Internship Offers!!!

I got several offers for internships for the summer!!!!!!! Stay posted to see which one I will end up with! I have phone interviews this week. Pray that they go well!

We decided that the best date to leave for China would be between May 12 and May 15th. That way we have plenty of time to travel to Beijing and Hong Kong (hopefully!!) before the internships start.  As the months are quickly going by (I ALREADY have a midterm next week!!) my excitement is growing with each passing day and as the internship offers have arrived, it is all finally starting to seem real that I will be spending almost 3 months in China. After returning from Taiwan and being in the States after, I have a whole new outlook on traveling and experiencing all there is to see in a world that is so unfamiliar to me.  However, I am frequently reminded of how it feels to be in a country where you know only a few people.  My conversation partner, Christina, from Beijing, has to rely on other people to take her to the store or to get food since Starkville is a place where walking around the town is basically impossible since it is so spread out. I am reminded of the kindness that was shown to us while we stayed in Taiwan and will be forever grateful for the people who spent so much time with us to keep us company and show us the best places to see.

On another completely unrelated note, on Valentine's Day this year I will be participating in Mississippi State Speed Dating. Yes, speed dating. Let's get real for a second, since I don't have any other plans, or a boyfriend, I thought that this might be an experience that would be interesting to experience at least once in my life.  Several friends are doing it with me so it should be a good time... or well, entertaining to say the least.  I know you are all very jealous of my V-Day plans so I'm sure there will be stories to come soon.

C's Get Degrees... Right?

It is the end of the 4th week of school for the semester and I am already stressed out about projects, tests, and homework. Each one of my classes is overwhelming and time consuming, and let's just be honest, I'm not off to the best start. Hopefully it will all turn around soon... It seems like the only thing I have to look forward to is China and that's 4 months away!! This picture is the Shanghai skyline. Now can you see why I am so excited?! Oh... and my 21st birthday :) Until then, I will be working to pay for some of this study abroad as well as trying to find study abroad scholarships!

Today, I got paired with a conversation partner! Her English name is Christina. She is the cutest girl from Beijing, China who will only be here for 4 weeks. I am so excited to get to know her! We spent several hours together tonight along with her friend Peggy who is also from China. Maybe when I go to China this summer I will get to spend time with them! My life has been consumed by researching different places to visit in China and things to see while I'm over there!

Internship Update: All my information has been shipped to China and the process has officially started!! Hopefully within the next few weeks I will have an offer from a company to work for this summer!! The people at GlobaLinks have been so helpful and this process has been very quick and exciting. I recently re-found all my pictures I posted on Photobucket from Taiwan. You can click here to see them!! One last thing. God is so good to me. I have really great parents who love and support all of my unrealistic dreams and goals no matter how far fetched or changing they may be.

Status Update

If anyone is following along on my internship process, I have just been accepted to the program!! The next step is for my information to be sent to Shanghai where someone from AsiaLearn will go to different companies on my behalf. Hopefully, I will end up with a list of options and companies to choose from. I will most likely work for a marketing or public relations company. I have requested to work for a larger company in China so we will see where I end up this summer!! It could take up to 8 weeks to complete the process but maybe I will find out sooner than later! Also, my friend Daniel, who also went to Taiwan with me will be applying for the same internship as I am so we will be in China together. Since he is going with me, we will both leave a week or two early so that we can travel around Beijing and see different things before we start our internships. The people from AsiaLearn have been so helpful and really seem to go out of their way to accomodate our wants and needs for this internship. I am beyond excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to see what the future holds for me!

Other than being slammed with school work ALREADY, everything is great! I am looking to graduate a year early, so fingers crossed, I will be graduating in May 2013! A year and a half away!!

In other news, I want to go skydiving for my birthday. I am thinking it will make a good spring break trip!! Stay posted!!

We will also start the birthday countdown.... 90 days til I'm 21!! Feels like an eternity, but I know it will fly by.