Countdown... 1 Month--Packing Woes

In exactly one month, I will be boarding on the plane from San Francisco to Shanghai. Quite honestly, I've been keeping myself too busy to think about getting ready to leave. With summer school just starting and working in between, I feel like there are so many things I still have to do.

I think I've bought pretty much everything I need to bring with me. I just need a laptop sleeve for my spankin' new HP laptop. Yeah, I decided not to bring my old Asus with me... just in case it decided to break down while I'm abroad. But, I need to install Windows Office programs on this new beauty, since HP only gives me the trial program.

Today, I went to Target and bought two pillows, a set of bedsheet and a hair dryer--all of which I think I will take with me. Packing is going to be a pain. I can only take two luggages, both of which have to be less than or 50 pounds. Then, two carry ons, which can't really hold much. I've decided to just have one luggage with all of my clothes (I highly doubt I can cram summer AND winter clothes all into one luggage, PLUS all of my shoes), and one carry on with all of my other junk. I will then, stuff one small carry on luggage into an empty big luggage. I'm expecting to bring home lots of gifts, so I will leave the one big luggage for that.

So far, it's working in theory. I bet when it finally comes down to packing, I will have to end up throwing a bunch of clothes out of my luggages... =( that makes me sad!

I don't think I will actually start packing until the week before I have to go. Hopefully, I can allocate enough time for studying since I have to take my Finance final early... we'll see!

Visa Troubles

I went to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco last Tuesday with Laverne to get our visas. We took the BART because neither of us wanted to drive, and we ended up getting there around 10:30 AM (BART took about an hour, and we walked from the BART station to the consulate, which took us about 20 minutes). We had to line up outside because there were so many people inside the consulate, and the security guards were totally rude (I understand though, if I were a security guard for a consulate, I'd go out of my mind). The consulate closed from 12-1 for lunch, and by that time, our number hadn't been called, so we went to get lunch. After we got back, our number was called. We got up, and handed our applications to two ladies at the window. I was expecting these people to be nice and really courteous, but to my surprise, they were extremely rude. They whispered to each other and laughed and pointed at our applications after we exchanged a couple of words. It made me really think... this is why I hate speaking English to fobby Chinese people. They just don't understand you!

Anyway, we ended up not getting our visas because we didn't have original copies of our letter of acceptance from the school and our JW202 form (basically, a form that supports the fact that Fudan University has accepted us into their school). My aunt said that due to the Beijing Olympics, the Consulates were getting really strict on who could go to their country. So, we called the admin at IES (our study abroad program) and had them FedEx our original copies over.

We went again just two days ago, and we finally got it. I'm content. Haha, that's one down, a million more things to go until we leave!