Once I paid my deposit and agreed to go to China (this is the new part
of the story) I learned that there is a TON of scholarship money for American
Students going to China. Education is starting to see China as the future and
lots of non-profits offer money to students going for academic experiences. As
I started applying for these scholarships, I asked my graduation advisor (Dr.
Keiko) to proofread a few essays for me.
I had Dr. Keiko for Introduction to Management my sophomore year of
college. This was the semester right after my Dad’s SCUBA accident and right
before I left for Prague. Dr. Keiko was a SCUBA diver—her husband, a former
instructor—and she had taught in Prague previously. We got to know each other
while discussing both subjects and I filled out paperwork with the university
to have her oversee my curriculum for my degree.
Later, we also found that we have a shared interest in world
religions. I’ll never forget her telling me one time, “Someday I will show you
around Japan and teach you all about Buddhism and Shintoism.” At the time, we
laughed, knowing that the odds of us ever being in Japan at the same time were
pretty slim. But when I told Keiko that I had been offered an internship in
China, she extended the same offer again.
It turns out, flying from China to Japan is not a cheap venture. A
couple perusals through Kayak and Skyscanner and I basically dismissed the
idea. But then my visa came.
The Chinese Visa is not particularly hard to get. You can apply by
mail with just an application and a letter from your host in China. The
processing takes about 5 days (which beats the 60 days for a Czech visa by a
lot) and it really is pretty simple. The only downside is the Chinese
government offers dozens of visas for different purposes, with different limitations,
and for different lengths of time.
I had applied for a class M visa, which would allow me to work in
China and make multiple entries over the duration of my visa. My visa was good
for a year so I can return to China anytime between now and May 27, 2015. The
only downside was, I could only stay for 60 days at a time…and my stay in China
was scheduled to be 75 days.
I called the embassy to appeal the issue, but no luck. They told me
that it was up to the governments discretion and the only way to override it
was to re-apply for a new visa (which would likely get rejected because I had
already been issued a visa.) My other option was just to use the visa as
intended: in increments of 60 days or less. If I exited China and re-entered
through customs, it would reset my visa.
So a trip to Japan was in the cards. Keiko was spending the summer
with family in Japan, and we found a weekend she was free for me to visit. As I
plugged in the data from my passport to buy the ticket, I realized Japan will
be country #15 for me. This whole “world traveler” gig is working out pretty
well!
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