Booked My Tickets

Yesterday was a big day for me!  After calling about a couple dozen travel agents and visa providers, I found the place with the lowest prices – only $160!  Some places were telling me that it would cost upwards of $250 depending on the type of visa I wanted.  The place I ended up going is called Asia Travel and is located in the international district in Seattle.  They were very helpful, and it turns out that all of the different types of visa cost the same amount ($130) so I am really glad I called around.  The reason I had to do it through an agency was because if I were to do it myself, I would have to fly to the nearest Chinese Embassy to hand in my paper work in person, and the nearest Chinese Embassy is in California.  By doing it through someone else, I can have them act as my liaison and turn in my papers for me. I ended up getting a multiple entry visa to mainland China that is good for one year.  After surrendering my passport, providing another one of my scary passport photos, and writing a check, they said I should get my passport back with a visa in it in about two weeks.

After getting home from the international district, I started looking for flights to Los Angeles.  My friend Megan and I are flying standby to Hong Kong from LAX on Christmas so we just needed a solid flight to get to California.  There were a few times when I thought I found some cheap tickets, but when I went to book them, they were already gone!  A few hours after searching the internet later, and some help from my dad and step mom, we ended up using air miles to fly on Alaska Airlines.  Our flight leaves SeaTac on December 24 at 8:00pm and arrives in Los Angeles at 10:33 pm:  we won’t be leaving for Hong Kong until the next day at around 10:00am.  Megan and I are prepared to spend Christmas morning in the airport “like bums” as she says, but I don’t really know how many bums can afford to fly or hang out in airports.  We will probably spend our time sleeping, but I think I will be too anxious and excited to sleep.

Finally finishing all of this, I had to do my homework.  I tend to use my trip planning as a way to procrastinate, which is not good.  I spent a little over six hour studying Chinese last night and hopefully the little things I am learning will help me one way or another in China.  Next week, I am going to try and find time to go to the doctor to get some shots and other stuff taken care of – maybe I will be one of the lucky few who get the vaccine for swine flu!

Finally Got My Official Acceptance

I finally received my official acceptance letter from the Chinese University of Hong Kong this week! I spent hours filling out over 20 pages of paper work for obtaining my student visa and finally sent all of that in two days ago. With all of my paperwork, I also had to send in 8 passport sized photos, which I have no idea what those will be used for. I do know, however, that my picture is kind of scary and it looks like I am glaring. I guess that is what happens when your ears have to be show, you can’t smile, or show your teeth. I also registered my trip with the US Embassy in China this past week so they know when and for how long I will be there – this way if anything serious happens, I will be notified. I think once I arrive, I will also try to locate the US Embassy in case I ever get into trouble or need anything.

Along with my student visa, I have to apply for a multiple entry visa to mainland China. Because Hong Kong is considered a Special Administrative Region (or SAR…isn’t that ironic?) I have to have two visas if I plan on traveling anywhere outside of that region. Next week I am going to call a travel agent so I can get on top of my second visa. I hope it doesn’t take too long because I am leaving in less than seven weeks.

Aside from all of the logistics of getting there and making sure I don’t get deported, CUHK has posted classes online for spring term. My class choices are very limited since I have to take them in English. As of right now, I would like to take two Mandarin classes, and two business classes. My possible choices for business classes include Business Economics, Finance, and International Business. Each of those classes are only twice a week, so I am going to try very hard to make my schedule so I only have class twice a week – which equals four day weekends and more time to travel. I’m trying not to get my hopes up though because I am almost certain that international students are last to register, but who knows, I don’t really think the demand for classes taught in English is very high.