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As of 11:45a.m. today, I have officially completed my fall semester abroad.
It’s so surreal, to be finished with such an intensive semester. No more 听写 (tīngxiě / dictation) to prepare for, no more 生词 (shēngcí / new words) to learn, no more new 语法 (yǔfǎ / grammar) structures to learn… the semester is over. I’m done.
What a scary thought.
Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy eating wonderful foods such as turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread rolls, carrot and green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie…
Mmm. My mouth is watering just at the thought of delicious Thanksgiving foods. I think the closest thing I can find to anything I listed above in China is duck. Peking roast duck, to be exact. And while Peking roast duck is delicious, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Thanksgiving dinner. Still, I’m grateful for so much in my life so I really can’t complain – even if this is the first Thanksgiving where I go without a traditional Thanksgiving dinner!
This week is the last full week of my fall semester abroad. Aside from the usual tell tale signs of the end of semester, like revising for final exams and writing final papers, my surroundings signal the end of all that I’ve become accustomed to and grown to love this semester. I’ve started to pack up my stuff in my suitcases in preparation for when I move out of my apartment; my friends and I are swapping our photos of various events throughout the semester; plans are being made to go see sites in Beijing that we’ve put off visiting in all the time we’ve been here.
It’s not even what I’m doing, or what my friends are doing, that all point to the end of a fall semester abroad. It’s the fact that the bustling outdoor night market along the main street near my apartment building got closed down, so the street is empty every time I walk along it in the evenings. It’s the fact that the nearby outdoor biergarten, which had the best fried 饺子 (jiǎozi / potstickers) I’ve ever eaten, got closed down as well. It’s the fact that the regular 串儿 (chuànr / kebabs) sellers outside the clubs are no longer there, having left for other places. It’s the fact that my favorite bubble tea chain changed their summer specialty drink to that of a winter specialty. It’s the fact that all the markets have changed the shoes and clothing selection to that of winter fashion.
And let’s not talk about the impending goodbyes I have to say to all the friends I made in my program this semester. Because that, for obvious reasons, is going to be extremely difficult. It’s always hard to guess how close you can become to someone over the course of just a semester. But when you are abroad, friendships are stronger and experiences abroad are inextricably tied with those who you are friends with. It’s hard to believe that once we part ways at the end of the semester, I might not ever see some of the people I’ve become close to over the last few months.
I’m gonna make this last week count like no other.
