The time has arrived for the long flight. Luckily I have a good seat so I can get up and move around. Next time you hear from me, I’ll be 12 hours ahead of you and in China!

Time to go. Have a good day everyone!

Today is the day; I’m flying to China today. My morning started at 5:30 AM so I can catch my flight. I’m leaving from Cleveland and flying to Chicago O’Hare. At O’Hare I will have a short layover before I fly to Shanghai Pudong. I will land in Shanghai at 2:05 on Sunday afternoon local time, which for those in our eastern time zone is 2:05 AM Sunday.  Then I’ll have to wait in the airport for a couple of hours to catch a bus to Suzhou, which will take about another 2-3 hours. I’m in for a long day, but it will be worth it.

Hello,

Thanks for visiting my blog! I plan on keeping it updated somewhat regularly (as long as the Great Firewall allows it). For those of you who don’t know who I am or my story, I’ll give you a quick introduction. My name is Trey Rainey, a senior at Ohio State University. I am double majoring in International Studies and Mandarin Chinese.

You’re probably wondering what this is all about, so let me explain. This summer I will be taking extremely intense Chinese Language classes at Suzhou University in China this summer! Classes start on June 15th and I fly there on this Saturday! It’s coming up quick but I’m excited. It will be a lot of hard work, but it will pay off for both my academic and future professional aspirations. While I’m there, I will have four hours of class and one hour with a language partner every day.  My classes will be:

08:00 AM-08:50 AM Listening and Speaking 《体演苏州》

-Your basic Speaking and Listening Class

09:00 AM-09:50 AM Interview and report “学而时习之”，《研讨中美关系》

-Discussing lots of different topics with local Chinese people.

10:10 AM-11:00 AM Reading and composition application《研讨中美关系》

-Understand different hot topics from the Chinese perspective.

11:10 AM-12:00 AM Reading and composition development 《研讨中美关系》

-Also learn how to understand different hot topics from the Chinese perspective

Although this will be an invaluable experience for my future, it definitely has a dollar value today. Luckily for me, I was able to join STEP at Ohio State. STEP stands for Second-year Transformational Experience Program. The goal of STEP is to help second year students make their goals a reality by providing a grant of up to $2000. Without this grant, it would have been next to impossible for me to participate in this study abroad program.

I can’t wait for this experience to start! I’m excited to learn more and have a lot of fun! I’ll also try to post some pictures as well!

Thanks for reading, keep checking in for new updates!