The Beginning

I arrived safely to the city of smog.  It has been a whirlwind of excitement and stress as I ventured to find an apartment with my roomies, familiarize myself with my new environment, registration, and getting to know my new family for the year.  This is my first time truly living without my parents, but I feel that I have been prepared enough through my experiences to live with others well.

Here are a few of my roomies! Two are missing.

 We are living a bit fancy. I'm living with five other girls which makes the rent cheaper. This is our lobby and the chandelier is fancy pants.

On one of the days since I've been here, a storm hit! It was pretty rainy. My shoes got soaked through. The storm that passed by was from the typhoon in Korea.

My roommates and I were hanging out at the boys from the US and I left my ipod touch at their place.  They decided to take a picture and post it on my instagram.

The most American meal I've had since I've been here. It's only been two weeks and I'm getting a little tired of noodles and soup already! This was a Korean sandwich, which was basically a philly cheesesteak but with Korean marinated meat instead.

So smoggy!

My first homemade meal at my new home.

One Day Away!

My flight date is only a day away! My experience of applying to study abroad, getting accepted, applying for scholarships, and even packing has been surreal.  I've tried to spend time with as many different friends as I can, but I feel as if it's never enough.

The one thing I'm most worried about when living in China is how my relationship with God will be shaped.  With a different culture, different laws, and lack of spiritual community upon my arrival, how can I strengthen my relationship with him? I suppose the answer would be that he's been preparing me through my experiences to get to this point.

I'm excited to see what God has in store for me.  It will be an interesting year, but one that would be difficult to forget.  Packing in preparation for this year has been pretty straightforward.  Clothes for all seasons, first aid, contacts, contact solution, clothes, and other necessities are all packed up and ready to go!  I have the feeling of as if I'm forgetting something.... but as my Chinese tutor said, 'Beijing is a huge city, they have just about everything!'

A flurry of emotions of happiness, nervousness, excitedness, and adventurousness all flood me.  More posts to come as my adventure is beginning to unfold