The Master said, "Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue."

Hello all!
I'm Laura. I am a student about to embark on a huge adventure! Let me back up a bit--to high school.

My hometown high school only saw my face a couple of times: once when I tripped the silent alarm (yes, the cops did come and search the building), and once when I was forced by a friend to attend a graduation breakfast. I remember sitting in the cafeteria watching other people watch me and wonder why they hadn't noticed me during the past four years.

Zoom forward a few years and you'll find me in college. I'm a person with one talent: I'm good at languages. I just finished taking fours years of American Sign Language classes here in Seattle. In the last quarter of the last year, I dropped out of the ASL program, transferred schools, and took up Chinese. Now I'm a Chinese language major.

I spent the summer of 2001 in China. Most of my time was spent in Hong Kong, although I took a brief foray into Shenzhen, which is located just across the border. I also took a train from Hong Kong to Beijing where I spent several days at tourist traps buying junk souvenirs and taking photos. At the time, I knew not a single word of Chinese. Furthermore, I had no interest in learning Chinese. Chinese doesn't sound pleasing to western ears, and who really wants to take the time to learn all those damn characters?

I made it back onto US soil just before 9-11. I wanted to take classes at a local community college to get some required credits out of the way before transferring to a university. I had the vague notion of becoming a film studies or psychology major, and then going into law enforcement upon graduation.

So, I met with my advisor to discuss the required classes. I saw in the college catalogue an ASL class, so I asked my advisor about it. Previously, my only encounter with sign language had been through a friend who taught me the manual alphabet. I found it kind of interesting, but cumbersome and tedious. My advisor told me--and I quote--"That's a great class! I've had students take that ONE class and then become interpreters!"

And I thought, "Hmm, interpreting... I could make good money doing that..."

So I signed up (no pun intended), and four years later found myself still taking sign language classes with no desire to ever become an interpreter. I did learn one thing however, I was good at languages. That knowledge led me back to Chinese, which in turn leads me here.

I will be spending the next year in China taking language classes through a study abroad program with my school. As a part of the program, I am required to conduct a year long research project. I spoke with the head professor about my interest in sign languages, and to my complete surprise, he knew what I was talking about! The professor and I are trying to find out if a research project on a Chinese Sign Language is possible, and if so, how to go about conducting it.

But seriously, I started this blog to record my adventures in China and keep friends and family updated. Although I'll be gone for a year, I have absolutely no intention of letting my friendships be distanced by distance.

As for my post-graduation plans, the truth is I have none. My future is open ended; I'm free to do whatever I damn well please.