6 days 2 hours 16 minutes and 14 seconds

Everything is becoming surreal. With less than a week to go, I am flying out and spending an entire year in China. I have done a ton of research about China so I have an idea on what to suspect and I have also packed early to make sure my bags fit everything. I still have a bit more to pack and a bit more things to buy. Also, I am still waiting on a few things to come through the mail. Until then, the wait continues.

To be honest, I am not too sure of what to expect, but I hope I learn from all of my experiences while I am there and also practice the very LITTLE Mandarin I speak. But I plan to improve it and build my vocabulary while I am in China.

I am ready to experience something different and most importantly try new food!

HelloTalk - An Alternative Way of Learning a Language

When it comes to studying languages, I was never big on reading text books or memorizing the words/phrases for the big test for school. Luckily, thanks to YouTube, I found this app called HelloTalk where you can exchange with others around the world wanting to learn your native language in exchange in learning their native language. Since I will be heading in China in about a month, I want to improve my oral Chinese by speaking with other native students.

I have begun using it by exchanging with many other Chinese people and it has been quite successful. My vocabulary is not the best, but I use what I know to communicate with them. Most of the time I am helping the Chinese people with their English because they know more. From my friends, I have learned that it is required for Chinese people to learn English in school, which makes it understandable of how well some of them know it. They have to take a big test every year and many probably use this app to practice or just become fluent in another language. I recommend this app to anyone who wants to learn a new language. It is very useful. Give it a try.

What am I bringing to China?

As my days windle down in the states, there a few things that I need to make sure to bring with me because these things are either scarce or expensive in China.

1. Big Jambox Bluetooth Speaker
Although not a necessity, if anyone does not know me very well, I love music. I breathe music. I listen to a vast range of music and I love to have this item with me when I am traveling to play some instrumental music when doing work or just jamming to some old tunes in the shower. Off the charger, this Jambox last approx 10 hours. The great thing is that it talks to you to let you know when its about to die and you can click the button to know the status of the battery power. I love this thing. Now, I just need to find a secure case online to carry it with me.

2. Deodorant 
As common as this may be found in American stores, this is quite the opposite in China. Chinese people are not known to wear deodorant because they are not known to smell when they sweat. Even if they do sell it in China, it will be in liquid form and expensive. To avoid this, I will be buying a year supply of this before I go. A stick normally last me 2-3 months so I won't need much.

3. Shoes, shoes, shoes! 
Anything above a size 39 (Size 8 Women's) in China is very hard to find. To avoid this, I want to bring most of my shoes and buy a few more before I go. Where I am particularly staying in China (Shanghai) is known for their rain and flooding. It is time to invest in a pair of rainboots!

4. Camera?
After traveling to Japan in May, taking pictures with my iPhone 6 was pretty cool, but looking back at those pictures now, the phone did not capture the full beauty of the scenery. Also, my phone died majority of the time making it hard to take pictures consistently everyday. Having a camera would be awesome! I still haven't bought it, so we'll see.

5. Pants
Asian people are a lot smaller than the average American. I don't think any of their pants will really fit me because of my assets and my waist size. Time to hit the stores!

6. Toiletries
As much as they say "packing less is more" is a valid point, but with my hair type, I know I won't find what I need in China. Avoiding it, I have already bought most of the shampoo and conditioner that should last me about a year. If not, I will just have to order online! Also, I am going out to buy my favorite soap just in case I can't find it in China. I have heard alot if not all of their beauty products contains "whitening" which bleaches people's skin complexion. I love my skin. I will have to pass.

US Schools are questionable

Going into my junior year of college, I have begun to receive these persistent emails about the word no one wants to hear: STUDENT LOANS. When will you start paying off your interest? Can we get started with your payments? And it goes on...but I really question the US Education System. Especially the colleges and universities.

Why are we being charged these exuberant amounts for school? Is school really worth the amount? Where is this money actually going? I understand that schools have to pay their employees and fund to keep the schools open, but when did it came to the point where it had to not only cost so much but have so many students in DEBT and some students not go to school because they can't afford to go or to avoid debt.

People mention that there are SO many scholarships out there to apply for, but when it comes down to them, they are harder to come by. Many have certain requirements such as having a certain income, GPA, and classification and depending on the scholarship, someone can be competing for it locally, regionally, or nationally making the chances of winning very slim.

From my own perspective, I feel as though people who grew up in the middle class get it hard the most when it comes to paying for school. FAFSA calculates how much aid each student will receive every year from the government and if you was to fall into the middle class (not making too little and not making too much), many students do not qualify for aid because FAFSA claims that parents can afford to pay for their children to assist in college, but in reality many cannot. Many parents probably don't make enough to give and depending on the families, some may have multiple children making it more difficult for parents to pay for their child's education.

Students who are considered being lowered class citizens from my observation has a higher advantage of going to school and not being in so much debt because of the more options they have when it comes to scholarships and programs to join.

Those who are part of the rich class have the money to pay for school and depending on certain circumstances, students from this class can probably even go for free to their school because of mutual relationships between their parent and the school.

I honestly just wish school in the US is much more affordable to attend so not only myself, but many other students would not have to worry to much of going in debt and taking out loans. Schools in the US are so prestigious that they turn this so called getting your degree moreso into a business wanting nothing but money from the pockets of the students. This has to change.

Just say NO

Sometimes, you have to lower your expectations. Friends come and go and I am not sure if it is just myself being over the top or the people I am interacting with, but a lot of time I don't expect much because I hate relying on others for anything. I prefer to do things myself which can be both a good and bad thing. Sometimes I may find those people who would not mind me doing all of the work while others want to be involved and help out. There has to be some kind of balance and in this particular situation I am going to mention, I felt it coming.

I have a friend who I have known for almost three years now. And I told him a few weeks ago I will be in San Francisco and we should meet up. He's all excited and up for it. Long story short, when I arrive, I text him letting him know and normally he responds within a reasonable time. I wait 2 days and no response. Texting is just one of those things where there can be some kind of miscommunication so instead of jumping to conclusions of asking "Why haven't you responded?" or "Have you received my text?" I text back again adding in some information. He tells me that he was sick but is feeling better at the moment. Personally, I found that a bit fishy, but I said hey let me let it slide. I pick a date for us to meet and he says "Sounds good" The week goes by and I wait till Friday to let him know that I am on the way to San Fran, he says "What's up?" as if he has forgotten about the plans. Sir, if you don't want to see me. That is fine. Say it. Man up. No hard feelings. So hours pass by and nothing. I tried calling him several times and he declined the first time because he was busy. The following time, he did not pick up. I texted him several times and no response neither. I am not sure if it was a bad day, if he was confused, if he forgot, hiding something, or just bailing out. I am upset, but had a feeling from the start that this was meant to happen. I am not too sure why, but it is once again a learning lesson.

Life Lesson: ?earn how to say no. I know many people are afraid to hurt feelings or want to please people or for whatever reason, but you can't do everything. Not everything will work out and that's ok. Not saying that you have to say no, but there's other ways to show your point across the spectrum. To this day, I still struggle to say no in certain situations, but I let he/she know through my words or actions that I have no interest in whatever it may be.

One thing to note, I really dislike making plans through texting because many times the directions are not clear. Either face to face or talking on the phone. Otherwise, forget it. I have a few friends who I would text them plans, but I do that because I know they understand me and we are at that level to make plans and possibly not have any issues. As for the guy I was attempting to meet...I am not too sure if he remembered/understood that I was serious. And I am not sure if I would want to speak with him again. 

There has to be a better way...

One of the great advantages of traveling in the Bay area is the transportation. Their trains, street cars, are busses are very convenient and easy to use, but I do question one thing...the proof of payment method. Unlike DC and NYC where you have to type or swipe your card before entering, San Fran follows their honest system where people are expected to have a ticket in hand to show to the Fare Inspectors if requested. Or if someone is using a Clippers card, they need to tap it on one of the kiosks before boarding the train. The problem with this proof of payment method is that the ticket is not being checked consistently so the staff may overlook the few passengers that ride for free. And certain people use the clippers card, how can they track if passengers tapped their card? I can only imagine how much the Caltrain, the VTA, and other modes of transportation lose so much money every year. Of all the times that I have boarded the Caltrain and VTA, not once was I asked for my boarding ticket. And what makes it more confusing traveling in the Bay area, depending what part, the mode of transportation company is different requiring to figure out the cost and how to get there. The good thing with it is that if someone owns a clippers card, they can use it on the different transportation systems. For example, I can use it on the Caltrain and then switch to the BART in the city. As long there is money loaded on the card, the person is set to go.

But at the same time, it would be hard to implement the systems made in DC and NYC in San Fran because of the design of the stations. First and foremost, most if not all are outside and its not gated. It is completely open. On many stops, you can walk out the physical track to get to the other side of the station. So attempting to force people pay before loading on would be difficult. There has to be a better way...

San Francisco

While in Atherton, CA, I had the chance to travel to San Francisco, which is easier than I thought. Many people opted to take Uber and Lyft, both modes of transportation can be quite expensive. Luckily, San Francisco is known for their great transportation system and thanks to the Caltrain and their BART systems, I decided to take both of these transportation instead.

Atherton, CA is located outside of San Francisco and in order to travel to San Fran,  the Caltrain will take you there. The Caltrain system is seperated into 6 zones. The more zones you travel to, the longer your ride and the cost. For example, I was traveling from Zone 3 from the Menlo Park Station to Zone 1, San Francisco. The one way fare was $7.25. That is expensive and this is only one way. There were other options such as the day pass, monthly pass, and so on. I can only imagine if there are people who make this commute everyday to go to work, On the train itself, it took approximately 50 minutes to get from Menlo Park to San Francisco. And from the San Francisco station, we walked about 2 miles to Chinatown. It was very windy, but nice weather. On our way, we stopped by H&M to buy sweaters because we knew it would get cold later on.

Chinatown in SF is beautiful. Tons of shops and places to eat. We noticed two women hustling on the streets trying to drag people into their shops. I read about this in China and is done often to especially foreigners. We went into one restaurant and was not satisfied of the people inside nor we smelled nothing so we left. The lady was very upset. We headed to another Chinese restaurant and I had this spicy chicken with rice. It was good. I wish it wasn't so dry (in terms of having additional sauce around it) and had some vegetables on the side. Otherwise it was not bad at all. From there, we walked a ton more to the Zig Zag street AKA Lombard Street. People drive down this narrow street. It is filled with a ton of flowers on the sides and to get to this particular street, you have to walk up these steep streets of SF. Not sure how people bike on the streets or if people are able to bike on them. There were a decent amount of people there taking pictures. The walking did not bother me too much, but the other people I was with were struggling.

Our last stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, which did not turn out too well. We had to take an Uber there because of time and by the time we got there, it was dark and way too windy. People were complaining of how cold it was (I can't blame them) and wanted to go as soon as we got there. After a 30 minute wait or so, we caught an UBER back to the Caltrain station where we had to wait an HOUR before the last train of the night arrived. What a pain. The big difference with the trains in DC vs SF is that these trains in SF are MUCH more expensive (just to go one way) and move a lot slower. But what I really like about SF is how biker friendly it is. There are a ton more people on bikes than in DC in my opinion. I can see myself living here.