I was given the incredible opportunity to live and study in China. Whilst I was there the magnitude of this opportunity was not lost on me and I embraced every chance presented to me to make the most out of my time there.
After 24 hours of travelling we arrived into Shanghai Pudong airport and were met by a number of student ambassadors at Shanghai Maritime University, who were incredibly accommodating and helpful. These ambassadors were honestly some of the kindest people I have ever encountered, and I would later develop strong relationships with each of them. On the journey to the university itself, we were given a program of our month ahead, which seemed absolutely jam-packed! My roommate Megan and I were thrilled for what was to come; we had bonded quickly over the course of our Mandarin classes together and had decided that we would be more than happy to share a room together.
At the opening ceremony we were formally welcomed to the university by the Vice Chancellor. At this ceremony we met a number of other international students who had come from Norway, Denmark, and Germany. That evening, all the international students we were treated to a meal with at a nearby restaurant. Over the course of the meal we got to know the other students who would spend the month with us and became accustomed with the Chinese cuisine. The student ambassadors we were joined by were surprised that we had never tried duck brain and encouraged us to give it a go, which we did cautiously!