Plans for the summer!

I would like to thank those who are making this trip possible. As a Yale graduate student, I was lucky enough to receive the Light Fellowship this year for my summer at the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies (henceforth, IUP) in Beijing, China. Thanks!

I have to admit that for awhile, at some point during the semester, I rather lost my enthusiasm for my summer plans. Dealing with bronchitis & other unexplained respiratory issues for over five months, I definitely did not look forward to spending a summer hacking and coughing away in Beijing's pollution. However, I've been feeling a lot better over the past few weeks, and I'm ready to go!

First, I'll be flying to Taipei, Taiwan, on May 22 to spend a bit over a week visiting with my parents in Linkou. I've been visiting Taiwan almost every year (usually in the summer) for the past seven years--usually for less than a month. My plans involve cramming Chinese language study on my own, lounging around the apartment soaking up the AC, trying to learn how to swim in the apartment pool, and going out to Taipei to hang out occasionally.

In early June, I'll be in Tokyo, Japan, for about the same length of time to reconnect with the city and also spend time with a few friends. I lived in the Tokyo/Yokohama area for two years before coming to Yale, and I'm already very happy to think that I will be revisiting my old haunts soon. I'll be visiting a bunch of places on the JR East Pass for the first time--planning for Nikko, Sendai, Matsushima, and Joetsu.

Finally, I arrive in Beijing, China, in mid-June and will be studying at IUP until mid-August while living in the foreign student dormitories. Afterwards, I'm planning on visiting Shanghai to see a high school friend, along with Hangzhou & Suzhou, and stopping at Xiamen to meet some long-lost relatives. From there I'll fly back to Taipei for a bit, and then return to Yale at last.

I'll be writing mainly about my experiences in Beijing and elsewhere in China, but I will probably also blog a few times when in Taiwan and Japan since I hope that will make things a bit more interesting. :)

More later on thoughts that I've been having about this summer...