I’m Too Tired to Name This

I know I should be preparing for bed right now. I know. But, as cliche as it may be, I’m way too excited (or maybe nervous) to sleep. 

I mean, in just a few hours, I’ll be on a plane to New York. After that, I’m off to China. For six weeks, I will be surrounded by the unknown. 

You read every blog you can get your hands on, you watch all the vlogs, you squeeze every last drop of information from the website – all to get an idea of what you might experience. Even with all of that, you know that you will never be prepared, that you will never truly know what will happen. After all, you can only ever live your own experiences in life. 

That’s only a taste of what I’m feeling right now. I’m going to meet these people I only know through a group chat. I’m going to spend six weeks struggling and learning and hopefully growing. I can imagine all I want about what’s going to happen, but starting tomorrow, I’m going to actually experience it. 

Okay, I’m pretty tired, so I might not be making any sense. I might come back later and edit this. Let’s step away from my strange inner monologue and talk about something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Ever since I found out I got the scholarship, I decided to come up with some rules for myself to make the most of my experience. 

Rule #1: Use Mandarin as much as humanly possible

Pretty self explanatory. What’s the point of going on an immersion program if I’m just going to run back to English whenever possible? I have to build up a relationship with Mandarin – I have to stick with it through thick and thin. Yes, I will be misunderstood. Yes, it will be uncomfortable or even frustrating. Yes, I will want to quit. But, the key to language learning is persistence – halfway simply isn’t enough.

Rule #2: Don’t let school get in the way of my education

Okay, this particular piece of advice might not apply to everyone, but it’s definitely important to me. Basically, I cannot let formal language practice “overtake” the informal language immersion that will truly allow me to learn the language. It’s very important to balance these two activities so that they work in tandem. I have a tendency to focus on things like grades and test scores while failing to actually learn the material.  

Rule #3: Try everything (within limits)

Another pretty explanatory rule. This applies to almost everything – food, activities, people, etc. Obviously, I’m going to use some discretion with this rule. I don’t mean everything everything. I just don’t want to pass up fun or interesting or informative experiences because I was too scared to even try. 

Basically, everything boils down to: get out of my comfort zone and just live life. That’s really all there is to it. 

Alright, it’s time for me to actually try to sleep. Whether I’ll actually be successful, I guess we’ll just have to wait until morning to find out.