Hello friends!

So, I had a blog while I was in Russia, and it was the best idea I ever had. So, I decided to come up with a generic one for all my world travels. So, here we have it. Don’t worry, I still have my other blog. But this one will be specifically for my world travels and such. Be excited to hear some great stories of Asia and other places….

I leave in like 9 days! Awesome! I’m so excited.

Here’s a sketch of my plan:

1. Fly to Japan. I’ll spend a few days in Osaka visiting my good friend, Yukiko, who studied as an exchange student at A&M this past year. She just sent me a message this week and said she has a bunch of things planned for us! Including a trip to the traditional Kyoto and lots of sushi!

2. After Osaka, I’ll fly to Okinawa for a few days to see some cousins who are in the airforce there.

3. On July 4, I won’t be shooting fireworks or celebrating American independence, but I will be on a plane from Okinawa to Taiwan.

4. I’ll be in Taiwan for basically all of July teaching English at the American Language Village in Taoyuan – near Taipei, the capital. I’m really excited both to teach, and get the chance to explore Taiwan and Taiwanese culture. Some of my Taiwanese friends that are living here have made me a list of places to go and things to see. Apparently Taiwan has a lot of natural hot springs and such. Everything my friends Miso and Yuping showed me looks awesome! They also printed me out a packet of pictures of food and their chinese names. Oh, and did I mention that I speak zero Chinese. And I’m pretty sure my Russian and Spanish won’t help me there at all. Haha.

5. After Taiwan, I’ll fly to Singapore to meet up with my good friends Adelyne, Frisca, Yessy, Alex, and Liptong. They studied at A&M as exchange students for a semester my sophomore year.  We, at one point, were referred to as L-Sing around the iHouse at A&M… They were called the Singapore-5, but since we were always together, it got changed to L-Sing. Especially after our unforgettable trip to New York for Spring Break. Anyway… I’ve been promising them I’d come to Asia for the past 2 years, and finally I get to go see them! I’m so excited. I’m planning on going to Malaysia (right next door) with a few of them. And also Indonesia… Yessy and Frisca are originally from Indonesia, and you can take a cheap quick ferry to their hometown. But they have real jobs, so that depends if they can get off work and all that.

6. After that, I’ll fly to Bangkok, Thailand… My friends Vichy and Prang live there… I met them my first week in Russia. They’re from Thailand, but doing graduate school in Russia. Also, our German friend, Chris, who I also met in Russia, is going to meet up with us there! So crazy. It’s like a Russia reunion… in Thailand of all places. We’re all tentatively planning to go to Cambodia together and possibly Laos. Awesome! So fun!

7. Lastly, I’ll fly to Hong Kong, spend a day or 2 and fly home at the end of August.

I am so excited, but I have so much to do before I leave. Anyway, I’ll be posting on here stories and updates on life and such for the next 2 months… and then whenever else I travel around the world.

Peace out girl scouts.

lauren