! Even though I didn't actually apply this year, I've been keeping up with the Facebook group from time to time. I hope everyone has an amazing time in South Korea! Ahh, so envious, but I guess I can't complain (: My friend thinks it's weird how the #1 thing I want to do in South Korea is ride the subway/metro. It just looks so much fun...and different. Hawaii doesn't have any subways, so I've always wanted to try one. Plus, the subway station (and Incheon airport) looks so nice and clean. But enough about Korea, lets focus on China!
Everyone in the finalist group seems pretty nice so far. I can't wait to meet all of them, especially those in my city. I have a couple of them as friends on Facebook, but we haven't really conversed as much. They all seem like fun and intelligent people, though. Hopefully it'll be a lot different when we meet in person.
I've been stressing a lot over the past week. Only yesterday did I realize I only had 3 weeks left to do everything: take ACT, summer homework, senior portraits, pack, etc. I've been procrastinating on everything, especially packing and summer homework. I still need to buy a ton of stuff before I go (I wonder when American Councils will be releasing our host family information?). Packing is such a daunting task. For summer homework, I have to read three books (Jane Eyre, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pride and Prejudice) and complete 10 journals for each of them. I've already decided that I, unfortunately, won't be able to finish before I go to China. This means I'll probably have to complete my homework in China, but that's what long plane rides are for.
Speaking of long plane rides, here's my tentative itinerary. I'll be on a 9 hour plane ride to DC. After two days of orientation, the entire group will be traveling for an hour to Chicago, and then a 14+ hour flight to Shanghai. On the flight home, the entire group will be traveling back to Chicago. Because there are no flights from Chicago to Hawaii at that time, I'll be one of the few staying overnight until my flight home the next day. I'm actually skipping the first day of school because of that. It's okay, though, because we don't really do anything on the first day anyways.
I'm so excited for China! Some of the things I want to do there:
Dance in the park with all of the grandmas, grandpas, aunts, etc. - I'm pretty excited for this, no joke.
Shop - I want to go shopping there so badly. I heard Wulin Street is a really good place for clothes shopping in Hangzhou.
Eat authentic Chinese food - Hawaii has many many Chinese restaurants, but a lot of it has been Americanized.
KTV - KARAOKE, YES. I love Karaoke, and China has some of the best places for it.
Yeah, I'm still working on my list, haha. I really just want to experience what a typical lifestyle in China is like and, of course, improve my Mandarin (esp. my speaking and listening skills).
I will keep you all posted on any news about my host family! I hope I'll be able to blog in China because I know many people tend to abandon their blogs when they're on the trip; I've come across many blogs like that. *Fingers-crossed* that that won't be the case for me. I'll definitely try my best!
Wow, it's already summer (: Exactly 3 weeks until I board the plane to Washington DC. I've never been to DC before, so that'll be something to look forward to. I'll be in DC for two days of orientation and then off to China I go!
This post isn't particularly interesting; it's just to provide some information on the pre-departure tests that we are required to take. I just thought I'd address my experience with them just in case anyone is curious. It may be different for each organization, so this is primarily for those with American Councils. American Councils require each scholarship recipient to finish 3 tests before the end of May: the placement test, OPI, and this 2-hour online test. I believe everyone has to take the host institution placement test and the OPI, regardless of the organization that they're in. The 2-hour online test is strictly an American Councils thing (and I think it was something that was implemented just this year. Past participants said they had no idea what this test was, lol).
Host Institution Placement Test: Just like the name says, this is to determine your placement within the host institution. My test was about an hour long, and it had to handwritten and then scanned. It was okay....I left a lot blank though, especially the pinyin and measure word section, ugh. I found the reading portion to be the easiest, but that's just me. I'm personally stronger in my reading comprehension skills than I am with anything else. (Heh, I translated the whole paragraph almost perfectly, but then I misread the questions and answered them wrong -__- Always check your work before sending in your test, guys...I only realized I had read the question wrong after I sent it in. Oops.) Apparently, other people found the placement test to be difficult, too, so I guess I'm not the only one. I can't really say too much about this because the test is different for each person depending on your host institution.
OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview): This test basically measures your oral proficiency in the language, so your speaking and listening skills. Honestly, I knew this one would be the hardest for me. My speaking and listening skills are those of a 1st grader...but I did list my level as "poor" on the application for both of these, so I guess it's okay, haha. My interview lasted about 10-15 minutes on the phone (because I did so bad and could not hold a conversation at all), and I was just incredibly nervous. I even told my interviewer this. My interviewer was really nice though, so that made me feel a bit better. She basically asked me about my family, my hobbies, my name, my Chinese teacher/class, etc. We also did a role play, which I failed horribly at. This was the scenario: She was visiting Hangzhou, and I was the information booth person. Yeah. I honestly blanked out and did not know what to ask her. Hopefully I'll do better on the second OPI after I return from my trip.
Reading and Comprehension Test: This test was about 2 hours long, and it was taken online. Sixty minutes was dedicated to the reading portion and another 60 minutes was dedicated to the listening portion. Each section was about 30-40 pages long with 1 or 2 questions on each page. The questions were all multiple choice and asked you about what you read or heard in the dialogue. I personally found the reading section to be easier because I could not understand anything in the listening portion of the test. They had weird music playing in the background for some of the dialogue and that made it really hard to concentrate. Also, the audio levels kept changing; it was really soft in one audio and then deafening-loud in another. I probably killed my ears after this test, lol. I think I did decent in the reading section, but I 100%-failed the listening portion. *sigh* It didn't help that I had a killer headache that day as well. I fell asleep after finishing this test. Like, I literally exited out and then crashed; I didn't even bother closing my laptop. It took so much mental concentration, hahahaha.
***None of these tests affect the status of your scholarship, so just breathe and relax (: They won't take away your scholarship just because you "failed" them. I'm just going to take these tests as a way of motivating myself to work harder in Chinese.
This has absolutely NOTHING to do with NSLI-Y or China, but EXO is finally making their long awaited comeback. You guys don't even know how happy I am. ^O^ I've been waiting for this comeback for so long. Their first full-length album will be called "XOXO (Kiss&Hug)". Hmm, I don't know how I feel about that album title haha. It's supposed to be a play on their group name though (if that isn't obvious enough).
Apparently, both subgroups (EXO-M and EXO-K) will be actively promoting together as one in China and Korea. Hopefully, they'll film a variety show together as well? *hint hint* SM *hint hint*
Anyways, I'm going to end this very short post and wallow in my fangirl feels before I ramble on and on. Sorry for this unrelated post. I just adore EXO too much not to make a post about them on my blog (:
EXO, hwaiting!
EXO, 加油!
EDIT: The album totally exceeded my expectations; it is pure gold. SM did an incredible job with EXO's comeback! Even though I adore Chanyeol's rap and Kyungsoo's vocals, I guess I will always be more biased towards EXO-M, hehe. Btw, SM really needs to create a sub-unit for EXO's vocal line (Baekhyun, D.O, Chen, and Lu Han). Their harmonizations are so dreeeamy! Everyone has to watch the videos below:
EXO Vocal Line - Lu Han, Chen, D.O, Baekhyun (Open Arms cover)
D.O and Chen (The Last Time cover)
Chen and Lu Han (What is Love a cappella)
D.O and Chanyeol (Billionaire cover)
Lay (Endless Love cover)
Seriously, people don't give them enough credit. I wouldn't mind SM turning EXO into a ballad group LOL. Kai and Sehun can do contemporary/lyrical dances to their songs while Lay plays the piano, Chanyeol raps and plays the guitar, Tao and Kris raps and harmonizes the bass undertones, and the rest of the group belts and sings.
It's incredibly surreal how I'll be in China in about 7-8 weeks. The wait is almost unbearable. I still have two weeks left of school, 2 AP exams, 2-3 days of finals (2 days...granted I get exempt from my Chinese and pre-calc exams), an SAT and ACT to take, and summer homework to do before I go. Depressing much... I've been finding it incredibly hard to focus on my school work. All I can think about is China!
Besides school, there's not much news about China and NSLI-Y so far, except that I'll be taking 2 tests (placements and a two-hour reading/listening test administered by American Councils) and an OPI (15-25 minute Chinese interview on the phone) by the end of May. I'm kind of nervous about the phone interview because my speaking and listening skills are not the best; I have the skills of a 1st grader, haha.
I don't know if it's just me, but I am HUNGRY for more news about the trip. I've been google-ing, youtube-ing, and youku-ing anything that I can about Hangzhou and my host institution. My host institution is surprisingly pretty. The thing that surprised me the most was the abundance of trees, grass, flowers, and greenery. I had this misconception that it would just be complete concrete. Well, it's a green school, so I guess it shouldn't be so surprising lol. Here are some pictures of my school:
Also, I am applying for another trip to China! My school's Chinese department will be taking 8 students to Fuzhou, Fujian for two weeks at the end of October. I already turned in my application, essay and teacher recommendation on Tuesday. Now all I need to do is go in for my interview and then the application process will be complete. *Fingers-crossed* I get selected as one of the 8 students! This is something I've thought over long and hard (missing two weeks of my school is no joke...it'll set you back a lot), and I've decided that I definitely want to go on this trip.
Before I end this post, I want to thank everyone for visiting and reading my blog! It's mind-blowing how my blog has reached South Korea, China (I thought Blogspot was blocked?), Germany, Russia, France, Indonesia, UK, and Singapore! I sincerely hope my blog will encourage others to study abroad as well. I know that reading other NSLI-Y blogs played a big role in my decision to apply for this scholarship program.
PS: Blogging is pretty fun (: Shout out to Giselle for recently starting her own blog. And shout out to Danielle, who I've successfully persuaded to apply for the Russian program next year!
