China?

So I’m going to china this summer. In exactly one month to be exact. This is how the story unfolds…

My brother Matt and his girlfriend got engaged about two weeks ago. Very exciting news.

Matt “oh but hey the weddings in china…”

Me “Oh”

So that ruled out any possibilities of any of our family being able to attend. I was pretty upset about it to be honest. It is hard to face the fact that you are not able to go to one of the biggest days of your best friend and brother’s life. I was somewhat resolved to the whole situation when in the temple Mom asked me if I would like to go to China for the wedding. WHAT! Was she for real? How could I do that? Well it turns out she was for real. Many factors were preventing her from being able to go herself, and we all liked the idea of someone from our family being able to go and represent us over there. It was fate that I have no ties or other responsibilities that would prevent me from going. I was thrilled at the chance. And so the adventure of applying for a visa and buying the plane tickets began.

Did you know that traveling internationally is one of the number one causes of headaches in melodees? It’s true while I’m grateful for the experience this is giving me I do not look forward to doing it all again anytime very soon. The most difficult part has been trying to make sure that I have done everything properly. Much of this can be avoided by the use of an agency but in the necessity of making this as cheap as possible, I’m doing it myself. In purchasing my plane tickets I spent over an hour just researching the cheapest flights. I was able to find one for $800. A steal, I added the traveling insurance for an extra $100. One of the reasons it was so cheap is that I plan to make my round-trip from Los Angeles to china. I have plans to go see plans in Bakersfield before heading home to Provo. So then I needed a one way ticket from SLC to LAX I was able to find one for $100, a steal or so I thought. When I was reading the confirmation email I realized the reason the ticket was so cheap was because it was going to Long Beach and not Los Angeles.  After waiting on hold for 40 minutes I decided to look into ground transportation instead of changing my flight. Hurrah, I found a van service for $30. So all told my transportation to china will cost just over $1000. A whole 200 dollars cheaper than if I had just bought the first ticked I found and saved myself two hours of trouble. You decide if it was worth it.

The plane tickets should have been a fore shadowing of what was to come. I am currently in the process of figuring out the visa issues. So far it has not been too bad, however, I have a lot of questions that I feel are unanswered. Even printing the forms for the visa turned into an hour adventure on its own, but that’s a whole other story.

So I don’t like to complain (*chough cough this is where you nod your head in agreement), but as awesome as the chance to go to china is, it’s really messing up my life plans for the summer. Ok really it’s not Chinas fault and I should give the country a break. All of the summer classes I was planning to take are no longer being offered (a week before registration is when it change, convenient huh). So I have to reassess my whole plan. Do I take no classes this summer and graduate a semester later? I I’m in china I really can’t take first block which leaves second block. But if I’m in school second block to I stay in my apartment the whole summer so that I’m not commuting. Do I live in my apartment at all this summer, or should I move home before leaving for China? What can I afford, what do I want to do, what are the pros and cons to all of my options? My life feels more in the air than it has in a long time, and it’s never really reach solid ground for a while. Oh what a joys time of life. I’m positive it will all work out in the end. The question is how do you find end?