Yellow Fever

There are 97.6 million results when you google "China is going to take over the world." Good thing I'm taking Elementary Chinese in the spring semester! I've registered for my first semester as a full-time student at a major university and it's going to be a very Oriental beginning. Besides my two required classes (Computer literacy and Political Science Research) I am taking three decidedly Eastern courses: Elementary Chinese, Emerging Democracies of NE Asia, and Buddhist Traditions. It wasn't my original intent to immerse myself in Asian studies; it just happened that way. I believe the Emerging Democracies class was my first chosen course. A double major in International Affairs (Polisci prelaw & Int'l Affairs) requires an intermediate foreign language and some courses from a chosen concentration. I chose Religion as my concentration and Buddhist Tradition as my course. And with all of that already in place, Chinese seemed like the most reasonable language to learn.
I suppose it would be prudent for me to take as many Eastern related courses as possible in order to fully utilize my chosen language. I'm quite nervous about learning Chinese too. But it was exciting last night as I lay in bed, daydreaming about a part-time job in a Chinese takeout restaurant or an Asian market and a future career in a highrise building in the middle of a Chinese metropolis. The notion seemed quite romantic. I think I'm going to research some prominent and/or emerging East Asian legal fields in International law.