This summer I had the most amazing experience in China. I feel so lucky to have been selected for this program, and to have had the opportunity to see and experience all that I did. I will without a doubt, never forget my experiences and all the people I met this summer. I hope that some day, I will be lucky enough to return again to China and be able to do something to help the friends I made, and the communities I was a part of. In the meantime, I will surely be eager to be a host family and welcome others into our home.
Although my Chinese experiences remained amazing until the last moment, traveling home was slightly insane. With a mixture of the airline losing our tickets, completely rearranging our flight home while in Guangzhou, going unexpectedly through Korea, being delayed overnight in Detroit due to arriving the same time as hurricane Irene, and ultimately renting a bus and driving the 20+ hours from Detroit to Maine (with detours to avoid hurricane wreckage), I was more than happy to sleep in my own bed that night. Our group of 20 students, was pretty easy going, and whenever things got a little crazy or disorganized, we basically just took it all in stride and said “It’s always an adventure”. No doubt that our travels home was just the perfect “adventure” to finish our trip.
Now that I have been home a little over a week I have been able to settle back into my daily life and the start of school. I still miss China and all of the friends I left behind there, but it is certainly nice to be home and in a country where I understand everything that people say to me. I have had some time the reflect on my experiences across the globe and I think the most important thing that this journey helped me to realize, is that no matter how far I go from what is familiar, people are people and no one is ever too different from yourself to connect with them on some level. It is hard to imagine a culture and a people that are more different in many ways from Americans. Certainly the customs, language and environment in many ways couldn't be more different from a typical American home and yet through my journeys, I have come to realize that no matter how different the language, how different the lifestyle, how different the culture and traditions are of a foreign place, people are people, and we all have hopes, goals, and dreams. We are essentially the same in many ways.
Although my Chinese experiences remained amazing until the last moment, traveling home was slightly insane. With a mixture of the airline losing our tickets, completely rearranging our flight home while in Guangzhou, going unexpectedly through Korea, being delayed overnight in Detroit due to arriving the same time as hurricane Irene, and ultimately renting a bus and driving the 20+ hours from Detroit to Maine (with detours to avoid hurricane wreckage), I was more than happy to sleep in my own bed that night. Our group of 20 students, was pretty easy going, and whenever things got a little crazy or disorganized, we basically just took it all in stride and said “It’s always an adventure”. No doubt that our travels home was just the perfect “adventure” to finish our trip.
Now that I have been home a little over a week I have been able to settle back into my daily life and the start of school. I still miss China and all of the friends I left behind there, but it is certainly nice to be home and in a country where I understand everything that people say to me. I have had some time the reflect on my experiences across the globe and I think the most important thing that this journey helped me to realize, is that no matter how far I go from what is familiar, people are people and no one is ever too different from yourself to connect with them on some level. It is hard to imagine a culture and a people that are more different in many ways from Americans. Certainly the customs, language and environment in many ways couldn't be more different from a typical American home and yet through my journeys, I have come to realize that no matter how different the language, how different the lifestyle, how different the culture and traditions are of a foreign place, people are people, and we all have hopes, goals, and dreams. We are essentially the same in many ways.
I hope that you have enjoyed following my travels and reading about my experiences. I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog entries.
Goodbye and Thank you
再见，谢谢 Zaijian, Xie Xie
