My Leap of Faith to Study Abroad in Shanghai, China

As the start date grew closer and closer my heart raced from time to time at the thought of being somewhere I did not know the language and was full of the unknown. As soon as I landed in Shanghai, my mind was consumed with a mixture of anxiety and excitement. The first week I was there was full of a lot of memorable events. One of which was the lecture Bernard gave to our ECON 393 class about learning how to re-train our brain and telling us that it is okay to have anxiety and to fail sometimes and that that does not define you. He opened up about his life and we did ours and it truly did create a special bond among the group and with Bernard. However, the night after this class and feeling better about everything, I ended up getting lost on the subway coming back from my first day at my internship. I was terrified at the time and was in a position where I was forced to figure it out on my own and I ended up meeting this nice local girl who took me all the way back home. Although this was not the ideal situation, it allowed me to realize that I am more capable than I think I am.

During my time in China I was a social media intern for a travel startup company known as Guiddoo World. This experience was for sure worthwhile because I was able to run Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook all on my own as well as create the graphics for them. Midway through the summer, I was tasked with training a new Chinese intern, Jhao, who ended up translating my graphics into Chinese and promoting them on Weibo and various other Chinese social media sites. Additionally, I was able to create a marketing report, which I got to present to my manager. The amount of experience I was able to gain was irreplaceable and I could not be more grateful for that opportunity.

While I was in Shanghai, I was able to travel to Beijing, China where I climbed the Great Wall of China. There was a moment when I was standing there and looking out at the wall I just thought how lucky I am that I had this opportunity. When I was on the way back to Shanghai from Beijing, I was thinking about how much travelling pushed me to grow as a person and it inspired me to want to study abroad again in Florence, Italy in the Spring of 2020.

I also had the chance to travel to Yangshou, China, which was an amazing chance to see the other side of China that was the opposite of the hustling bustling Shanghai and Beijing.

Looking back on my summer in Shanghai, I was able to discover a lot of qualities about myself such as my grit and perseverance. This study abroad experience allowed me to conquer my fears and do something a little crazy, which ended up working out in my favor because it was the best experiences of my entire life. Ultimately, I learned that taking a leap of faith to go on this adventure taught you the most important life lessons that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. Sometimes it is the times that you are the most vulnerable and scared that you truly put yourself out there and grow stronger and more confident than ever before.

Here is a Zapcode I made in MEJO 588, which is credited to Dream Time Stock Images. if you download the Zapper app you can scan this photo and go on my AR journey to see more about my experience in Shanghai.