A Late Night Post (Departure in T-Minus 9.5 Earth hours)

"Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair [...] Throw me a line; if I reach it in time I'll meet you up there where the path runs straight and high. " — Led Zeppelin, "Going to California" (1971)

It should be noted that this is my first travel overseas. I have been to Canada—that is the extent of my international ventures. I have been all over the continental US, but when it comes to crossing oceans, that just hasn't been my thing.

The last few days have felt like the last few days of my life, by which I mean all the going away events, the tearful goodbyes, the packing, the giving-away, etc. remind me of those suicide warning pamphlets they give out in high school to Health classes full of pubescent teens. Like I'm giving away all my belongings or something. I feel like I'm going away for good, which I certainly am not, and four-and-a-half months really isn't that long of a time, yet all this has me thinking of what will happen when I do go away for good. Not when I die, no, I mean when I graduate and go to graduate school in another state or travel back to China for more language-learning. This isn't really a Long Goodbye, it's more of a Temporary Adios, but emotions run high in the Brorby household/friendship-circle, so it feels like something more. Don't worry; it ain't.

And congratulations to my old neighbors of 15 years from my childhood home; faithful Packers fans, they are. I may hate your team, but you're great folks, and you deserve such happiness.

Be safe.

In Preparing for Travel (a Preface, an Introduction, a How-Do-You-Do) - written in haste

"I could pretend that nothing really meant too much." — David Bowie, "China Girl" from Let's Dance, 1983 (see also: Iggy Pop)

The flight I'm taking to Beijing departs in t-minus five days, and I have yet to pack, I have yet to have one last meeting with my advisors, I have yet to move stuff from my apartment to my parents' place, and I have yet to say my goodbyes. Some folks like building up to a trip, packing and planning for months in advance, and while I have been planning this whole studying abroad thing for quite some time, I can't say I've been packing and preparing like crazy (I will, though, soon, I swear). Instead I have been reading, going to a lot of movies, running, singing karaoke... Procrastinating. If anyone asks, I'll just say I'm avoiding the build-up — waiting until the last minute so that the change from North Dakota to Beijing is drastic and uncomfortably sharp — real culture shock. That's not true, though. I'm just a terrible procrastinator.

Lest I get all Sedaris-y on you and continue writing about my personal habits, let me just throw a few pieces of information your way, dear reader: I'm a Senior at the University of North Dakota; I study English and Chinese; in five days I'll be in Beijing, and I'll be blogging here for the University, for my friends, and for anyone who really wants to read this.

I've always believed that writing about oneself requires a certain level of egotism, of self-interest, of (maybe even) self-righteousness — after all, a lot of people claim that they have all the answers or that their way of living is the right one (selling snake oil to readers), and they'll gladly write all about it — yet that's what I'll be doing here for the next four months, in some form or another. I'll try to mask it, though, I promise. I won't write about my knee-jerk reactions — no reality vs. expectations stuff — and I'll avoid going into detail about how I'm feeling. I don't want to essentialize, pigeonhole, reduce, sell-short, exoticize, lie about, or otherwise do injustice to anything I'm writing about; rather, I hope to present and explain, to analyze, sure, and to comment (without imposing my opinion) on what I see, hear, feel, and experience (as I'm sure Study Abroad directors around the world would have me say it) in Beijing. I can't promise no tangential writing, though; by my very nature, I will ramble about some piece of entertainment or popular culture or literature as I see appropriate, so be prepared, friend. I don't exactly know what this blog will contain or to whom it will pertain, but I can assure you that, at least once a week, I will write something on it, and that thing I write, whatever it may be, will be, I hope, both interesting and insightful. 

If insight is missing, please, feel free to add your own.

Be safe, 

Josh

A bad photo of a portion of my messy pied-à-terre