Personal Experience

About a week ago, I began a side job at a fast food restaurant. My initial purpose of getting a side job was for finance reasons. But after working for a week, I’ve noticed that there were many moments where I wanted to quit. I reflected on the reason and concluded that it’s pushing me outside my comfort zone.  I have really bad social anxiety, and I usually avoid talking to people as much as I can, especially people I don’t know. I’ve been working in the drive thru, so it fo

I joined the school year during the second semester. Everyone in the class was already familiar with each other. The teachers treated me really well because I was the first international student in our class (at least that’s what I recall).  Something I will never forget is that during our first English test, I remember failing the test because the instructions were in Chinese. I didn’t know what we were supposed to do, so I filled it out based on what I thought it was (appar

The first school I attended in China was an international boarding school in Shanghai. This was my first time experiencing living in a dorm. Each dorm room consists 4-6 students, and each floor has a shared shower room, shared restroom and a shared sink room.  I was still in first grade at that time, and based on the school’s policy, we were only able to wash our hair on Wednesdays. Teachers needed to supervise and assist us while we washed our hair. To train us to become mor

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to start writing, but I feel like I have many unique experiences to share.  Honestly, I think my existence is quite unique too. I was born in the states, but have spent many years living in China when I was young. I traveled back and forth many times, experienced cultural shock, language loss, and adjusting to different environments. For the years I spent in China going to school, I was often feeling lost and missed my friends in the States. I