Well, if you're reading this there is a good chance you know me and probably know that I am spending
the summer of 2009 in Ithaca, New York attending Cornell University (hence Cornell Bodell). I am in the
FALCON Mandarin Chinese Program there and classes begin the first week of June. I'm leaving for Ithaca
on Sunday, May 31st bright and early from Louisville and driving the 12-ish hour drive all in one day.
Yikes! Luckily (I guess), I drove half of this drive this past October when I drove to Cleveland for a
bioethics conference. So, through Ohio, I know where to get gas and such. I'm dreading Columbus--
that was pretty rough. Last time, though, it was the weekend of the OSU-Michigan football game there in
Columbus. It was terrible. It should be better this go-around. :P
I'm taking it slow on the packing front--a little here, a little there. I'll get it all together one day!
Right now I'm focusing on my last week of work at NAMI Louisville.
I have various plans to distract myself on weekends. I plan at least to go to Jamestown and the Lucy-Desi
Museum on one weekend and Niagara Falls and Toronto on another weekend. I will leave on August 6th
(bright and early again, I think) to drive to Virginia and North Carolina (Charlottesville, Williamsburg,
Durham, and Chapel Hill) to check out law schools. Then I plan to be back in Louisville on August 10th.
Not sure how I'm going to afford that!
Anyway, until June 12th things are out of pocket for me which stinks. I'm practically broke as it is.
That day I should get my stipend check. Phew, I'll be glad to get it!
Wow, just reflecting on this, it is still difficult for me to believe I'm getting the opportunity to do this.
I'm looking forward to learning Chinese but I'm so nervous about how difficult it will be. Hopefully
everyone in the program will be friendly and we can help one another to do well. :) Well, that's
the first post of the blog! I will keep you all updated on the goings-ons of this journey. Take care!
Learning Chinese, huh? That's quite impressive. Any particular reason you chose Chinese? Just curious. :o)
ReplyDeleteHope your packing and drive goes well. Just try to avoid Columbus around rush hour and you should be fine! I look forward to hearing about your adventures. I've wanted to go to the Lucy/Desi museum for years and I'd love to go back to Toronto. I'm totally jealous! :op
Meggan
Congrats!!!! Have fun! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Abby! :)
ReplyDeleteI've taken some Asian/Chinese, non-language classes previously and really enjoyed them. I want to be able to work internationally and I've already studied Spanish, French, German, and Italian as well as Welsh, Danish, and Swahili to lesser degrees. I figured I better get some Asian languages going and Chinese, being the most spoken of those, I figured was the natural choice. :) Kind of eclectic reasons, but there you have it. Woo hoo!