The Prologue, part 1: an Introduction

My name is Shane Henry Kwiatkowski, and right now I’m at my home in Vancouver, WA (no, not THAT Vancouver, that one’s up a couple hundred miles and across the US-Canada border). It’s the 29th of December, it’s snowing outside (which is definitely a surprise!), and I’m typing the first of hopefully many blog entries about my trip to China.


In this blog I’ll be writing about my experiences studying abroad at the Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu, China with the USAC program. During my time there I hope to see pandas, eat hot pot, and learn Chinese. More importantly, I hope to meet people from all over the world, and learn more about that interesting country which seems to be taking the world by storm. As a student of Creative Writing and Anthropology, I hope that this blog will, at the very least, be a good place for me to learn how to write about my experiences abroad, while at the same time trying to better understand the people, places and events that make up not only cultures of all sorts, but stories as well. Whether this means experiences that are good, bad, or anywhere in between, I hope that you’ll gain something from what I write about and ruminate on. Topics will include:

Food (Trust me, I’ll be putting up pictures left and right!)
Learning the Language (Tian Laoshi, I’ll try to do you proud.)
Meeting People from China and Abroad
Different Aspects of Culture in China
Philosophical and Existential Crises I go through
Lots and lots of photos

…and whatever else I happen to think of that people might be interested in. I will try my best to update as often as I can, but for the first month especially expect sporadic posts as I deal with jetlag, internet censorship, culture shock, absolute giddiness that I get to study in a foreign country, and urges to stuff my face with all manner of Sichuanese food (I recommend checking out http://eatdrinkchengdu.blogspot.com/, for this was a website that helped me realize how potentially awesome Chengdu is going to be). As I gain my bearings and understand how to better navigate the teeming sea that is Chinese virtual space, expect lots of pictures, posts, and stories! And, of course, expect the occasional panda! (Chengdu is home, after all, to the Panda Breeding and Research Center of China.)

Most importantly, I thank you for your interest and your time. Please, feel free to comment on all the posts and photos that I put on this blog. Ask questions, voice your opinions, and put requests for things you want me to take pictures of and see while I’m in China! I’ll try to accommodate requests as best as I can. Again, thank you so much. Here’s to Chengdu, and adventure!


(this is a picture of SW University for Nationalities)

ChengDo: If studying abroad in a country where English is not the dominant language, practice the lingo as much as you can before you go. Speaking of that…
ChengDon’t: Putting off studying your Chinese until you have less than a week before you’ll be in China. Crap.