See You Laters, Packing Struggles, and A New Beginning

To whom it may concern,

Photos are taken to remember, to highlight a moment in time that one wishes to share with others, and to never forget the simple beauty that surrounds us. Hello everyone and thank you for checking out my IES Abroad blog while I document my journey throughout China during this semester. I am so grateful for this experience and I can’t wait to see what adventures await for me as this semester begins. This opportunity to photo blog is very important to me because it gives me a chance to reflect and truly appreciate all the new experiences that I will have and process all that I will be learning. As an IES Abroad blogger I have to write a pre-departure post before I begin my journey abroad. However, I am currently writing this post as I sit in my dorm room in Beijing and look out into the court yard.

Some of you might be thinking, “Well that isn’t a pre-departure post if she is already there!” The thing is I was too busy riding on yaks, visiting monasteries, and camping to write my first post. My departure was a bit out of the ordinary because I was fortunate enough to arrive in Beijing on August 10th and to participate in the optional Tibet trip. This meant that I was thrown right into an entirely different culture two weeks before most of my classmates arrived. It was certainly nerve racking leaving home and knowing that I wouldn’t be back for about four months. As I prepared to live abroad I went through cycles of over-packing, throwing clothes back into my closet, and stressing about whether or not I would fit in to this new culture. Going abroad is a scary thing because you are stepping way out of your comfort zone and you have mixed feelings about whether or not you made the right decision when choosing a place. However, in the short time that I have been here I have come to the realization that if you don’t step out of your comfort zone then you won’t grow as a person. All the worries that I previously had about going abroad were completely wiped away when I decided to stop worrying and start learning.

My trip to Tibet was a once in a lifetime experience and I can’t stress enough how great of a time that I had. The Tibetan culture was rich with history and color, the people were all friendly and welcoming, and the landscapes were breathtaking. I truly can’t even process how fortunate I am to have been able to visit a city known as the roof top of the world. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of too many people that have been lucky enough to travel to Tibet. (Stay tuned for more insight into the Tibetan culture in my next post).

*Thanks so much for checking out my blog and joining me on my journey throughout China! There will certainly be many more posts throughout my semester abroad and I hope to have my photos from Tibet posted very soon!

xoxo,

-Molly Rose