Approaching It With The Right Gr(Attitude)

Hey there folks! I am back abroad and am now just shy of finishing my first week in Shenzhen, China.

Instead of filling you in on my day to day, which has consisted of mainly paperwork, class, and a moderate amount of stress infused into both of those activities, I have decided to switch things up. This will recap a bit of my first week from a more emotional standpoint.

1. Being a Guest

While I wish I could take credit for this advice, this was something that my friend Julianne Nieh had mentioned in a conversation and I think it is truly the most important advice I’ve received. She said to me, the most important thing you can do while travelling/working abroad/ studying abroad is learning how to be a guest in your host country. That really resonated with me. I am a guest in this country. I should not expect people to speak English, or accommodate to me, since I am visiting their country, where their national language after all is Chinese.

At home, I find that we have a lot more of a customer service orientation in a lot of what happens. When one complains, whether that be to your local barista or to your school during course registration, we tend to apply the “customer first” mentality.  Candidly, before coming here, I truly believed that there was nothing a strongly enough worded email couldn’t solve. Being a guest means understanding that not only may that not fly as well here, but it doesn’t have to. They do not owe me anything and it is up to me to take be willing to understand adapt to their ways of doing things, from ordering coffee to course registration.

2. Gratitude 

Overall, what has made this past 5 days as great as they have been as acknowledging my gratitude. I am so lucky to have this experience.  Not only that, but I am grateful to have people who care about me and are willing to help me throughout this experience. There is so many people working to make this experience as enjoyable as it can be.

My parents haven’t travelled to any of the countries I have in the past year, and yet they allow me to have these experiences at the young age of just 21. 40% of Canadians don’t have a passport. That means 40% of Canadians have not had the opportunity to explore outside of Canada. At this young age, I get the opportunity to live in three continents in two years, and to learn from those around me while doing so. Thinking like that put’s things into perspective pretty quickly for me.

For those of you who didn’t know, I arrived two days later than most students. While I naively though this wouldn’t be an issue, it was. It meant that I had to do a lot of the mandatory forms and appointments alone in a foreign country, as opposed to through the university. I truly would not have made it through the week and processes without the help of my friends. To name a few, Eureka, who stayed up till 1 AM to help the cab driver get into the school and take us to our dorms and to deliver washed bed sheets to me. Despite needing to study for her GRE, she went through all of that for me. To Julianne, who has accompanied me and helped me translate on multiple occasions, and given multiple hours of her own time to helping me get started up. To Florence, my buddy, who stayed at the bank for 4 hours to help Chiara and I get Chinese bank accounts on her day off. Lastly, to all of those who paid for my stuff before I had We Chat Pay, y’all are the real MVP’s.

I am extremely grateful to have this experience and to have people who are committed to ensuring that my start is as smooth as possible. These people have the biggest of hearts and the kindest of souls, I am very grateful for their help this week.

3. Open Mind

Lastly, I’d say having an open mind has made this experience as positive as possible. That spans from everything from food to differences in culture. Lots of the time I can’t read the signs for food and the English translations may not be exact, but I have yet to come across a dish that isn’t delicious. Some of the best foods have been those that take me a bit out of my comfort zone, like eating lotus or traditional Cantonese food in the old district of town.

These three things together have been pivotal in creating such an amazing experience so far! This is a beautiful country with such kind and welcoming people, I cannot wait to see what this term has in store.