Recently I’ve been spending a lot of my free time preparing for China. No, not in a directly useful way, like packing or applying for a visa (don’t worry, I’m getting on those…). [Edit: Visa application is now in the mail!] Instead, I’ve been discovering a lot of internet and electronic applications that will hopefully enhance my time in China. Since I don’t really have much else to write about at the moment, and these ideas may possibly be of interest to current or future Light Fellows/travelers to China, here they are, in no particular order. (Also note – I don’t really have any concept of which of these tools will work in China. If anyone reading this from China knows, let me know!)
www.rememberthemilk.com - This is a website that allows you to create to-do lists. You can sort, tag, and prioritize tasks. Besides being a useful tool for making life more organized in general (something I could definitely use), I think this website will be extremely helpful to me both in the process of getting ready for China, and once I am living there. I’ve never packed a year’s worth of belongings into a couple suitcases before, and I think it’s going to be a pretty daunting task, so I’ve got a running list of things I’ll need to pack (and buy), as well as a list of things to take care of before I leave. With only about ten days at home in August before I leave, I’m hoping this website will help remove stress from the process and give me as much free time as possible to relax and visit with people before leaving. I’ve also got lists for ideas of things I want to do and people I want to meet up with while in China, and I’m sure I’ll use it to keep track of coursework once IUP starts. Let’s hope this website is not blocked! (Or that Yale VPN does its job.)
New York Times China Page - I like to read China-related news articles with some frequency. So far, the New York Times China page has been my favorite source, as I think it provides a nice balance between larger news stories about Chinese political events and economic trends, and interesting smaller-scale stories about individuals or particular social and cultural phenomena. If anyone has any recommendations for other sources of Chinese news, please share!
iPod applications – For five dollars, I just updated my first generation iPod touch to iOS 3, an operating system which allows it to run many of the same apps available for iPhone. Browsing through the iPhone application store, there are tons of free or inexpensive applications that will be will likely prove extremely useful next year. Most notably, there are lots of free Chinese-English dictionaries. Some even allow the user to search for a character by drawing it, though I have not found this particular functionality for free yet. The free dictionary I like the best is Pleco, though I’m sure there are many other great ones. All of these dictionaries work offline. I think Pleco will prove invaluable. Other potentially useful or fun China-related apps I’ve found include maps of Chinese cities and subway systems, guide books (Lonely Planet has a Beijing one for $5 or $6 which I’m considering, as it would greatly lighten my load on outings), and even an app which allows the user to download unlimited Chinese music for free (拉手音乐), although that app is entirely in Chinese. Again, further suggestions welcome!
www.renren.com - 人人网 is basically the Chinese equivalent of facebook. I made an account for myself (瑞秀晴 – add me!) so that I’ll have a way to keep track of and stay in touch with my Chinese acquaintances next year. Even if you’re only doing a summer program, most of your teachers will probably have a 人人 account, if they’re not already on facebook.
…Kindle? – I’ve been considering putting some of my summer earnings towards purchasing a Kindle or other eReader for next year. I don’t particularly savor the idea of lugging a ton of books with me to China, nor do I want to pay through the roof for English language books at some specialty store in Beijing. (Of course, an eReader is more expensive, but it has worthy long-term attributes…) A Kindle or other eReader would give me the ability to easily access almost any book I could want to next year (a kind of substitute for Sterling Memorial? …maybe not quite), including electronic math or computer science textbooks, so I don’t forget everything I’ve learned in my major thus far. And without the normal Yale academic courseload, I might have time to tackle some of the larger classics that I hope to read in my life. This would be a great use, since there is no way I am stuffing a paper copy of War and Peace into my suitcase. [I must give credit for this eReader idea to my Chinese history professor, Valerie Hansen. While we’re on the subject, I strongly recommend her fall course HIST 315, History of Traditional China to 1600.]
These are all the things I can think of at the moment. I’ll update if I remember any others later.
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Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Blog Resurrection!
After ten months of silence, this blog is (hopefully) coming back to life - thanks to the continuing generosity of the Light Fellowship, I am back for China, Round 2! Last summer, I attended the Princeton in Beijing program for an intense eight weeks. (See prior posts.) This time, I will be returning to Beijing for the entire year to attend the Inter-University Program, a Chinese language program run by UC Berkeley, on the campus of Tsinghua University. Though by now, I’m somewhat familiar with the city of Beijing, and Chinese universities in general, living in a foreign country away from home and school for such an extended time period will be a completely new experience.
It’s difficult to express fully my feelings about the upcoming year. When I think forward to the end of August when I’ll be shipping off to the mainland, I feel a jumble of thrill and terror. I’m thrilled to have this chance to just soak in Chinese language and culture for an entire year. I’m excited for the opportunity to better develop my understanding of a country and language that have already heavily influenced my life. I can’t wait for my brain to switch back into “Chinese mode” and to speak Chinese like a freshly-minted PiB graduate again. And I can’t help but fantasize a little about the many of the incredible experiences that await me in the year ahead.
At the same time, enrolling in IUP is not the same as having a greater ability in Chinese language, meaningful cultural experiences, engaging activities, and a social life served up and placed before me on a lazy susan. Certainly IUP will be one of many gateways to these ends, but, by and large, I believe I’ll be finding my own path next year. That I will place a great deal of effort into IUP is, in my mind, a given. But I’m sure there can be so much more to this experience than Chinese classes. Next year is, in many ways, independent of my time at Yale. I will be pursuing different activities, meeting different people, and none of the course work will appear on my transcript. When I return to Yale, I will still be a rising junior. Apart from not flunking out of IUP, I am essentially free to do what I want with the year. And there’s almost no limit to what that may entail. To misuse a term from The Tao of Pooh, next year is somewhat like the “uncarved block.” The fact that I not only have total freedom to carve that block in whatever way I desire, but also feel compelled to do so in a meaningful and satisfying way, is perhaps the greatest source of my excitement and anxiety about the upcoming year. Reading the blog posts and final reports of previous or current Light Fellows at IUP who have all found unique and interesting ways of “carving their blocks,” whether through musical collaboration, speech competitions, social activism, or something else, has inspired me to think seriously about how I would like to spend my time in China.
Admittedly, one other nontrivial source of anxiety is the prospect of leaving home, family, friends, and school. I’ve never had problems with homesickness, but I’ve never been away for so long, so far away. Part of me wishes I could freeze time back at home while I’m away, keeping the rest of the world from moving on without me. I’d like, at the end of an exhilarating year, to return to find the people, places, and things in my life exactly as I’d left them. But alas, this is not A Wrinkle in Time. A year for me is a year for everyone else, and I can only hope things will pick up as they left off. While I am loath to face the fact that the best of my friends will be graduating in 2012, and I in 2013, I think returning to Yale with a fresh perspective and motivation to branch out will, in the long run, only be positive. The conventional wisdom seems to be that, in the end, no one regrets taking a year off for this sort of experience. Despite my apprehensions, I am hopeful my experience will be no exception.
After writing the bulk of this post, I realize there’s a very important question I have neglected to address: “Why?” That is, why am I going to China? Why am I, for almost ten months, leaving a life in which I am generally comfortable and happy, for a life in which the only certainty is smoggy skies and 100-plus characters a night? I wish there were a simple answer to this. I wish I could say “because I need to learn Chinese to do X,” where X is some specific, concrete goal. Unfortunately, I can’t state my reasons for this decision in such simple terms. For me, it is an amalgam of factors – a passion for Chinese language and culture, a thirst for new experiences, an unwillingness to pass up this rare opportunity (thank you Light!), and a general sense of optimism that I will eventually discover what “X” is for me.
I’m sorry if it seems this post is boringly unspecific and filled with empty platitudes concerning my thoughts about going abroad next year. Future posts, if they exist (see following paragraph), should focus more on my experiences in China as they happen, which, hopefully, will be more interesting and specific.
One final note about me and blogging. I am miserable at it. I feel compelled to admit I have always had a low batting average with journals, diaries, blogs, etc. That said, I do very much wish to keep up with this blog this year. I don’t view blogging as only a way to preserve and share my experiences with others, worthy as these things are on their own. I think the very act of writing and reflecting on my personal experiences or feelings will help me become more aware of them, which will be helpful in making the most out of my time in China. I want to keep up with this blog, even if means relatively short posts. I think frequent short posts would be more beneficial than longer more infrequent posts, and certainly better than none at all. I invite all readers to badger me for new posts if this blog goes silent for a period.
Thanks for reading!
Yours truly,
Rachel
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It’s difficult to express fully my feelings about the upcoming year. When I think forward to the end of August when I’ll be shipping off to the mainland, I feel a jumble of thrill and terror. I’m thrilled to have this chance to just soak in Chinese language and culture for an entire year. I’m excited for the opportunity to better develop my understanding of a country and language that have already heavily influenced my life. I can’t wait for my brain to switch back into “Chinese mode” and to speak Chinese like a freshly-minted PiB graduate again. And I can’t help but fantasize a little about the many of the incredible experiences that await me in the year ahead.
At the same time, enrolling in IUP is not the same as having a greater ability in Chinese language, meaningful cultural experiences, engaging activities, and a social life served up and placed before me on a lazy susan. Certainly IUP will be one of many gateways to these ends, but, by and large, I believe I’ll be finding my own path next year. That I will place a great deal of effort into IUP is, in my mind, a given. But I’m sure there can be so much more to this experience than Chinese classes. Next year is, in many ways, independent of my time at Yale. I will be pursuing different activities, meeting different people, and none of the course work will appear on my transcript. When I return to Yale, I will still be a rising junior. Apart from not flunking out of IUP, I am essentially free to do what I want with the year. And there’s almost no limit to what that may entail. To misuse a term from The Tao of Pooh, next year is somewhat like the “uncarved block.” The fact that I not only have total freedom to carve that block in whatever way I desire, but also feel compelled to do so in a meaningful and satisfying way, is perhaps the greatest source of my excitement and anxiety about the upcoming year. Reading the blog posts and final reports of previous or current Light Fellows at IUP who have all found unique and interesting ways of “carving their blocks,” whether through musical collaboration, speech competitions, social activism, or something else, has inspired me to think seriously about how I would like to spend my time in China.
Admittedly, one other nontrivial source of anxiety is the prospect of leaving home, family, friends, and school. I’ve never had problems with homesickness, but I’ve never been away for so long, so far away. Part of me wishes I could freeze time back at home while I’m away, keeping the rest of the world from moving on without me. I’d like, at the end of an exhilarating year, to return to find the people, places, and things in my life exactly as I’d left them. But alas, this is not A Wrinkle in Time. A year for me is a year for everyone else, and I can only hope things will pick up as they left off. While I am loath to face the fact that the best of my friends will be graduating in 2012, and I in 2013, I think returning to Yale with a fresh perspective and motivation to branch out will, in the long run, only be positive. The conventional wisdom seems to be that, in the end, no one regrets taking a year off for this sort of experience. Despite my apprehensions, I am hopeful my experience will be no exception.
After writing the bulk of this post, I realize there’s a very important question I have neglected to address: “Why?” That is, why am I going to China? Why am I, for almost ten months, leaving a life in which I am generally comfortable and happy, for a life in which the only certainty is smoggy skies and 100-plus characters a night? I wish there were a simple answer to this. I wish I could say “because I need to learn Chinese to do X,” where X is some specific, concrete goal. Unfortunately, I can’t state my reasons for this decision in such simple terms. For me, it is an amalgam of factors – a passion for Chinese language and culture, a thirst for new experiences, an unwillingness to pass up this rare opportunity (thank you Light!), and a general sense of optimism that I will eventually discover what “X” is for me.
I’m sorry if it seems this post is boringly unspecific and filled with empty platitudes concerning my thoughts about going abroad next year. Future posts, if they exist (see following paragraph), should focus more on my experiences in China as they happen, which, hopefully, will be more interesting and specific.
One final note about me and blogging. I am miserable at it. I feel compelled to admit I have always had a low batting average with journals, diaries, blogs, etc. That said, I do very much wish to keep up with this blog this year. I don’t view blogging as only a way to preserve and share my experiences with others, worthy as these things are on their own. I think the very act of writing and reflecting on my personal experiences or feelings will help me become more aware of them, which will be helpful in making the most out of my time in China. I want to keep up with this blog, even if means relatively short posts. I think frequent short posts would be more beneficial than longer more infrequent posts, and certainly better than none at all. I invite all readers to badger me for new posts if this blog goes silent for a period.
Thanks for reading!
Yours truly,
Rachel
share on: facebook
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