My Leap of Faith to Study Abroad in Shanghai, China

In the Summer of 2019 I decided to do something I never imagined doing: studying abroad in Shanghai, China. If you ask Bernard Bell, the head of the Shuford Entrepreneurship minor at UNC-Chapel Hill, he will tell you that my original intent was to go to Copenhagen, Netherlands. I walked into his office one Fall afternoon with the idea that he would sign my form that would allow me to get my internship credit in Copenhagen. However, this did not end up being the case. As soon as we got to talking and Bernard started to get to know me he looked at me and said, “Scratch Copenhagen, you are going to go to Shanghai, China because that is where you are going to grow the most.” He asked me these questions that really made me think about who I am as a person and what next step I should take in my journey in order to push myself out of my comfort zone. After talking to Bernard, my mother and attending the interest meeting, I decided that I wanted to do the unthinkable and change my whole path to go 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 learning my way around my new city and school, Donghua University, where I took an Introductory Chinese Language course, and meeting my roommate Stephanie was full of a lot of memorable events. For example, 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 when I was 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 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. I also got to go see the where the Olympics were held which was a really cool experience. When I was on the train on the way back to Shanghai from Beijing, I was thinking about how much traveling 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 to conquer my fears and do something a little crazy and it ended up being one of the best experiences of my entire life. I will forever be thankful for this experience and the friends I made.

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

To learn more about me check out my BLOG!