Today was my second to last day of classes in Beijing before leaving for Hangzhou and to be honest, I’m sad I’m leaving. I’ve really settled down over this past month. I know Peking University’s campus well enough to remember shortcuts to my Chinese class, and have even hopped on the metro by myself to go to the malls two stops south! This past week, I’ve gotten into the habit of getting a cold bottle of drinkable yoghurt (which I will miss dearly) and sitting outside to have a quiet moment. I don’t know what the air quality is right now, but it’s not too hot out and there’s a nice breeze that stirs up occasionally. I like moments where I get a sense of how big the world around me is, and how small I am in comparison. Conversely, it also makes me realize (over and over again) that me ending up on these steps in Beijing right now is still pretty important to me. Never, not even when I applied to this program, could I have predicted moments like this one. I was given an amazing opportunity for both personal and academic growth, and I ran with it. Now I can’t imagine not being here, on these steps outside my residential building. It’s a full moon tonight, and I can make out the Little Dipper (I think it’s the Little one). I wonder if non-Western countries have different constellations for the same stars, and if so what they are. Surely the entire world didn’t look at those stars and collectively say “Yup, that’s a ladle! And that over there’s a bigger ladle!”. I’ll have to come up with some constellations of my own one day.