Inside Student Blogs

My friends back at Northwestern have a habit of referring to anyone off campus as “BRB”, the chatspeak shortcut for “be right back”. Your roommate is doing her journalism residency? BRB, in New York. Your boyfriend is about to go off to do a for-credit internship at a foreign NGO over the summer? BRB, in Uganda. Your friend is taking winter and spring to go see Beijing?

Oh wait, that’s me.

In Palo Alto, this is called an "Asian influence" in architecture. I'm not joking.

Or, rather, it will be. It’s been weird enough not having to go to class for the past two weeks, not to mention all the extracurriculars that I normally involve myself in during winter quarter. Most of my friends are already studying for midterms, and all I have been doing is procrastinating on packing.

Luckily, during my period of “BRB, in California”, I’ve been enjoying the sunshine fairly well. I’ve spent my days leading up to Beijing walking around the neighborhood and surrounding area, soaking in the sun, warmth, and fresh air. After all, the biggest warning I’ve heard about Beijing is that I will have none of those things during my time there.

So instead of horrible packing stories, word vomit about excitement, and my attempt to remember my little bit of Mandarin that I’ve taken already, I’m going to leave everyone with the images of what I leave behind each time I go off to school.

What the neighborhood looks like around my house in Palo Alto.

Only this time, instead of a snowstorm in Chicago, I’m going to a slightly less snowy – but still cold – Beijing. (Don’t worry – I checked the weather.)

BRB, in China.

The hills above Palo Alto, which are way too drought-ridden right now.

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