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See You In Beijing

 粽子 (zongzi) or sticky rice dumplings. Tried them for the first time with my best friend's family last week!

粽子 (zongzi) or sticky rice dumplings. Tried them for the first time with my best friend’s family last week!

Hi! My name is Irene Chang and I am a freshman (rising sophomore) in Weinberg studying Economics and International Studies. Currently, I am back in my hometown of Naperville, Illinois. It is only 45 minutes away from Evanston, so the transition from home to college wasn’t too bad. However, I’m not too sure what the transition from Naperville to Beijing will be like. Living in China for eight weeks will not only be my first time in China, but will the first time I am outside of the U.S. for more than a month.

I wanted to study at Peking University because I really wanted to improve my Chinese. I first started learning Chinese five years ago, and haven’t stopped since. I know that going to China will be the best way to improve my Chinese skills, so this study abroad trip is an amazing opportunity. In addition, I would be studying the political and economic development of China, which falls in line with both of my majors. Within the international studies major, my region of focus is Asia. I have been to both South Korea and Japan before, so China was definitely next on my list of Asian countries to visit.

To be honest, I don’t know what to expect from this study abroad experience. Since I’ve never been to China before, I don’t know anything about the culture or the lifestyle. All I know is that I am really excited to meet new people and to explore everything that Beijing has to offer! But for now, I suppose I should start packing; I haven’t even unloaded my bags from college yet.

See you on the other side (of the world)!

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