Is the semester already over? Really? But, really, seriously? I demand a recount!
In the past few days I have been in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo in Japan. I'm presently in Shanghai waiting to get on a plane that will go to Toronto and then Chicago so that tomorrow I can get in a car with my fam and my bestie and drive to Minneapolis. I might be the luckiest person on the planet. And in 48 hours, I might also be the most jet lagged person on the planet.
This semester has been unbelievable. When I got on the plane in the fall, I could say hello in Chinese. Badly. A few days ago, I was in a bar in Japan with two of my buddies speaking only in Chinese. It was Rachel (who's British), Yue who's Japanese, and me. We all go to Chinese school together so for us, it's the least common denominator language-wise. The waiter came over and asked Yue in Japanese what language we were speaking. She said Chinese. And then his head exploded.
Man. I feel like I've been so far away from home for so long. That part sucked. It's hard when you can't just pick up a phone and say hello. And 13 hours is such a weird time difference. And you can't drink the water. And you don't remember how to say "go left" or "What is this green thing in my food?". And you don't really have any reason to be China in the first place. But it also makes you feel like if you can do this, you can do anything.
Until five minutes later when you realize you're lost and you've miscalculated the bill because your brain doesn't do conversions very well and you've spent the past few months calling taxi drivers "waiter".
Being in China is the weirdest. Everyday, I oscillate between feeling totally empowered, absolutely competent and virtually pre-natal (pre-natal being the dominant state of being). But I wouldn't change it. Living here has truly been one of the most treasured experiences of my life and I'm so glad I got the chance to share it with you all. Thank you. For reading and writing emails and keeping in touch.
Over and Out.
2 comments:
i think you love Tai Mei girls.
Ryann,
This is long overdue, but congratulations on an amazing semester abroad! I hope you've been working on your list (I didn't see it in any of your recent blogs), because it really was such a helpful and interesting activity to close off the semester. As connected as I've been, I've been very bad a reading OTHER people's blogs, so we will need to have a (few) major catch-up conversations. I miss you back. You're one of the treasured people who I have not seen in, what, 9 months or something ridiculous like that? I think you're great, and I look forward to talking about everything (good, bad, ugly, beautiful, delicious, disgusting, horrifying, and the best things you've ever experienced in your life).
Love from MASSACHUSETTS :-)
-Molly
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