Things I learnt at the pre-departure long weekend at the British Council:
1 - 100 young people is a lot of young people. I don't think I've ever had to introduce myself quite so many times. I have to say, we all kept awkward silences, followed by "so, erm, what are you doing at Uni?" to a minimum. Things have finally begun to feel real now - I'm going to China! For over 6 weeks! The British Council was amazing by the way, making sure we had loads of opportunities to meet as many of the fellows as possible. Going through the GF facebook page and looking at the folder containing pictures of all 100 of us (lovingly named 'Mugshots'), there are about 25 people I don't think I spoke to and less than 10 I didn't recognise at all. We were mixed up loads of times during the weekend as we did workshops, learnt languages and went to our corporate placements. There was even one GF staffer who knew EVERYONE'S names, and, wait for it, which country we were going to... for all 100 people! Crazy. British Council, a job well done.
2 - China Fellows are the best, obvs. Right, time for some truths to be told. If we got to choose where we went on the Fellowship a few months back, I'm 100% sure I wouldn't have chosen China. Don't attack me - I'm so, so happy I'm going there now, honest! Let me explain: ever since I was really small, like still holding my mum's hand in public small, I've wanted to go to Brazil. More specifically, do a tour of South America, starting with the Inca Trail and ending up trekking the entire length of the Amzaon - as you do. As I've grown older, I've wanted to visit India because I know people from there and I can't think of a culture more removed from my own heritage. So when I first got my congratulatory email, for the teeniest, tiniest, most minute milisecond I was a little bit disappointed that I wasn't going to the other countries. But about a second later it kind of sunk in, I WAS GOING TO CHINA AND IT WOULD DEFINATELY BE AMAZING. Now I know exactly why I'm going there: us China Fellows are the best. I think I've met everyone coming, and I can't wait to spend 6 weeks of my life getting to know everyone. British Council, a job well done part 2.
3 - Inter-Fellowship Rivalry has already begun. Initial reactions: The 30 Brazil Fellows are the ones most up for a party, the ones best at picking up the language and doing the tasks, and possibly the most dramatic - when they get sick in Rio they'll say they're dying, and when they have a good time they'll go all out. Psychic Bridget also predicts they'll also have the most romances. They also have the tallest fellows out of everyone, which is probably because they'd scare the diminutive Chinese people if they came East. Thinking about it actually, height probably wasn't even considered; there are two China Fellows who stand at a MASSIVE 6'4" and 6'6"... although, they'll be usefull to help guide the rest of us if we ever get lost. Note to self - become well acquainted with the back of people's heads so I can follow them easily in a crowd. The India Fellows are definately the most sensible. They're also the ones who are mostly doing economics/politics/maths and all those other head-hurting subjects, but who are taking the most gap years. I also think they're the most attractive overall (I'm only being honest!), and they were the ones who dessed the best when we had to go to our corporate placements. I actually think that's why they're being split up into groups of 10 two weeks in; too much perfectness in one place is a little bit sickening... just a thought. China fellows? All 40 of us (the biggest group!) are AWESOME of course, but also the loudest and the most likely to speak without thinking. Am guessing we'll be the ones who'll mess up the most, get lost the most and speak without thinking more than the others... oh dear. But we're still awesome! I think the other fellows hate us just a bit - probably because anytime someone mentioned the word China, we all became football hooligans and gave a weird yell/cheer of appreciation. The Brazil fellows tried to cheer but failed, the India fellows didn't even attempt to rep their endz... China for the win.
4 - I'm probably going to die in China. If I don't accidently insult someone's mother in my horrible Mandarin, I'll probably say something politically insensitive like (whisper it) "Taiwan and Hong Kong are part of China, aren't they?" and get thrown in jail. Or possibly starve to death - my chopstick use is as shit as my language skills, ie, pretty rubbish. If all that fails, at the very least my social life will keel over and die a quick but painful death - no Facebook in China? What? And no Twitter either! Mentioned that to someone at the de-brief and they were like "you use Twitter?" - well, YES I DO. An extra special shout-out by the way to Lilly and Adam, who with me make up the THREE people out of 100 who tweet. All three of us are China Fellows, obviously... I told you the China folk were talkative. We're also the ones who have blogged the most, write the longest blogs (is that a good thing though? probably not) and spoke to each other the most before we met... see point no. 2, China fellows are the best. Overall, I actually had a lot of fun throughout the de-brief, and the whole thing has made me stupidly excited to leave muggy Londontown and head for the smog and sunshine of Beijing and Shanghai. 12 days to go! I have so much to do though, and my To-Do List is becoming more epic by the minute...
Conversations About China With (New) Friends: "where are you going to?" "Brazil" "that's amazing! I'm off to China" "Oh. You're the guys who Facebook a lot, aren't you? And have talked to each other already?" "AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?"