Thank You Notes

Dear IOPP, Thanks for giving me an excuse to put pictures of Kristen Stewart, my friends, and hamburgers all in a single State Department-sanctioned presentation. See you in two weeks, Jessica Dear FengYouJing, Thank you for being so wonderfully useful across the past week. You’ve been there for us everyday, the only thing keeping us…

30,000 Steps

One of my favorite things to do in new places is exploring. No plans, no preconceptions, no directions; just me, BaiduDiTu, and comfortable walking shoes. I took Saturday off from socializing to explore some Nanjing sites on my own. Right now, my host sister, host mom, and host brother all off in another city for…

On…

On Feng You Jing Feng You Jing, according to Pleco, is an essential oil. It smells a bit like a mixture of peppermint, tea tree oil, and eucalyptus all at once. From treating mosquito bites to staying awake during long moments in school, Feng You Jing is useful for such a diverse number of things.…

Mosquito Bite Count

Mosquito Bite Count: 0 My family took me to XuanWuHu at night (s/o to Justin T for causing me to learn the words “PDA” and “dating” in the same hour) to see the city, the wall, and the lights. A classic Chinese gateway draped over the entryway to the park itself. The festive vibe of…

Week 1

As our wonderful RD (Residential Director) Margie put it, “I’m shooketh.” I can’t believe Week 1 of NSLI-Y is already over. It simultaneously feels like we’ve been in this city for a week (true) and months (less true). Meeting our host families was an intriguing experience. One by one, we filed up on stage to…

Traveling Pt 1

The 30 hours of traveling had their ups and downs, but the one certainty is that every single hour was exhausting. The day(s?) began with my boys Xander and Ben sleeping through their alarms and being thirty minutes late. After frantically running through the airport to catch our flight, we were made to sit in…

Done with PDO, On to Nanjing!

As part of the National Security Language Initiative, all students participate in pre-departure orientation. We converged at Washington, D.C., where I got to meet all sorts of people going to Nanjing, Suzhou, and Xi’ An. While the information given about safety, culture differences, and street smarts was crucial, the main attraction of PDO was definitely…

London 2017

After spending my last week in London, I can definitively say that it’s one of my top five favorite cities in the world. From the public transportation to the shows to the food to the green spaces to the architecture, I instantly felt at home as soon as I entered the city. Here are some…