Episode 12
Cindy Rivas & Raven Lee
My Final Thoughts and Thank you!
Getting to the airport for our flight back to Seattle was such a blur, it seemed like time sped up even more during the last day of the HPA program! Before we departed, we said our final goodbyes to the incoming Huskies and left Beijing with so many places still left unexplored. Over the course of the program we were able to see thousands of years of Chinese history and make new friends with incoming students coming from various provinces in China. The 10 hour flight back to Seattle left a lot of time to reflect on everything that we experienced in a mere two weeks.
I am so grateful for this trip and the people who made it successful! Everyone in the UW group maintained a positive attitude (even when we were walking for 10 miles a day in the hot sun) and expressed genuine concern for one another’s safety and well-being. Furthermore, the various fields of study and expertise that my fellow classmates brought allowed the incoming freshmen to learn about different majors they hadn’t even heard of prior to the program. The Chinese students who participated in the HPA program helped the UW students as well. They took the initiative to teach us about the Chinese cultural values and helped us navigate the city. Although I spent a week with them during the leadership institute, it was not enough time for me to truly know all of the amazing personalities in the incoming cohort!
Finally, I wanted to express thanks to our instructors, Fran Lo and Yu loashi! This program focused on leadership and they demonstrated this concept by example. They encouraged us to participate in activities that were outside of our own cultural norms and helped shape us into leaders.
-Raven
A Thank You to Everyone!
As our time in China comes to a close. I can’t help but think how fast these past two weeks have flown by and how I miss home but I’m also leaving recognizing how much I’ve learned and seen in such a short amount of time and how every second of every day was worth it. From feeling like my legs were going to fall off and that I was going to die on the Great Wall, meeting my roommate and sharing our life experiences during our late night conversations, and to almost getting hit by a bus while crossing the street I can definitely say that this has been an experience that I’ll never forget. I came in to this with an open mind, and even so I still feel as though I was stretched in ways that I didn’t know were possible. I came in hoping that this would help me learn about a culture, a people, a country, so different from my own and this experience definitely has but it’s opened my mind in more ways than I thought possible. I leave with hope that I’ll come back someday, with even more of an open mind and with even a greater appreciation. With this I say goodbye for now, China, and most of all thank you. Thank you to all my fellow UW students who made every day really fun and thank you to the international students for opening up to us about their lives and experiences. Finally, thank you to Fran and Yu loashi for coordinating and pushing us to really make the most out of this experience!
-Cindy
