It's less than three weeks until I fly over to Beijing. Before Princeton in Beijing(PIB) starts on June 21st, I'll be meeting my dad, who works there, and visiting my grandparents. There's half a suitcase of stuff that I'll be sending them. My grandparents on my mom's side (my 姥姥 and 老爷) want a thing of peanut butter. Other orders include pistachios, almonds, cookies, and vitamins. Apparently, American almonds are top notch. Afterward, I'm hoping to get some sightseeing done (think mountains and lakes and trees) before being smothered by schoolwork and off-the-charts pollution in the city.
Air quality aside, I really wonder what it'll be like as an Asian-American in China. I've always been a tad self-conscious about my (lack of) proficiency in Chinese, something that will become even more apparent in a few weeks. But I suppose that's the whole point of a rigorous language study abroad: getting past the linguistic awkwardness and talking to people. Well, I'll let you know how it goes.
