carl has a blog: beijing showdown 2007

TUESDAY, JUNE 5
Carl enters the 21st century
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So I'm sitting at a computer in the Williamstown Public Library right now, typing feverishly away but not really saying much, trying to figure out what I should write in my first-ever blog entry. Hello everyone! 大家好！ Welcome to Carl's first-ever blog, in which he shall be recording his experiences in China this summer. The URL for Carl's blog is http://carlinbeijing2007.blogspot.com.

In any case, thanks to the generosity of the Richard U. Light Fellowship, I'm going to be spending nine weeks this summer studying Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University through the Harvard-Beijing Academy program. Early in the morning on June 14th, I'll be driving from Williamstown, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, flying from Albany to Detroit to Tokyo to Beijing, and then taking the HBA bus to Beijing Language and Culture University, HBA's host institution. Awaiting me there will be college students of Chinese from around the country and many, many hours of intense classroom instruction, not to mention wonderful cultural excursions and other experiences on the weekends and during my free time. It should be a blast.

In preparation for my stay in Beijing I have done remarkably little so far, although I did finally purchase an iPod yesterday so I could listen to the audio material with which we're supposed to be provided when we get there. But this just about concludes my first post in my first blog, so thank you for reading, see you soon, and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. More will be coming.