It has been a few weeks since I left Beijing and it is a little strange. I was jetlagged for a week after coming home! I miss all of the great people I met on the trip and I am really excited to see them again when we get back to Northwestern in a couple of weeks. It has even been hard adjusting to not having to go to class everyday.
I miss little things, like the Jianbin I would eat for breakfast. I also miss big things, like all the adventures I would go on with the new friends I met on the trip. This study abroad experience will be something I talk about and reminisce about for years to come. I learned so much about public health and Traditional Chinese Medicine, but I also learned a great deal about a country I thought I had known quite a bit about. It has been really fun to recount stories about different foods I ate or places I went to to my family and friends in America. I enjoyed tell them stories about the gifts I brought them back. Doing this let me relive my trip when I recounted how I got the gifts, like the little ceramic pot I got my parents in a hutong in Beijing, or the pearl earrings I got in Qingdao for a friend. I hope one day I can return to Beijing and maybe visit other cities in China. It was a trip of a lifetime and I definitely encourage other people to go on a study abroad trip.
