oh heeeeeey, long time no see. guess where I am? yeah don't worry, i'm in Shanghai. in my dorm right now. so you probably have so many questions about everything...

I survived the flight obviously. it wasn't that bad at all. umm orientation was overwhelming. luckily I have Roxy. it's basically like freshmen year all over again meeting everyone and stuff. it's starting to calm down now and we are making friends and all.

Kristen is my best new friend. she is so awesome and I am so glad she is here and we found each other and all. anyways yeah I could go on about her more and I am sure she will come back up again.

Chinese class is okay. we have it everyday and we have a quiz everyday. but it isn't too hard maybe because I know the basics already so it comes to me pretty quickly. but it's okay. it's hard though and it's easy to get discouraged. but I am hoping I will get better.

I am loving living here though. I feel so independent. like I just get things done. I go to my internship by myself (which is kind of boring as well but that's an internship for you) by the metro and I can order food by myself, I can get the taxi driver to the right place and all. basically i'm bad ass. even though I don't speak the language at all, I can get by surprising well. I can figure things out. I have a ton of stories I can tell you. like getting my visa changed. and finding my internship. and getting take out. and just everything that comes with living in a country where you don't speak the language.

i'm sure i'm still in the "honeymoon" phase of studying abroad. i'll hit a low probably once I come back from Taiwan. oh yeah next week Roxy and I are going to Taiwan and staying with daddy's girlfriend's brother and mother. that will be interesting. but it's better than paying for a hotel and they will be welcoming I know. but we will see how it goes. I know that we will figure out what to do whatever happens.

it's just so strange that i'm here in china existing and doing life. life at babson seems so easy and distant. like being able to talk to the people who serve you food and being able to ask anyone a question and being able to drive places and being able to use a gps and understand the labels on things and not needing to bargain...like so easy.

maybe that's why i'm already considering studying abroad again next fall. I know that wasn't in the plan. the plan is to study abroad now. next semester get a job, try to be an fme mentor, maybe an internship in boston for the semester. then the summer either internship or tour. then next year try to be head fme mentor, internship, and start figuring out the rest of my life. if I study abroad in the fall of senior year I 1. miss out on senior year fun and festivities 2. my friends will be so mad and miss me 3. no head fme mentor 4. no concentrations in entrepreneurship/global management 5. miss my family again. BUT on the other side if I go study abroad again 1. either learn Spanish or continue learning Chinese (not in china though) 2. experience this all again and push myself 3. i'm paying for tuition anyways might as well pay to be somewhere else instead of at babson 4. travel while I can! I mean I know I can travel more afterwards but who knows where i'll be or what I will be doing 5. really help myself become who I am meant to be

I don't know, it is really just an idea. I need to look at all the graduation requirements and all. but it's a possibility. because why not?

but we will see how china goes and how it feel about it after 3.5 months. again still in the honeymoon stage so studying abroad again of course sounds great now. we will see how I feel when it's over.

okay so I have a test tomorrow. I have my tutor in 10 minutes. and then I have to meet with some other kids to put together a dialogue. wooo. so great. it's alright. i'll be done with the week before I know it and then i'll be in Taiwan so soon! ahhh another country! so excited!