Stripping sounds like a good alternative at this point.

Location: The deepest pits of Hell
Time: 12:41 AM
Date: July 19th

I am not one to listen to a Katy Perry song and feel a connection to it. As hard as I try, I never quite feel "like a plastic bag drifting in the wind" or "like a house of cards, one blow from caving in." I mean, don't get me wrong. This is clearly a lyrical masterpiece worthy of winning a Nobel Peace Prize, but somehow, I just don't ever feel like it's speaking to me. That was until yesterday, as I drove to meet a friend at lunch to discuss how to fix my life falling apart. There I was, listening to the radio and then I heard it: "If you only knew what the future holds, after a hurricane comes a rainbow. Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed, so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road." Katy Perry, what is this?!?! Did you reach into my soul to pull out that verse? I know perfectly well what my future holds. EMORY. SUCCESS. HAPPINESS. LITTLE ASIAN KIDS RUNNING AROUND. BEING A SURGEON. Paying for college will be my hurricane, but I know that a rainbow will come after it. I just gotta rough it out, y'know? Doors closed or not, I will blow everything out of my way and everything. will. be. fine.

That being said, I did ride four hours to Atlanta to go talk to the Financial Aid office. Uh, aid? More like abuse. I thought the point was to help me pay for college. They pretty much told me I was SOL because I didn't do the CSS Profile. Like, what even? Not only did both of my parents not go to college, but let's add in the fact that they're not even from this country. Oh, and let's add the fact that I'm an only child and I have no idea how to do any college stuff. Does it look like I knew I had to fill that junk out? To be fair, I TRIED filling it out, but apparently, I need to petition and waive to prove to Emory that I don't know my dad. Girl stop. I am so beyond offended at this point. Oh well, I just finished filling that out and I will forever pray that I will get some sort of money from it. If not, I'll still be fine. I still have to apply for a loan and after that, life will be fine and I will be fine and everyone will be fine and the world will be fine.

So, these past few days have been crazy/hectic/hell for me. Little did I know a few nights ago that my world would practically be flipped upside down. I was expecting a quaint little night watching a movie on Netflix and then BOOM! WHAT? WE CAN'T PAY FOR COLLEGE? SHUT UP, YOU LYING. And although, that problem is still being situated, it's much closer to being fixed. This is where I will give out shoutouts to everyone who have listened to me complain/bitch/moan/whine/cry/yell. Thanks Hatel for telling me everything will be fine in the end and enduring me turning into crazy Johnny, where all I do is yell and hate the world. In the end, we didn't get "DA MONEY," but I will be fine! Thanks to Fantasia for spitting out knowledge about loans like a pro and helping me get my life on track. Girl, you know I'm Chinese and I don't know anything about this stuff. Thanks to Beth for being my goon and listening to me be Ghetto Johnny where my speaking voice is a constant scream and making me laugh when I felt like forever crying. Thanks to Heather for listening to me talk about the randomest things, including America's Got Talent and past crushes, instead of focusing on more pressing matters, like my life. Thanks to Erin for being the wonderful little hipster she is and being there for me. AND THANKS TO AMAAN FOR BEING THE FREAKING BEST ROOMIE EVER. EMORY AIN'T READY FOR US. "DA ROOMIE." LMFAOOO. You guys are really the best and I would've been an emotional wreck without you guys!

If I was Harry Potter. Paying for Emory is Voldemort. AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT STORY ENDED...

xxxjohnny.

Confessions of a broke and soon to be in debt college student.

Location: MY HOUSE
Time: 1:54 AM
Date: July 17th

Okay life, let's have a talk. Where should we start? I know we struggled a bit about applying to college. Not only do I not know what I want to do with my life, but I also didn't know where to go. In the end, I figured I would be fine with UGA. Right? WRONG. You had to introduce me to Emory... well, to be fair, it was more of my parents' fault. So, here I was, applying to Emory. Now, I knew not to get my hopes up. I mean, Emory is a pretty bad ass school full of smart people, practically the hardest in Georgia (no offense to anyone else). I mean, I'm smart, sure, but I am definitely no genius. You're talking about the guy who spends half of class painting people's nails, doing hair or secretly watching Youtube videos on his phone. I admit, 95% of me was expecting to get a "BOY, SIT YO BUTT DOWN AND GO TO UGA." response from Emory. After getting my acceptance letter from UGA, I no longer had shame in my game. Here I am, ready to live it up in Athens.

BUT.... you accepted me. After pooping my pants from shock and celebrating, I felt amazing. I felt like everything I had worked for paid off and this was just a sign to show it. After being on the Emory website at least 123,593,403 times to make sure I was prepared, finishing a schedule and picking classes that took days to do, and countless other things, I was ready to take on the world. A little over a month left and my life would begin...

No. That's what you decided to toy with me. All of a sudden, you want to make my parents say "WE DON'T HAVE MONEY FOR COLLEGE. LOL, GO BACK TO UGA." What kind of games are you playing, life? Does this amuse you? Because I am anything but amused. Suddenly, you gave me the fate of whether I go to college or not. So, here I sit, researching everything I can about student loans and aid. You may think you have won this time, but you will be proven wrong. In case you forgot, I have conquered many tasks. Let us not forget how I beat out 7 people in a semester to be third in my class, or that time I got my IB diploma after two years of Hell, who else was it that made "poop" an acceptable word amongst friends? And Y2K? Yeah, you're welcome, world. The end of the world was no match for me. So, miracles do happen. And I consider this just one more task to accomplish. Pssh... $50,000 a year? Do better next time. How about $5 million a month along with my firstborn? Life. You. Are. Going. Down.

Maybe, I'm over-reacting. Maybe this is all just a part of Post-Potter Depression. Maybe, I'm just too busy mourning the loss of Lavender Brown, but trust and believe that I will win in the end.

So, in conclusion, everything will be fine. Even if I have little meltdowns along the way.

xxxjohnny

Goodbye is the hardest part.

Location: Incheon, Korea (Incheon International Airport)
Time: 7:57 AM
Date: July 5th

Hi, my name is Johnny and I like to boohoo cry when I leave people. Ok, so I didn't boohoo cry, but I was doing that awkard thing where I wanted to cry, but I was trying not to cry, but I ended up tearing up anyways.

It's funny that my first post ever of my vacation took place at this airport! Because Koreans are kind people who love giving out free wifi. However, I did not appreciate the 5 hour flight from Vietnam to Korea where I felt like I was going to die on the plane, but then the feeling went away leaving me to wonder if I was even awake or if it was just a dream... My life.

I spent the last week chillaxing in Vietnam. Nothing really crazy or out of the ordinary happened. It was just to be able to relax after doing tours back to back to back in three different countries. Leaving is such a bittersweet family. I got used to living with my family and basically doing nothing all day. The only downside was not having my phone or hanging out with people, but it was also a nice break to clear my mind and get refreshed. It's weird to think that I've been out of the country for five whole weeks. I've missed so many big newsworthy things and events, but I experienced things that I'm sure many people won't ever get the chance to experience.

Things I'll miss: my family, being forced to go play badminton, Star Channel and Channel V, waking up way earlier than I would at home, being able to stay home all day, actually eating 3 meals a day at the table, doing more things a day than I would in a week, having the shower consist of the whole bathroom, riding taxis and motorcycles, being in a room the same temperature as Antarctica.

Thins I won't miss: SQUAT TOILETS!!!, no A/C, death traffic, cars honking, not having a cellphone, slow internet, being up when everyone in America is asleep, having to sneak around the house when I wanted to poop, being able to stay home all day, eating way more than I would normally, spending 24/7 with my mom (or close to  it), the world falling apart when I'm gone, flights, feeling like I'm about to die at the randomest times.

Overall, this was a crazy and amazing journey. I had so much fun, met tons of people I'll never forget, and to see what it was like to live in three different countries. Will I do it again? Definitely. Except with different countries of course. Traveling is way too fun for me not to. However, it feels TOO good to be going home to America. I know we may have had our problems, but I truly see how amazing you are and I would not want to live anywhere else. Irony that I'm returning home on July 4th. Funny how things work out!

So, this is my last journey. The forever long flight to Atlanta. Hopefully, I will make it! Heck, if I can survive China, I'm pretty sure anythin is possible at this point. I have TOO much to do when I get back, especially preparing to leave for college. Crazy to think that in about seven weeks, I'll be moving out and living in a different city.

Fact: I'm totally old now. Where's my cane?

In conclusion, It's been real, Asia.

xxxjohnny.

Ni hao, Kai-lan! (Part 3)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 10:34 AM
Date: July 3rd
Day 5
We flew over to Hangzhou, which I have never even heard of before that day, but Gwen lives there right now! So, that's pretty cool even if I didn't get to see her. The first place we went to was the West Lake (Uh.. I think.) I was super, super tired that day and I wasn't really paying attention to anything. They took us on a little boat and drove us around and showed us interesting things. I was kinda half asleep, but it's all good. The lake was really pretty and so were the surroundings. I do remember the Baochu Pagoda though, which was made for prayer.

After that, we went to the Yue Fei Temple, which was a little walk away from the West Lake. The temple was built in honor of Yue Fei, who was a famous general and the model of loyalty in China. There were huge statues and elaborate wall paintings there and it was interesting. When we were done, it started raining and we had to walk all the way back to the bus. Repeat of Beijing, much?

Next, we went to go have tea. I don't remember much about this... So, it must've not have been exciting. It was one of those show and sell things. After that, we went to see a show called The Romance of The Song Dynasty, located in this little theme park looking area. I was this close not to going because I was really tired, but I went anyways and am I glad I did. It was one of the most spectacular shows I have ever seen. The props, technology, costumes, acting and everything was just so on point. There were scenes when half the stage turned into a lake and rain came from the sky and scenes were actors literally would appear out of nowhere from all directions. I die. Definitely worth going to. After the show, we drove a few hours to Suzhou to sleep for the night.

Day 6
The first place we went to was the Lion Grove Garden which housed several cool artifacts, but the main exhibit was the crazy pretty gardens. The coolest part were all of these rocks that intertwined with eachother and created this sort of maze that you were able to go into and climb around to take pictures. It was super fun.

Next, we went to a temple but I don't know what it was called. I think it might've been the Hanshan Temple, but I'm not sure. I just remember there were religious stuff everywhere and it was really cool. I also remember a bridge... if that helps.

Next was a show and shop place. Silk is the major producct of Suzhou, so we went to a place that showed how they got silk, how it's used and the products

After that, we left Suzhou and went to Shanghai. Shanghai is ridiculously beautiful and have the biggest and most elaborate buildings ever. I fell in love. The first thing we did in Shanghai was go shopping. First, we went to this one section that had the main typical Beijing stores and restaurants. People were everywhere. It was so crazy and I was getting a headache just being around everyone. It was similar to the US, nothing too different about it. After that, we went to a different section that was more tourist-oriented with less brand stores and more cheap stores. I managed to get a ton of stuff there because I went to the equivalent of the dollar store. Oh, there was also an H&M. There were also a bunch of people peddling their goods on the street. It's so annoying because they harass you until you buy stuff or until you snap on them. It got old quick.

At night, we rode a ferry around Shanghai and saw the city as it lit up. It was super beautiful.

Day 7
Last day in China!

First, we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. It had some of the coolest statues ever. The grand hall had like 30 giant statues in it. The jade buddha was also incredibly cool. Next, we went to a show and sell place, but this time, it was for pearls. They showed how to tell the difference between real pearls and fake pearls (apparently, real pearls are not all perfectly round.) and then people got a chance to buy stuff. This one lady got a pearl neclace for $500. Crazy. Next, we went to this scenic area where we looked out over this lake and got to see the city. It wasn't anything special, but it was still nice.

Once again, we went to another show and sell place. This one took forever because it was jewelry but the guy that was showing us around kept on giving discounts on the products. One bracelet was like 135 yuans, but he sold three for 100 yuan. He also marked down two necklaces for 100 yuans and people lost their shit. People were just buying things left and right and idk, money was flying every which way. It was kind of hilarious. I got a few bracelets to give as gifts.

More show and sell, this time it was at a steel place that did a lot of kitchen appliances. I felt like I was in heaven because I'm weird and I love watching those late night infomercials where they sell you 543249 different types of knives and demonstrate how to use it. They basically did the same thing here. The knife place was also hooked onto this other building that literally was like a maze of doom because it was one long hallway of products. It was seriously the longest walk ever of people just trying to sell you stuff. I thought it was just chocolate at first, but then it was coffee, toys, clothes, disney stuff, makeup, etc... I was like wtf?!

Finally, we flew home with a transfer in Shenzhen. At this point, everyone was tired to death to the point where we were all sprawled on the floor with our shoes off. Touring is draining!

Currently, I'm chilling in Vietnam and I'm coming home in a few days!

xxxjohnny.

I hate squat toilets... (Part 2)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 11:33 AM
Date: July 1st

Happy July! I have officially been out of the country for a whole month! That seems crazy to even think about. 1/12 of the year has been spent in a whole nother continent. Well, continuing on with my adventures in China.

Day 3
The first thing we did was visit this military museum thing... except it wasn't anything big. We just talked about the building and looked at some pictures. Then they took us into a room and try to sold us stuff..... except it didn't have anything to do with the military. It was statues of this creature that's supposed to bring good luck and stuff. My mom ended up getting one small statue for like a thousand dollars. Wtf!!! But then she also got me a necklace, but it wasn't that expensive.

After that, we went to this park and saw the stadium where the olympics took place! The stadium was pretty amazing architectually and it's called the Bird's Nest. If you've never seen it, you should definitely google a picture. Oh yeah, I also took a picture with Mickey Mouse at the park. It was pretty legit.

Next, we went to a tea house where we tried tea and they sold it to us. Tea is a big thing in Asia, so I guess that's where that came in. I don't really enjoy tea, but I could possibly get into it. Who knows? They also had this cool teaset with a dragon design on it that changed colors when you poured in tea. It was badass. At this point, I started feeling super tired and a little faint. It wasn't as extreme, but later that day, we would have to walk a really long distance.

After tea, we headed over to this medicine place. Once again, another show and sell place. They even had "doctors" who would give you a free check up and prescirbe you medicine to take. I decided to go because I figured I should try whatever they suggest for being faint all the time. They said I had liver problems (wtf?) and I ended up getting some pills to improve it.

Next, we had to walk across the street to the Forbidden City. It's basically a city preserved inside of Beijing. In the past, it was the government center and the home of the emperors and stuff. It is gigantic. Like... word scan't even begin to describe how huge this city is. 980 buildings. I'm surprised people don't get lost in there... or maybe they do. It was like a maze to maneuver around. It was really impressive though and it was cool to see all of the different buildings, rooms and artifacts of the past. The buildings were also huge and ornate. It took forever to walk around just a small section of it and finally it was time to go.

That's when all hell broke loose. The bus couldn't come pick us up outside of the palace, so we basically had to walk to dinner. Well, rain clouds were starting to gather and it was only a matter of time before it would rain. We went outside the Forbidden City and saw the iconic Mao portrait on the outside of the wall of the exit and took a restroom break. It started raining in the middle of the break so we went down into the subways to cross the street. When we got out, the rain had stopped and we were at Tiananmen Square. the famous square where many protests were held. Minutes later, it started raining again. This time was even worse. We had to wait in a little open building that I guess was a security room because it had the x-ray machine. We were there for what seemed like forever and the rain didn't let up, so we decided we might as well just go in the rain because it was pointless to wait. We all grouped up under umbrellas and crossed the street to wait under another building. This time, there were people selling umbrellas for the ones who didn't have any. My mom decided to get 2 for $20. Well, the person we gave the money to was selling 1 for $15. But we didn't know that, so we were like "2! 2!" But she didn't give us two and then started saying god knows what. Then she totally went crazy and started yelling at us and we were like dude, wtf. We ended up getting one and $5 back and buying another umbrella from another lady for $10. Then, we crossed the street again and walked all the way to the restaurant in the rain.

After that, we went shopping on this street, but it kind of failed because of all the rain. We finally were on our way home and it shouldn't have taken more than a few minutes because it was literally down the street. However, the streets were flooded like crazy. I didn't think the rain was that bad, but cars were literally stuck in the water and people were walking in water that was up to their knees. Luckily, we were on a big bus, so we didn't get stuck. The only bad thing was how bad and crazy the traffic was. It was literally how I imagined the end of the world to be like. Everyone being crazy in the streets. After about 2 or 3 hours, we reached our hotel. Afterwards, I saw how bad the flood was because there were trees broken all in the streets and people had died.

Day 4
We were supposed to fly to a different city today (what city? I still have no idea.), but because of the storm, the original flight was cancelled. Our tour people decided to book a different flight later that day. We ended up spending the majority of the day waiting at the airport for the flight, only to find out that that flight got cancelled too. We ended up going back to the hotel and planned on trying again tomorrow. I went to this little shopping center by the hotel and got a shirt, and then went to the other one and got another shirt and some food. When I was buying the shirt, the lady kept on saying something and I had no idea what she was talking about. I gave her my money, but she wouldn't take it and then eventually, she just took it and gave me change. When I went to pay for the food, literally everyone in China was waiting in the lines because the store was about to close. By the time I went to the hotel, I was delirious, tired, and I don't think I was even all there. One of the elevators didn't go past the third floor and another one was broken. (The same elevator I rode and it got stuck for about five minutes.) There was only one elevator to take everyone up and down the hotel. I ended up laughing histerically while in the elevator because of everything that had happened, and everyone stared at me. Haters gonna hate.

Ok, this post is long enough! I'll do one more after this to wrap everything up!

xxxjohnny.

Johnny & The Little Chinese Commies (Part 1)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 7:02 PM
Date: June 29th

Ni hao, China!

Ok, not really. Since my last post, I have already arrived and departed from China. So obviously, I survived!! If you've been keeping up with the blog, you'll know that I've been feeling faint all the time and I was scared that I would faint in China or something worse, but everything went fine! China was AMAZING!!!!!! I spent seven days there and every day was crazy for their own individual reasons. Since, there will be a lot to talk about, I'll split it into 2-3 posts, just so you guys won't get bogged down with 53924235 paragraphs to read.

Day 1
We left to go to the airport at the crack of my butt. I think it was around 4 or 5. I just know it was REALLY early and for some reason, the tour company always goes to the airport 2 hours before the flight. Drain. On the way there, I pretty much knocked out the whole way. When we got there, It was around evening and the first thing we did was drive to dinner. This was my first time seeing Beijing. It was freaking amazing! Unlike Vietnam, China had a bunch of people driving cars and a LOT of nice, big buildings. Even bigger than the ones in Thailand. They were obviously very rich and developed, being a superpower nation and all. It was like driving around Atlanta or New York City... except with Chinese people.

After dinner, we attended an acrobats show. Apparently, this is one of the more popular shows that they have in China. The acrobats show was mindblowing. They had people doing things that I didn't even think was possible. People were rolling around in tiny hoops, lifting people up on their chins, etc... And then the ending had this giant sphere of doom come out and a guy drove his motorcycle in. That wasn't all. One by one, people went into the sphere until about six of them were driving around without hitting eachother. When I first went into the theatre, I was starting to get a little faint and I knew what would happen next. It was exactly how I felt the first time at the Ladyboy show in Thailand. I didn't freak out this time and thought rationally instead of alarming everyone, so I went into the bathroom for a bit and just relaxed in a stall until I calmed down and felt better, which apparently worked. I felt fine the rest of the day. After that, we went to our hotel room.

Day 2
I had no idea what the schedule was like for this trip because no one told me, so, wherever we went was a surprise to me. You can imagine the look on my face when I realized the first place we would go to was the Great Wall. I mean, I knew we would go there at some point, but I didn't realize it would be so soon! I'm 100% sure everyone knows what the Great Wall is, so I won't go into details besides saying it's one of the most famous landmarks on Earth. The section we went to was located near Beijing. I really didn't know what to expect. I mean besides it being a great wall. From pictures and what I imagined, I figured it was a straight wall that people would walk on top of. Well, I didn't think that it would just be 1,000 stair steps. Literally. The steps were so steep and there were so many steps that I felt like I was being tortured. It was hilarious though because there were hundreds of people everywhere on this narrow path on the wall and people were sweating, panting, sitting down, about to pass out, etc. It was quite the work out. I climbed to one of the little watchtowers or whatever and went back down. It was definitely exhausting, but hey, now I can say I climbed the Great Wall!

Now, Asian tours are weird... Well, I don't exactly know if they do this on other tours, but I'll just limit it to the asian ones for now, but apparently, they like to stop at the randomest places and shop, but it's not just shopping. First, we'll go to to some place and they'll show us a little exhibit or museum. Then, they'll take us into a room and do a little lecture or something before they bring out their goods and try selling them. After the Great Wall, we went to a jade place since jade is such a big thing in China. I believe it was the Jade Carving Center. They talked a lot about jade, how it's made, blah blah blah. I didn't really pay attention because I don't understand people who speak Vietnamese with an accent. At the end, we went to the shop area and I ended up with a nice black bracelet that was cheap!

Next, we went to the Ming Dynasty Tombs which contains the tombs of 13 emperors. The only tomb to have been excavated was the one we visited, The Dingling Tomb. It was really interesting to see this aspect of ancient China. The buildings were all intact and so was the tomb. We had to go underground to see it, but it was breathtaking. Although some of the things were replicas, it was so cool to see how it was set up and how grand it was. It's definitely something worth visiting if you are touring Beijing.

Next, we visited the Summer Palace, which consists of several palaces and gardens. This place was stunningly beautiful. It was originally built sometimes in the 1700s, and was renovated and rebuilt throughout the years. It was also the summer resort of some of Empress. It was so pretty and fun to see all of the different gardens and architecture and buildings. Definitely another important to place to visit if you're in Beijing. There's also this huge lake beside it that covers most of the area. That was pretty much all for the first full day in China.

So, I already started writing day 3 and I realized that this post would be super, super, super long if I wrote it all down, so, I'll save it for the next post!

xxxjohnny.

Where's the beach?!

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 5:35 PM
Date: June 20th

Whoever knows where the title of this post comes from gets a cookie.

Today is my relaxation day before I go on my last tour on vacation! I will be going to China for a week. That's the longest tour yet and probably the most exhausting, so hopefully, I won't have a repeat of Ladyboy fainting.

The last tour I took was to Nha Trang, which is the most popular tourist destination in Vietnam. Essentially, it's a beach city. And apparently has one (several?) of the most beautiful beaches on Earth. Once again, I had no idea what the schedule was. (Which makes things so much more exciting, if you ask me.) The only thing I knew was that it was four days and three nights, which was a day less than the trip to Thailand.

When I heard that the trip was to the beach, I figured that it shouldn't take long, right? I mean Vietnam is a tiny country so maybe two or three hours tops. WRONG. The bus ride took 12 hours. 12. Hours. Of. My. Life. That's not to say it was all spent on the bus. We did have breakfast, lunch AND dinner, along with two restroom stops on the way there. And on the way back, we only had lunch and three restroom breaks. Those 12 hours were the longest hours of my life. First, this trip had more people, about 30-something and at least a fourth of the group were kids. Not teenagers or preteends, but little kids. Loud, aggrivating little kids. I'm pretty sure the whole time I was on the bus, I was listening to my iPod or trying to go to sleep. (Thank God for medicine that knocks you out.)

So essentially, the first day of the tour was just getting there. The city was beautiful! Way different than where I'm staying. Yes, there were still more motorcycles than cars, but there were actually nice big buildings and a beach and lots of nice decorations. The hotel was also nice. Free wifi is always a plus. And plus, we just stayed in one hotel the whole tour. That night, I woke up at around one and had a horrible pain in my chest. It was truly one of the worst feelings ever, up there with how I felt at the ladyboy show. So, that morning, due to lack of sleep and just feeling like I needed to rest, I chose not to participate with the group and just stay at the hotel. My mom was also super sick so she stayed at the hotel as well. Apparently, I didn't miss out on much because everyone said the beach they went to was nasty and that all they did was swim at different places the whole time. Basically, I stayed at the hotel the whole day and ordered room service and chilled.

The next day, I felt better and went with the group. We went to some huge rock place. (Uhm... yeah. Literally, it was a bunch of big rocks by the shore.) After that, we went to another beach. The beach was pretty nice and I enjoyed myself EXCEPT for the jellyfish. Now, lord help me. There were so many jellyfish in the sea and they stung me so many times. Apparently, this is the norm for Vietnam and there were a ton of people swimming everywhere, so I stuck it out a bit, but ended up going back on shore after I got tired of being stung. After swimming, I took a shower in the little communal bathroom where people were literally everywhere.... Yeah, Emory will definitely be a piece of cake after this. After the beach, we went to eat lunch and a theme park was next. I had the biggest headache ever because I usually get them after swimming and decided to go back to the hotel. I didn't want to chance fainting at a theme park that required getting there by sea or air, and I did have the 7 day China tour where I won't have a chance to relax at the hotel even if I needed to, so I thought going home to relax was the best thing for me. Once again, I had room service and just chilled at the hotel.

The last day there was basically going home. Another 12 hour bus ride. Ugh, this one felt even worse than the first one and every rest area we went to had SO MANY PEOPLE everywhere and I swear, the bathroom were disgusting. There was literally a pool of water (and God knows what) as soon as you stepped in. Finally got home and boy did it feel good.

Now, I'm just enjoying my one day rest period before I go to the final tour. I admit that I am terrified of feeling faint because this is a different country and no one knows Chinese and instead of being with family members, it's just going to be me and my mom. So, pray that Iwill be ok! I have definitely been feeling somewhat better, so hopefully, this is a good sign. Going to China means a whole week of not having the internet! So don't be alarmed if you hear no updates from me. With that being said, wish me luck on this week! After this, I will spend a week at home in Vietnam before flying back to America! Two more weeks left!



xxxjohnny.

I'm lazy and I need to exercise.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 8:24 PM
Date: June 15th

MY FIRST PM POST!!!~!~!~!~!~!

Ok, now that that's out of the way. Yesterday and today have basically been my chillax day before I leave for another tour tomorrow. As you guys know, I have been feeling faint for the past couple of days and it has made me miserable! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate being sick. Yesterday, I just stayed home and did nothing. I thought that maybe my body would have had a chance to fix itself and life would be all rainbow and sunshine. Wrong.

I still felt like crap today. The same fainting feeling and getting dizzy whenever I take a few steps. We decided to go to the doctors to make sure nothing was wrong and to get some medicine so that I would at least be a little bit better to go on the next two tours.

Ignorant me expected this hospital to be raggidy and sketchy. I was wrong. It was an international hospital and it was quite nice actually. It wasn't as big as the hospital back home, but it was still up to par. First, the doctor asked what was wrong, blah blah blah, etc. After I explained it to him, he checked my body, including pushing my stomach hard like 50 times and I swear to God, I was fixing to barf everywhere. After that, I went to go get some blood work done. I HATE SHOTS. Next, I went to get hooked up to some scary machine and get my heart read by a machine. Next, I went to go get an ultrasound check. I really don't know what they all had to do with me fainting, but apparently, they all connected. I went back to the doctor and he told me everything was normal and that I just had upset stomach problems. Ok, good.... but what about me fainting? Isn't that the reason I came in the first place. "Oh, you just need to exercise."

Oh. Ok.

So, tell me this universe. I feel like fainting all the time. The apparent way to fix this is to exercise. Whenever I try exercising, I feel like fainting. Thus, the endless circle continues.

Tomorrow is another tour, although in Vietnam and to the beach, so not as exhausting as Thailand and also a day less. Hopefully, I will be fine. Fingers crossed! I was told I could just stay in the hotel if I was feeling bad. I'm really just scared about the week long tour to China... Oh America, how I miss thee dearly.

ps: Also rode a honda scooter around vietnam to go to the doctors. I'm too legit to quit.

pps: Did 120 situps while watching How I Met Your Mother. Take that, sickness.

xxxjohnny.

The story on why I missed the ladyboy show, my conversation with God, and how I survived Thailand.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 9:57 AM
Date: June 14th

The time had finally came. It was time for the ladyboy show to start. This had been the moment I've been waiting for forever. Whenever I think of Thailand, this is the first thing I think about. It was finally time to get a taste of the most fascinating part of Thai culture.

Then, it hit me. I started getting hot, my legs felt like jelly and the room started spinning. I knew I was about to faint. The first thing I did was go to the restroom. My stomach had been hurting like a bit, so I figured maybe I just needed to poop. Nothing came out and I was still dizzy. Maybe I was dehydrated. I went to go get water only to have them tell me I had to pay and I had no money. I went to find my family in the audience and that's when I started having a panic attack. My voice started shaking and I knew it was a matter of time before I would faint. My mom led me to the bathroom again. Still nothing. I got out and we walked outside to get fresh air. I laid down on a bench while my mom tried calling the tour guides, while I kept on repeating that I needed to go to the hospital. I was dizzy, hot, tired, weak, and terrified. Here I am, in a completely foreign country, about to faint from who knows what. Most people don't know english and I didn't know thai. If something was seriously wrong, what could I do? Laying on the park bench, halfway concious, I started talking to god.

"Hey God... Uh, It's me Johnny. So, I know I always told you that I'd be ready for you to take me when the time was right, but I still think I need more time. I'm not ready to go. I mean, I'm in a different country and all. How would my friends find out? They're not even expecting me to be back until July and I don't think my family could handle this right now. And I need to go to Emory! All that stress and anxiety, I don't think this should be my time. But it's all up to you. I'm scared, but whatever you think is right is right. If it's my time to go, then I'll go."

It may seem overdramatic, but I don't think anyone can truly understand how horrifying it felt. To be sick and not know why in a country where people can barely understand you. To not know where a hospital is or to even be able to tell someone what was wrong. Honestly and truly, I felt that at that point, I would die. And that's not something that you come to a conclusion about easily. And throughout all of this, the only thing I could think about was James. I knew that if the worst possible thing happened, that at least I would be able to see him again. And as terrified as I was, this thought gave me strength and calmed me down. Whatever happened happened, and whether I got better or worst, I would end up happy either way.

That's when I started sobbing like crazy, as I thought about James and how scared I was about what would happened. I ended up getting some medicine from my tour guide who went to a pharmacy and taking a taxi back to the hotel where I relaxed. The remaining two days consisted of me waving in and out of feeling faint and having horrible stomach pain. The fainting could be because I wasn't eating enough, or drinking enough water or just not getting enough sleep even though I thought I was doing all of those things. Everyone said the stomach problems were because I didn't digest properly because I wasn't used to the food there or maybe it was because I was constipated. Either way, I do feel better than I did when I started getting sick, but I'm still not all the wa fine. With two more tours left, I hope it doesn't get that bad again.

As for the rest of the Thailand tour, it was pretty fun. Thailand is a beautiful country that reminded me a lot like America, minus all the Asian-y stuff about it. The most memorable moments were when I rode an elephant at some show and got picked up by it's trunk, when we went to the beach and took a speed boat to a platform where I parasailed around and then took the speed boat to a little area and just chilled at the beach, when I saw that AMAZING show the first day we were there, and just being able to walk around the malls and outside and seeing how similar and different America was to Thailand. I had the most AMAZING tour group and it feels weird waking up and not seeing them after spending all this time together. Everyone and everything will truly be missed (minus the sick parts) and I had a great time. With that being said, I am ready to be back in America, but I still have a ways to go.

And dear ladyboy show, it was evident that it was not my time to go see you this time, but believe me when I say, I'll be back.

Sawasdee Thailand

xxxjohnny.

Bangkok has him now.

Location: Pattaya, Thailand
Time: 7:24 AM
Date: June 11th
THAILAND IS AMAZING.

Just a preface, I haven't been able to update in a while, and I only have a few minutes before I have to leave again, so I'll try to make it as short and sweet as possible.

The last two days in Vietnam: Me laying around in bed wataching movies (I Am Sam, Everybody's Fine, Julie and Julia, Mulan II)

The first day of the tour: Flew to Thailand on Thai Air. (AKA: The most colorfully bright plane out of the ones I've rode so far.) The flight was only an hour, so it wasn't anything tedious. Thailand > Vietnam, in terms of the cities. Thailand actually has nice buildings and isn't quite so slum-mish. Of course, this is only a tunnel vision of the whole country and since I'm on a tour, of course they're not going to show me the negative sides to anything. There are actually lots of cars here, in contrast to Vietnam where motorcycles are EVERYWHERE. It seemed as if this whole trip so far has been a fun game of expectations and reality. Let me explain that the whole tour is in Vietnamese, of course since the whole group is from Vietnam. I can speak Vietnamese and understand Vietnamese, but I am not fluent. That's not to say I can't hold a conversation, I'm just not great at it. So, half of the time, I have no idea what the tour guide is saying or where we're going. I just use context clues to fill it in or wait to be surprised. (Why don't I ask my family? Oh, I do. They just don't like telling me stuff.) So, day 1: expectations vs. reality

1. Grand Palace
Expectations: We're going to some castle looking building where the King lives.
Reality: We ended up going to this HUGE area where one section consists of huge historical royal buildings that we're all ornate and gold. The rest of the area consists of more historical buildings, government buildings and the whole site is used on occasions for the King (Which was the instance when we went and there were military people everywhere.)

2. Hotel
Expectations: Raggidy hotel with Thai people.
Reality: AMAZING hotel with all kinds of people, mostly Arabic and Indian.

3. Siam Naramit Show
Expectations: Talent show-esque where groups dance/sing/act.
Reality: WORDS CAN NOT DESCRIBE WHAT I SAW. It was amazing, beautiful, extravagant, wonderful, etc... It literally was the best thing I've ever seen on stage and I will probably ever see. It told the story of Thailand in little segments of different regions, talked about hell and heaven, and talked about the festivals they had. The costumes were amazing, stage changes were amazing, dancing and acting was amazing. Not only that, but they had live elephants, goats, roosters, half of the stage turned into a real pool. rain came from the roof, performers were literally EVERYWHERE in the room to make it as entertaining as possible, there were at least 200 performers. My mind = blown.

I have to go to the beach now, but I'll update you guys with the rest when I come back!

xxxjohnny.

Rain is the devil.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 8:24 AM
Date: June 7th

Fact: No matter where I am, I will ALWAYS hate rain. Always.

Yesterday was super fun! I was told that we were going to a park, so here I am, expecting to go to a quaint little park where people are having picnics, playing with their dogs, jogging around, etc... But no, no one bothered to tell me that we were going to a theme park. The theme park was pretty cool. It had crazy, elaborate designs and decorations. We walked around the park a bit and it was WAY bigger than I imagined.

Eventually, we reached this one section of the park where they were selling all kinds of different fruits. They also had these huge sculptures made completely out of fruits. While we were walking around this area, I heard some drums beating in the distance. I followed the beat and that's when I saw the most mind-effing thing ever: a parade. In the middle of the theme park. And it wasn't just a simple little parade. It was a giant one with a marching band, five different groups of dancers and like 20 floats of giant fruits. I was completely bamboozled, but it all made sense when I found out it was the Fruit Festival.

After that, everyone (minus my mom because she had to film every fruit and sculpture in the world) went into this one underground ride thing. We had no idea what it was, but it seemed cool. Surprise! It was a haunted house. I still have no idea wtf it was supposed to be, but there were cavemans and egyptian stuff...

Then we had lunch and my stomach was totally GEWAUPOFDUAF at this point and I wanted to go home. It got better after a bit and we decided to go into another hauntd house. Once again, I have no idea what it was supposed to be, but the waiting line was scarier than the actual ride... The next thing we went to was a dolphin/seal show. I thought it would be ghetto, but it was actually enjoyable. When we got out, I saw that it had been raining. Next, we trekked onto another ride. Once again, no idea what it was, but my mom told me it was a representation of hell. Uhm.... yeah. Vietnam has pretty interesting attractions.

This was the point where God decided to flood the earth. Rain was everywhere. I wanted to go home, but my mom was all NO. So, I was like FML. We walked in the rain to the temple and stayed in there for a while. When it got better, we decided to book it out of there and get a cab home before it started raining again.

When I got home, I slept forever.

xxxjohnny.

Eat. Pray. Sleep?

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (My Uncle's house)
Time: 6:04 AM
Date: June 6th

These past few days have been too much for my poor little soul, but I'll start from the beginning.

Day 1:
Basically after I arrived at the house, I knocked out like a beast. I pretty much slept that whole afternoon/evening. I blame jet lag. Of course, I ended up waking at 3 in the morning with my mom. We ended up watching tv, unpacking, being creeps around the house. Just the norm.

Day 2:
This was the first full day where I was in Vietnam. I just relaxed all day. Took a shower, which was an experience because the shower was just a fountain in the middle of the room. So basically, whenever the whole bathroom was my shower. I didn't know how to turn the hot water on, so I was stuck with a cold one. How I survived? I don't know. During the evening, we decided to go around the city. I thought we would be taking a cab. WRONG. We had to trek it around. Now, let me tell you something about Vietnam traffic. Whenever you decide to be in the streets, you play a game of russian roulette. There are seriously no rules at all. No stop signs. No speed limits. Traffic lights are barely followed. Cars and motorcycles are EVERYWHERE. Crossing the street is a life-changing experience. Basically, you just walk across and pray that you don't get hit. The funnny thing about Vietnam is that you will be surrounded by all these little raggidy street stores and then you'll turn a corner and be facing all these fancy upscale stores with thousands of floors. We went to a mall and it was basically a giant room with each shop having a little section where they put their clothes up. There were all familiar stores and brands like Papaya, Etam, Ecote and Pierre Cardin. The top floor of the mall section was a giant arcade area with a bowling section and food places like KFC and Pizza Hut. After we were done with the mall, we walked around the city some more and ended by eating ice cream before it started raining like crazy. When I got home, I knocked out.

Day 3:
Woke up super early to go to temple. We went with a couple of people. The first temple was inside of this neighborhood. All of them were super fancy and ornate. We prayed and ate lunch and I took a bunch of pictures. The second temple was kind of in the woods. It wasn't as nice as the first one because it looked run down, but the statues and stuff were still gorgeous. The last temple was in a public area and a bunch of people were there. After that, we were all tired as mess and fell asleep on the way home. I slept at home and woke up for dinner before I went back to sleep.

Day 4:
Woke up to go to another temple. I was totally all prayed out at this point. The temple was in this neighborhood and it was a giant building. I met a BUNCH of my family members and it was pretty exciting. We talked a bit and then went to pray and eat lunch. Then all of a sudden, it hit me... I had to poop. So, I went to the bathroom and saw that it was just a little toilet IN the ground with no flushing. I will spare the details, but it was NOT pretty. We were done and called for a taxi, but none of them came. We realized that there were a bunch of taxis across the highway, so we trekked all the way there on a bridge. When we finally got there, we saw at least 3 taxis go into the neighborhood that we were just at and that on this side of the highway, there were no taxis at all. So, we ended up trekking ALL the way back across the highway and getting a ride home. I slept some more. Ate dinner. Went back to sleep.

xxxjohnny.

That awkward moment when you step into a communist country.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (My Uncle's house)
Time: 6:03 AM
Date: June 3rd

Let me start off this blog by apologizing to the people who were at Incheon International Airport when I was there yesterday. Yes, I know escalator rails aren't meant to be sat on. Yes, I know I went into every store at least five times. Yes, I know there was that awkward moment when Donk played really loudly on my iPod and everyone stared. But, come on. Six hours of waiting. I could only take so much.

I also want to give a shoutout to Goon Squad: Vietnam. I knew there would be a connection between all of us when we meant at the ATL airport. That bond only grew as we landed in Korea and had to find gate 107. Little did I know that it would be such a painstaking task and that half of our group would end up lost, but we all ended up together. I will never forget you guys (specifically talking to you, boy with the blue plaid on plaid ensemble. I was totes jealous. Not very many people can wear that many shades of blue.)

Now, Dear Vietnam Airlines, can you not be ghetto? I know first impressions are important, and I was definitely offended when I stepped on board and smelled stink. Also, get like Korean Air, five people are not meant to be seated together in a row. That is the opposite of okay. And also, GIVE OUT MORE THAN ONE PAPER CUP OF WATER. I SWEAR TO GOD, IF I HAD PASSED OUT ON BOARD, I WOULD'VE SUED. Dehydration is NOT the business.

And of course, it would have to be Vietnam where you land in a random field, have to take a bus to the airport, use stairs because they don't believe in escalators, and be terrified of doing something wrong and getting arrested. There is so much more I would say, but I'll save it for later when I come back. Going to jail is not on my to-do list for the trip.

And as I rode to my uncle's house and got a good look at the city, I realized one thing.
The fastest way to make someone not take their life in America for granted: send them to a communist, third world country.

That's not to say that this trip is bad. I'm still enjoying every bit of it. My uncle's family is pretty cool and they provided us with a pretty kick ass room (with air conditioning, thank god) and I'm even though it may not have been what I expected, this is where I came from and that's one thing that I can't change.

xxxjohnny.

Dear airplanes, why do you toy with my emotions?

Location: Incheon, Korea (Incheon International Airport)
Time: 5:34 AM
Date: June 2nd

I did NOT expect travelin to be this grueling. Keep in mind that this is my first traveling, and if you're used to it, you're probably like "It's not that bad. Blahblahblah." Well, to a person who is flying for the first time and it's literally on the opposite side of the world, it is pretty crazy.

First, the airport. I left from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As soon as we pull up, people are literally everywhere, cars are driving where they can squeeze into, and cops are gooned up like they're about to do a drug bust. We checked in and dropped our baggage off. (Please at how my bag was a little overweight and instead of just pulling something out, my parents caused a big scene and tried to bribe the people to let it slide, but then I just pulled out a pair of jeans and it was fine.)

After that, we went to security and they do NOT play with that at all. I'm pretty sure I got verbally abused by everyone that was there, but hey, as long as there aren't any terrorists on my plane, you can frisk and yell people all you want. But one PLEASE wouldn't hurt. ;)

We finally got to the gate and I had three hours to waste because my parents decided it was a good idea to come super early. I didn't get to bring my iPhone along (LONG STORY) and I had to buy wifi to use it (Seriously, atlanta? Stop being a douche. Get like Korea. $$$ Free wifi $$$)

Finally, we got on the plane. I realized that the process from arriving to the airport to the actual plane is a lot like being in line for a ride at Universal Studios... You have to wait forever, people are everywhere, there's lots of scenery changes, you pass through and see all these cool, fancy things, and then you finally get on.

The flight was 14 hours long. I was expecting it to be like what you see on tv: a bunch of seats with a TV in the front of the plane that replays the same movie over and over again and you're pretty much bored the whole time. WRONG. Korean Air was the business. They clearly had it going on. Of course, I don't have any other flights or airlines to compare it to, but Korean Air was a good first impression. They had little tvs for each seat with TONS of movies to watch (I watched Rabbit Hole and started a lot of other movies, but stopped paying attention) and TONS of music to listen to (Is it sad that they had better music than my iPod?) and TONS of games to play (Come on, Street Fighter 2... How awesome is that?) They also came a bunch of times to give us food (delish), drinks (amazing orange juice), and other nice stuff (WARM TOWELS? WELL, I NEVER....) It was very enjoyable and those 14 hours went by quickly.

Aside from the fact that my mom was literally SPRAWLED out everywhere on top of me and I couldn't have been like "Hey Mom. Get off." without getting slapped all the way to Africa. Also, Please Korean Air, can you answer one question: why did you wake everyone up at 4 in the morning to give us orange juice. Even if we were still in Georgia, I'm pretty sure we would be sleeping at this time. Also, can people not use the bathroom 24/7. I mean, I understand having to use it and all, but literally, every time someone walked out, someone would go in. Please check your bladders/bowels. However, can I just say that Korean Air attendents have the most adorabl outfits ever? It was very Lady Gaga chic with the headband piece.

You better work it.

Now, I'm just chilling at this airport in Seoul waiting for the flight to Vietnam to arrive (another 5 hours to go...) I'll update next time I get a chance!

xxxjohnny.