I always imagined my first visit to China to be a Joy Luck Club-esque quest for my roots, a tearful awakening as I’d step foot on my ancestors’ soil.

Yeeeeeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I AM going on an 8-day tour next week with Matt and an awesome group of friends. YAY! We’ll be hitting up Shanghai, Bejing, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou. I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to veer from our rigid itinerary, but if any of you have tips on what we must see, please chime in.

According to family/friends, these are some things we must make sure to bring:

- Disposable chopsticks for places with questionable utensils

- Toilet paper (and strong legs for squatting)

- Pepto-bismol

- Feminine products (please, please, please don’t make me need them)

- Face masks for sandstorms

- Shower shoes

Lovely, huh?

What else? Des told me to learn how to write my Chinese name so that I can etch it on the Great Wall and not cry like she did for her lack of cultural ties. I think I’ll just write my URL instead.

So excited!