Nella

Dear Bottled Water in China,

At home, I would not have even spared you a second glance. But my time with you in Beijing has changed that. You now hold a very important spot in my mind because you now serve as a constant reminder to me of all the differences of living in my homeland and living in China. I think this trip to Beijing has really reminded me just how fortunate and blessed I am to have what I have and how much more thoughtful I can be when I am contemplating the perspective of others.

Drinkable tap water has always been something I’ve taken for granted, and now I realize that schools, opportunities, and programs that choose applicants based on their well roundedness are also one of the many things I continue to not appreciate enough. Before traveling to Beijing, we learned more about the gao kao, a test students in China must take in order to see what rank of school and type of higher education they qualify for. I was shocked to learn that Chinese students lived in a society where test scores spoke overpoweringly loud over important things like personality or extracurricular activities. While growing up, there were always so many stories I heard of where people who did not excel as far as others academically were still able to attend college and achieve great success. After hearing about this difference, I realized there was a was a reason that students, who were not accustomed to our holistic evaluation processes in the United States, thought and prioritized so differently.

Rather than automatically finding fault in their ways of analyzing and thinking, I hope to learn from them and to get a chance to share a bit about my personal perspectives and thought processes. I realize there are too many different to count between our upbringings, culture, and thought processes but I hope to make each difference a learning experience and each similarity a bonding experience for both parties.

Love, Nella