One Day ‘Til Take Off
Tomorrow, on Tuesday, January 3rd at my normal waking hour of 6:30am, I’ll be flying out from the Thief River Falls airport and begin a 24 hour trip to Hong Kong to study abroad.
In recent weeks many people have asked me why Hong Kong? Why Asia? Why not go to Australia or Europe or Guantanamo Bay? To be honest, I’m not exactly sure why I chose Hong Kong. I’ve never had a real burning desire to visit Asia, China, or any other place in the Far East that makes my phone, socks, or notebooks. I didn’t research Hong Kong before I picked it. I didn’t look at the school to see what it was like. I didn’t have a strong fascination with the culture and the most Chinese I’ve ever encountered has been from fortune cookies. I chose it because the lady in the study abroad office said I should go somewhere where I normally wouldn’t go for a vacation. She said that as a Global Studies major (now changed to an International Business minor) it would be beneficial for me to experience Asia as much as possible, since that will be the economic hotspot in the coming decades. I realize that there are probably more beautiful and attractive places for someone to study abroad and that not everyone will understand why I’m going there. I’m not exactly sure either. It was almost an uncalculated, spontaneous decision to go to Hong Kong. But perhaps sometimes that’s what we need to do in life; to be spontaneous, to be irrational, and to do things that break up the natural flow of our lives. For it is only when we break out of the ordinary can we discover the extraordinary.
There, that was my little nugget of cliched life advice and I don’t even know if it’s good or not. So let’s hope that this blog doesn’t become too dramatic, preachy or, God forbid, informative. I’m going to miss my family and friends, but I’m looking forward to making new ones. And if I simply can’t bear not being with my family, then there’s always the possibility of starting my own in Hong Kong. Everyone’s always telling me to settle down. Happy New Year!
