Hello, and welcome to Beijing for dummies. I'm the dummy. Because all dummies have names, I am Collin. Me along with my four other siblings live with my parents in an undisclosed place in the great state of North Carolina (my mom thinks she is famous so she told me not to tell the exact location of our house). I'm a junior in high school and sadly had to bail from my second semester. Why? Because I am one of the four fortunate high school students in the United States to receive the NSLI-Y scholarship for Beijing study. Now this is a great achievement, no doubt about it, but the hard part isn't even over. 12 days from now I will leave my home and travel to Washington for my PDO (pre-departure orientation).This is the last twelve days I'm going to spend in this house as it is in the process of being sold. On February 20th, I leave the country for Beijing.This is surly the most gut wrenching experience of my life, and I haven't even gone though with it yet. Its going to be hard for me to leave the most loving family in the world knowing that there is no way out.. (unless of course i get seriously injured or sick).



You must think I'm some genius with the head diameter twice the size of a normal man to receive such a honor. NOPE, personally i think it was a mailing mistake when they sent me the acceptance letter, and some genius freshman out there with a 7.0 GPA is ticked. Nevertheless I am embarking on this remarkable study experience at Beijing no. 80 High School. When I say I am over my head, I mean it. I haven't had a teacher instructed Chinese course in over a year, and I feel my personality is going to be very outstanding when surrounded by Chinese culture. five months in such an extremely different culture isn't gonna be a cake walk, but I'm ready for what ever obstacles i will encounter.