When trying to describe my experience in China to friends and family back home I am often at a loss for words. There is no good way for me to fully put the incredible experience I had into words for others to understand. I think even when I was there I didn't fully grasp everything that was going on and all that I was seeing and doing.
When we first landed in Beijing I was overwhelmed by the language barrier and not being able to communicate with people could get really frustrating. By the end I was much more used to not being able to understand the people Chinese all around me. I also got used to looking at the signs and not being able to read them but instead having to figure out what they meant by the pictures next to them, I am still getting used to being able to read the sings again back in America.
The biggest part of our trip, our time in Shandong, was probably where I saw the most transition within myself. It was during this time that I felt myself become a little more relaxed within the foreign situation I was in and become more comfortable with not really being able to communicate with the locals. I also got really lucky with a great partner that did everything she could to make me feel comfortable and welcome within the situation. As we would walk through campus she would tell me facts about the places we had or would be visiting or would ask about things here in Oregon and compare them to her life in Shandong or tell me things about her life that might be the same or much different than my life back in the states. Our final project turned out great. We really came together once we had a solid plan and knew what we had to get done.
The amount of free time that we had in Shanghai was very nice and much appreciated. At this point I knew more of the things I wanted to see and felt much more comfortable getting around on my own than I did in Beijing. (During our free time in Beijing I always feared getting incredible lost and having no way of communicating where I needed to go to get back to the hostel and was very nervouse within the society.) By the time we were in Shanghai I also knew the other students on our trip much better and felt more confident in the things they knew around China as well as my own. The friends I made while we were in China are people I will never forget, the Chinese students as well as the other U of O students. The things we overcame and experienced will stay with me forever.
I have also recently come to accept that it is ok that I cannot fully describe my time in China to others and that the best description I can give is that it was unlike anything I have ever experienced and that this once in a lifetime trip was worth the hardships that it presented along the way.
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