First (and Possibly Last) Post

Although I had originally planned to debut this blog from my room in Dorm No. 6, I recently discovered through my friend Cortne Edmonds' blog (Of Applesauce and Broken Mirrors) that Blog Spot has been made inaccessible in China, at least for the time being. While I may very well be able to post from Harbin, I thought I would notify my few but loyal followers of this development. The life of Dorm No. 6 may be quite a bit shorter than expected. Anyway, while I'm writing this post, I figured that I might as well elaborate on the preparations I have made so far for my trip.

After weeks of checking the mailbox for my officially stamped visa documents to come from China - the Chinese love stamps, especially red ones - I finally received them in the mail and went straight to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago the next day. Dropping off the visa application was rather uneventful, but when I returned to pick up my passport, I had a first-hand Chinese cultural experience. The line was moving slowly, and the Chinese woman at the back seemed to be in a hurry, so she walked up to the window to speed things up. She and the woman behind the counter started yelling at each other in Chinese and as the argument escalated, the woman in line angrily walked out of the room. A few minutes later, she must have realized that the next closest consulate was in New York and that if she wanted whatever documents she had applied for she would have to come back, so she walked in again and went to the end of the line. Meanwhile, no one else in the room seemed to have noticed what had gone on. I assume that that kind of scene is rather common on the streets of Harbin.

Speaking of the streets of Harbin, this summer I have spent a lot of time looking at maps of the city on Google Maps and through Google Image Search. It will take a lot of getting used to since very few of the streets seem to be straight north-south or east-west, but I hope that after two semesters I'll be able to find my way around. It seems like there is a relatively good bus system, and they are putting in a subway line that will have a stop at my university, but I'm not sure when that will be finished. Apparently, there are some tunnels under the city that were constructed during World War II and will become part of the subway. Either way, the university is in the Daoli district, which is the main commercial and shopping district of the city, so I don't think anything will be too far away. That's pretty much all I can gather from the internet. I haven't received any information on my roommates or classes yet, so I'll just have to wait and see what the real Harbin is like.