So far, so good. After 12 hours of waiting for my connecting flight (this was planned though, just to prevent misunderstandings here) in Berlin I'm now only one more 6 hours flight away from the place where I'll spend the next 6 months. Everything went surprisingly smooth so far, for some reason I always expect a catastrophe to happen when I travel. But my suitcase isn't in my hands yet, so I shouldn't shout it out too loud :-P
Abu Dhabi Int'l Airport is huge and extremely luxurious! I feel like a million bucks strolling through the shopping area with my bright pink sneakers and my yogapants. Ha, that's how you do it! Really neat, and the free wifi does its part to it. Luckily I was able to get some sleep on my flight (even though my neck didn't really agree with my sleeping positions - none of the 40 I tried), so now I'm pretty awake. And nervous. Sitting in the waiting area, surrounded by only Chinese people understanding NOT A SINGLE WORD. Sort of frustrating. I think this will be challenging!
But what I actually wanted to say is that I am doing fine, I'm still in one piece and in pretty good condition with some signs of usage. Ready to load up the batteries tonight in a comfy Chinese bed :-) talk to you later people, time to get on that flight and time to meet my hostfamily! I'll keep you posted and covered with pictures ASAP
~ Ronja

Now I can start to count hours til my departure. Wooohoo!
Over the last few days I've been asked by so many people that wished me a safe trip about how I felt about leaving again and going so far away for such a long time. Well, first of all, half a year will pass in a rush - if you think of it as 180 days it sounds like nothing - and second I can't even tell how lucky I feel to have the opportunity to spend this time in China and make even more experiences to add to my personal horizon. There is now a constant smile on my face when I think of my upcoming stay - it's actually kind of silly :-)
But I'm so ready now to see something new, to jump into this fascinating culture and country and to soak it all up. Call me Ronbob Straightpants.
FYI all my suitcases are 99% packed, this time I felt way less nervous about what to bring than a year ago when I packed for my year in America. I guess now I'm a pro about packing for a long term period of time. It just got clear what I really need during my stay - plenty of socks and underwear haha. So you know what the main part of my luggage consists of. Oh, and shoes. Lots of them. My hostmom told me to bring plenty of shoes as Chinese stores don't sell shoes my size. Well, at least I don't get tempted to buy any. Haha, one way to save money.
Alright, after saying goodbye to so many lovely people already over the last few days there's only the family left for today. And then it's just one more night of sleep til I start my adventure. I CANNOT WAIT!

As I just noticed (well, actually my mom did), people are not able to leave comments on my blog. Which is kind of sad as I would love to keep in touch with all of you and hear what you think about my stories.
So to give you all a chance to share your thoughts with me, here's my email adress. Trust me, I always love to hear from you, so don't be shy :-)

Ronja.ehmann@web.de