This summer has been the most incredible summer of my life to date. I had the privilege of getting to join a group of 12 other students to spend a month in China. This experience was beyond impactful and changed my life in immeasurable ways. I myself am a mechanical engineering and beyond that am very involved in consulting and leadership development on campus. This kind of class is something that I never would have taken or encountered in my college career, which is part of what made it so impactful. The experience of studying abroad in China really challenged me to grow as a thinker, a global citizen, and it further spurred my intense curiosity to learn more about the world.
I got to study in 4 cities throughout China for 3 weeks. Never had I been in such an experience or environment that was so immersive. From the moment I got off my plane at the airport in Beijing I knew I had traveled across the globe and into a very unfamiliar world. I found myself immersed in a new city and country that I knew very little about. Something that our professor Colleen Berry told us on our first day, that stuck with me is a saying “If you spend a day in China you can write a book, if you spend a week you can write a paper, if you spend a month you can write a page, and if you spend a year you can write nothing.” This saying really means that the longer you are in China the more you realize you don't know. I found this framing for being in a new culture very useful. We were there to learn as much as we could through our experience and to really appreciate and respect the culture and the people.
One of the things that was amazing about the experience was getting to take a class right alongside the different topics we discussed. For example, we would be in class and discuss the history of Tiananmen square from Imperial times to modern Beijing. We talked about the complexities of how different groups view this kind of politically symbolic place. We discussed how some Chinese people view it, how the Chinese government views it, how outsiders in the West view it, etc. This experience challenged me to think deeper about complex issues and perspectives. Before going to China and taking this class, my world view on China had largely been informed through international affairs and public policy news media. These sets of perspectives and opinions were challenged in many ways by the class and by being immersed in the reality of this environment. I was able to see how these opinions largely lacked the complexity and differentiation in perspective found in reality. For example, with Tiananmen Square immediately we were challenged and told to assess what we had learned or previously heard about. Our professor Colleen Berry challenged us to dig deeper into these complex topics that the class focused on, tradition, modernity, and nostalgia. These lenses were invaluable in approaching our experience in China.
The group that I got to share this experience with was incredible. We now have a shared life experience that has bonded us in many ways. After traveling across China, learning, and exploring together I would say the people who joined me on this trip are nothing short of lifelong friends. While in China over those real “Amazing Race” moments where we were in a constantly new and unfamiliar environment and we were challenged to learn and grow from the experience. We also bonded over having to jog a few times to catch a train or meet the rest of the group. This experience of being in a completely new environment, having your perspectives challenged and getting to share the experience with others was really life changing.
After the three-week global seminar, I planned to stay for an extra week to travel by myself. I chose to do this beforehand knowing that It would be an experience that would test everything I had learned so far. The experience of traveling alone in China really was the capstone that really tied together my whole experience and allowed me to reflect. I can saw confidently that being a part of this program challenged me to grow and develop into the person that I am today, and I would recommend to anyone to remotely considering it to apply.