When I was 19, I made a rash decision. Since I didn't love my freshman year of college, I decided to spend my next semester as far away as possible--quite literally. That's how I ended up living in Beijing, China for six months. Now this was before the free market gates truly opened (not to date myself), so it was lightyears away from the North Carolina suburbs. It was thrilling to wait in line at the Communist-run commissary (kind of), elbow old tai tais to get on the bus, and soak up the hustle, bustle, and smog of Beijing. That semester really opened my eyes to a world beyond the neighborhoods I knew, and, for the first time, I realized that I really could do something exciting with my life. I also made some lifelong friends, like my buddy Chris here. Now he lives in Tokyo with his wife, Saki, and I had so much fun catching up with him last night. My favorite memory? Dragging a still-very drunk Chris and Matt to catch a 20-hour train to Guilin, China, then stepping off that smelly car and facing the breathtaking karst mountain range that I thought only existed in Chinese watercolor paintings. It still gives me goosebumps.
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