Woe is me.

It has been quite a while since I last posted, hasn't it? I've been going crazy trying to get everything together for China. For today's post, I will share my long "to-do" list for the trip.

1) Buy tickets. This is pretty important. Unfortunately, we cannot buy our tickets until after our return date (July 15, 2010) has passed in 2009, because airlines do not book flights more than 351 days in advance or something like that.
2) Apply for visa. Also quite important, also cannot be started until closer to the date of our departure, because they are only good for a year, and we want to make sure they will be good until we come home.
3) Study the language. This is more difficult when I'm not having class 3 days out of the week. Flashcards and audio disks have been utilized to the max so far.
4) Vaccinations. And lots of them. I have an appointment, but if I'm unlucky enough to have to get the Japanese encephalitis shots, there are three of those in a 20 day period...and they cost $220 each. Speaking of which...
5) Money! We are having a difficult time getting any of our scholarships to post before our classes begin, which means that these purchases are having to be made out of pocket. With a $1870 plane ticket, and possibly $1000 worth of shots, this is no mean feat.
6) Shopping. And no, not the fun kind of shopping. I am currently buying bulk of contact solution, hand sanitizers, contacts, and any other products that I don't want to (or cannot) buy in China for various reasons.
7) Packing woes. Along with shopping comes the woes of packing. As I look at the growing list of items to be packed, I begin to sweat a little. At the moment, the plan is to pack my clothes in "Space Bags" so that they take up as little space as possible in my suitcase. And then everything else will be stuffed in any empty space possible. No minute amount of space will go unfilled during my packing adventure.

I can't say that I am not having a good time preparing. It is all very interesting, and I have gotten a lot of good tips from various people. The tip that I have taken to heart the most so far is the tip I received from Dr. Wiegand, which was to pack chocolate. Apparently, the Chinese don't eat sweets like I do, and I can certainly see myself missing chocolate. So that is certainly on my list of things to pack. :)