Last Days in Beijing

After Huangshan, I had less than a week left in Beijing. I was really sad but had an amazing last couple days. On the Thursday before I left I was forced by Alex and Carrie to go to this mixer. It was some networking thing that was sponsored (or something like that) by a bunch of universities. Personally I thought it sounded very elitist and I had no desire to go. However, I had nothing better to do, so I went. The bar was nice, but super stuffy and hot. They cleared the floor at one point and brought out a male belly dancer and then some martial arts performers. I couldn't see much, but it looked kind of interesting. The night ended up being pretty cool and we met some interesting people.

On Saturday night a bunch of us went to Karaoke for my going away party. I was a bit skeptical at first since I have never done karaoke and have refused to sing since I was in the chorus in grade school. However, we had an amazing time. We rented out a large size room and had 15 or so people there. I could not really find any songs I wanted to sing, but still had fun with the ones that everyone else chose. The room even came equipped with maracas and tambourines! We were there from midnight to maybe 3 AM? I am not sure. I am sort of sad that it was my first karaoke experience because I doubt I will have another one like that, unless I go back to China.

Monday night was my last night, so Alex and Carrie prepared a nice dinner for me and a bunch of friends that came over. Alex said it wasn't a going away dinner but a "Convince Ramune to extend her stay" dinner. I was in a really weird mood all day because it was really hitting me that it could be the last time I saw most of these people. I thought about staying and kept joking that there was a Ramune-mometer that would determine whether I would stay or not. For many reasons though, I had to come home.

Now that I am home, I am in a weird state and trying to figure out what to do next. Part of me thinks I should seriously look for a design job and part of me wants to save enough money and get back to China and look for something there so I can continue to travel around. Maybe it is time for me to explore my own country though. I haven't really seen much of America and it is a big place full of all kinds of different things. It was rough because I am not really an impulsive person, I try to think about everything I do, but when I was in the security line and on the plane, I really wanted to get off of it. I thought, they do it in the movies, what's to say I can't do it now. Be impulsive and follow your gut. I didn't and now am in Virginia wondering what is next. NY? China? Somewhere else?

I guess this concludes my blog on China, unless I find myself back there. My photos should be all up to date pretty soon. No more to write . . .