STUDENT VOICE —

I’m very accustomed to people being surprised when I tell them I’m a Chinese major. But I never quite adjusted to the flabbergasted look on most people’s faces when I told them I would be spending my semester abroad actually in China. That look was generally replaced by a facial expression that conveyed what most people thought, but had the social graces not to say out loud: “You’re crazy.” or “Why on earth would you go to China?”

It’s been about three months since I left, and it already feels somewhat like a dream. My life in Shanghai was such the antithesis to my life at Wofford and at home in South Carolina that I have to remind myself it actually all happened. Everything about that life was different. I went from Wofford and life on campus to living in an apartment with a host family (who did not speak English) 20 minutes from school, population 15,000 plus. I went from modern West to modernizing East. Majority to minority. English to Chinese. Driving everywhere to rarely, if ever, riding in cars. Hanging out at the Row on Friday night to club hopping all over the city. Burwell to street vendors (that was an upgrade). Knowing everyone to total anonymity.

Never have I been so comfortable out of my comfort zone. It was strange. It was different, new, and scary. It smelled funny, tasted different, and looked different. People asked me if I was nervous or scared or afraid and often said things like, “Wow, I could never do that,” but I think China was so far beyond anything I had known that instead of being intimidated or overwhelmed I just put myself back to square one and went from there. And I loved every minute of it. Sure it was hard, there were ups and downs, days when I wanted to get on a plane and come home and never go back, but now looking at everything I wouldn’t trade my semester for the world.

Strangely enough, being back at Wofford for my senior year, I find myself back at square one. Reconciling life at Wofford with my experiences in Shanghai is just bizarre. The International Programs office and veteran study abroad students all said study abroad changes your life, and I was the kid in the back of the room going, “Sure, yeah right,” but it’s so true. In the best way possible, there is no going back to life before abroad. You learn too much, see to much, experience too many things to not be better off for it, for it not to change you, impact the way you live your life. And I’ll take that struggle any day.

— Leah Hunter