15: First Impressions
January 17, 2010
As some of you may know, WordPress, the hosting site for abroadburger.wordpress.com, is blocked in China. Many thanks to Aaron for copying and pasting my posts!
14: Twenty Hours to Take-Off
January 13, 2010
So this is it, my last day in the States.
A large part of me still doesn’t think that this is real. PKU has seemed like something very far-off since last February when I began to work towards attending; I’ve been working towards this goal for about a year. And I leave tomorrow. Weird.
Haircut
I’ve done some last minute preparations: haircut, ipod playlist, getting some Yuan, etc. I’ve been going to bed around 4AM so maybe the jet lag won’t be too bad. We’ll see.
Tonight, my family is taking me out for kabobs because I know I won’t be able to get them in China. I’ll miss them so much!
As many of you have pointed out to me, there have been some developments with Google and China. Here’s the summary: Google noticed that some Chinese human rights protesters’ Gmail accounts were being hacked into. In response, Google cited that this was a violation of freedom of speech (remember this?) and have decided to lift all filters on the search engine.
This could be a huge step forward for the Chinese government, as per American ideals, but it could be troubling for me while I’m over there. If I can’t access my Gmail account, it will be difficult to have any communication with most of my friends (Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites are also blocked). We should watch closely to see what happens!
I will not be able to update when I get to China because I will have to pay for internet to be set up. I will be sure to update during orientation!
PS: it’s 1º in Beijing right now. I’m going to die.
