Blogs from Uptown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, North America

After a week in the Upper Peninsula of Mich. we were ready for some R&R.......yeah its pretty bad when you have to take a vacation from your vacation!!! We had phoned ahead a week ago and our friends Jeremy and Ali were expecting us. Tired and smelling like dirty hippies, we saddled up and made the trip in two days with a stop over in a local Walmart parking lot that served as our rest area. If for no other reason, we use Walmart parking lots as a semi-safe rest stop. (A) they usually wont mess with you because they want your business(B) 24 hour ones make it safe because they never close down and there are enough people there in case of emergencies. The only draw backs are the local red-necks who like to ... read more

We took the scenic route into Minneapolis on Friday through the South suburbs to unload my suff into storage, before heading to the hotel. The hotel was very nice, although we thought one Concierge, Kathryn, might be a indentured servant because she was always there working every time we left and came back. However, she finally got the day off on Monday when we decided to stay an extra day to find the perfect apartment as I did not believe I had been thorough enough over the weekend. However, I am getting ahead of myself. After checking into the hotel on Friday afternoon, we had to run buy some black dress shoes for my meeting with my internship advisor at the giant 2-level Target in Downtown (Minneapolis is the Corporate Headquarters and birthplace of Target BTW), ... read more

Cristiana here! Were going to Chicago! What fun! I'm going for my birthday party this year, with Regina! We had to wake up at 6:00, but that's just for us kids! All we have to do now is wait, and wait, and wait! I'm so exited! I hardly got any sleep. I just want to run to the plane and fly away. We stayed in this awesome lounge and this is where I'm writing this! Regina... read more

ok. so i started this blog thing... we'll see how much i really use it. i'm leaving monday june 2nd for my trip. i found out today i will be getting to kampala, uganda before the rest of the group, so i have an extra day to do whatever before all the school stuff starts. i guess that's cool, but it kind of pissed me off at first - i don't really understand why i'm getting there early and i have to pay for my own transportation from the airport to the hotel (they said about $40). but it'll be cool to have that extra free day - even if it is before the program starts.... read more

It has nearly been 10 months since I made the decision to leave the corporate world behind in pursuit of an adventure. And now I find myself 1 day away from departure, sitting in my parent’s house with all of my personal belongs trying to figure out how one packs for an entire year. Over these last several months I have slowly been preparing myself for what is coming next - life as an English teacher in the Chongqing, China. I have been reading as much as possible about life in China, trying to pick up small bits of the Chinese I left back in college, and saying goodbye to friends and family. I hope to share with you my experiences, the people I meet along the way, and my perspective of living on the other ... read more