In retrospect, I have no recollection of my decision to travel to China. However, I do remember sitting in the corner of a dank dive bar in Akron, Ohio with my dear friend, Leah. Lifelong friends, we have grown to love adventure and desired more than the monotony that had become our young lives. I remember drawing a map of the United States on the back of a page-a-day calendar that had been shoved in my purse. We planned our great cross-country road trip and quickly made a list of every monument, park, and beach we wanted to visit. It was then that I realized that we had every opportunity in front of us, so why limit our travels to the US?
Writing the final payment for my trip to China was a disgusting and terrifying ordeal, but I remember sealing the envelope with such excitement. We were to spend 8 days traveling throughout eastern China with a large group of people from Ohio. Some we knew, most we'd never met. It was a trip that has obviously changed the course of my life.
A few months before our trip, my best friend from college, Jen, moved to Tianjin, China and began teaching oral english at a university. Jen has always been a source of inspiration for me. Her free-spirit and genuine nature inspires greatness out of everyone she encounters. And fatefully, we had an amazing opportunity to meet up across the world...
I have been anxious to begin the next phase of my life. Currently, I am applying to graduate schools for the fall of 2010 to continue my education in the earth sciences. But first, I will be moving to China for approximately 4 months where I will travel, teach, and experience life in a place that is more foreign than anything I have known. I know that I am young and I have a lot of life lessons to learn, but this much I do know: everytime I have stepped out of my comfort zone, I have found a greater peace in finding out who I am. So, off i go...
I plan on transcribing my journal from my 8 days in China into this online journal. Those days opened my eyes to something fantastic that I hope to share with my friends and family.
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Hi Abbie, I found your blog through your mother. My daughter is graduating from the University of Akron next month, and is wanting to teach English in a foreign county. She applied to Spain, but the program is full. She was thinking of South Korea, but it costs at least $2000 to apply beforehand. Did it cost you an upfront fee to go to China to teach?
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