31 days until China.

Alright, so I don’t know how you got through college, but me? I always worked full time while studying, staying up long nights and getting up super early to study before and after work. Trying to exercise enough not to go stir crazy and most of all with a lot of chocolate.

I am doing reasonably well with my strategy, although at times I am sleep deprived, hungry and most of all in an emotional state of a two-year old right before bedtime, having to brush teeth, but I absolutely love every single moment of it. Especially since I have a loving husband, who supports all my craziness.

But last Friday, no amount of chocolate would have helped. I called A Friday around noon, I was almost bursting into tears because I just learned that I will not be accommodated by Hong Kong’s university halls, but have to find my own housing. I guess, I knew from the beginning that this could be a possible scenario, but until I got a negative confirmation in writing I did not want to think about it.

A, being supporting and loving and beyond anything more than amazing, the amazing A, suggested a million and one things and me, being a cranky two-year-old that “is not yet tired”, got overwhelmed and in a state of frantic panic, and to top this, no panic button anywhere, just me and my emotions all over the place.

But if I learned one thing in life, it is to let your emotions control you for a bit and then take control of them. Go crazy, stop, take a deep breath and reassess the situation. This, I also could have learned from watching Bear Grylls running around in crazy places, at least I didn’t have to eat any crawly critters – yet.

So, I emailed every possible place I could find online, trying to see if they had any open rooms and they did, if you like sharing a 50 square feet room with two strangers in twin bunk beds. On top of that bathroom you’d share with 50 others and if that wasn’t a recipe for disaster already, in my eyes, the multiple sighting of cockroaches was a definite sign that I could not handle this.

I am sure for some others, that got “challenge accepted” tattooed on their forehead, that seemed like a fine first and only choice but for me? No way. Don’t get me wrong, I am adventurous, a bit at least, but sometimes I have to put my own comfort in front of my sense of adventure, this is one of these times.

But you can’t give up, especially when you’re about to go on a semester abroad to China (in case I did not mention that anywhere, this is what I am planning on doing). So I looked and looked and looked and finally, against all odds, I found a place that I could live with. It is not much, just a tiny little room with a toilet and shower and bed and microwave in less than 30 square feet but at least I have some place to stay.

I am expecting cockroaches anywhere, I am expecting sightings of rats and other wild animals in close distance. I am expecting curiosities on my plate, because I will try to eat as many unknown things to me as possible but most of all I am expecting half a year of new things and adventures. So, at this point I am just waiting on my visa and once it arrives, the new adventures will start in less than 31 days!