2007; A Year in Review

2007 is definitely a year to remember. I traveled over 50, 000km or 30,000 miles to 4 continents. I met with old friends in each continent as well as made new friends along the way. When I left Minnesota almost 12 months ago, I wasn't sure what would come of my adventures and new life in China but I must say that it has been amazing. The only regret I have is that I didn't keep track of my frequent flyer miles!
I left fridged Minnesota on January 11th, 2007; exactly 2 years after I left for Sweden. I first stopped in LA to meet with my good college buddies Josh and Eric. Then I went to San Diego with Clark, my best bud, to have some good fun before he sends me off across the Pacific. For the first time, Clark dropped me off at the airport. Usually I drop him off at the airport after he took leave to come home from the military. I guess the tables have turned...
I was off to Sydney, Australia to meet up with my friend Chris and travel up the coast for 3 weeks. Time never really went so slow and so fast at the same time. Australia was so relaxing and the pace of life just seemed to slow down however, my 3 weeks went by in the blink of an eye! Chris and I traveled up the coast and met up with 2 other friends that we met in Sweden, Alana and Leah. We traveled with them for one week to Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay (my fav). Then Chris and I went to Whitsunday Coast and I went sailing for 3 days and 3 nights for the first time! We went on a charter with about 15 others. It was a blast and I always wanted to go sailing, I loved it! Then we went back down to Sydney for a few days to end our trip. I was off to Hong Kong! Chris is still in Oz.
Hong Kong was great. I met with a college friend there who was studying abroad and I also met some other friends of his there. I did a lot of tourist things, at wonton mein, and dim sum!
Zhuhai, ahhh ahhh, hometown China. Literally. Its my father's hometown. I was there for about 2 weeks. one of those weeks was spent with the worst flu ever! The other week was Chinese New Year! I blew up firecrackers, ate a lot of great food and saw lion dances. It was a great experience and I learned the importance of Chinese New Year. It really isn't like western new year where we all party like crazy. In China, it is a time to spend with the family and party a little;)
February 28th, 2007 I arrived in Beijing. I started college again. I studied Chinese language for a little over 4 months. I learned a lot and made some great friends. The first time I came to Beijing i didn't really like it, but now I love this place! Since being in China, I have traveled to Shanghai, Yangshuo (my fav), Changdao (Shandong) and a bunch of other places around Beijing. I feel like Beijing has something to offer. There are tons of opportunities here and I feel like this is the place i need to be for now.
I took 3 weeks over the summer to take holidays in Europe. That was amaaaazing. I met up with some of my best friends there. Marc, Omar, Kais, Maurizio, and many others. It was really great to go to Europe again. I love it there. I went to London for the first time for my friends wedding, spent about a week in Barcelona to enjoy great company, great food and great beaches. Then traveled to Italy and had even better food and better beaches but the company couldn't get any better. How amazing!
After 3 weeks in Europe, I went to Zhuhai, China for 3 weeks. For the first time we had a family reunion. It was so great to see all of my family there in my father's hometown. We celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday and my cousins wedding. We had some excellent food, poor weather but priceless company! I hope we can do it again some day!
At the end of August I came back to Beijing. I found a job in order to support myself here (cuz i don't want to go home! haha). I must say things are going well. I am meeting more and more Chinese people and starting to build a small 'network' or develop guanxi with people which was what i wanted to do.
I guess now I just have to set some goals for 2008 and follow through with them. I am an optimistic person and I believe that 2008 will be a good year as long as i stay focused and positive. 2007 has been a lot of fun and full of travels. Now I gotta get down to business in 2008; and of course, continue to travel! Up-to-come: Kais, Clark C, and Dipesh come to visit and we go to Thailand, Macau, Hong Kong.....I really love traveling:)