It's Been a While...

It has been over 6 months since I returned from my study abroad experience in China.  That's so hard to believe, it really does feel like just yesterday we were roaming the streets of Shanghai.  During these past 6 months, I completed my second Chevron internship, accepted a full-time job, survived the toughest semester of my college career and now have begun my last undergraduate semester at Purdue.

Where does the time go?  It's hard to stop and remember where we've been.  One of my closest friends has just begun his adventure in Shanghai as part of the same Engineering Term Abroad program I participated in last spring.  Never one to take many photos, he asked me about my photo-taking technique and then how to pick which photos to share on Facebook.  I looked through the photos I posted from my adventures last spring... there were only 1,929.  However, I took way more than that  - 12,433 to be exact.

Last spring, I tried to post only the photos that I thought people would find the most interesting, giving them a good overview of our experiences.  In reality, there are so many different stories that can be told about my 2013 China adventure.  It is very difficult to answer the questions, "So what was China really like?" or "How did your time abroad impact you?"  I spoke in the sophomore ME seminar class last fall and spent 20 minutes just on the impact of my time in China.  Honestly though, I could easily go on for hours about all of our observations and experiences.

The real answer is that it's hard to explain the true, powerful impact of a semester abroad.  Just like it's difficult to select the photos or the stories you want to share.  While in China, I loved the idea of writing a blog to show people what I was doing every day.  However, it was tough to sit down and reflect on things when I actually just wanted to keep exploring and seeing even more.  Now that I've been back, I've seen how my perspectives have grown, my communication and leadership skills are stronger, and how I'm even more open to new adventures than ever before.

A picture from our most recent China reunion:

First week of the new semester!  

In the next set of blog entries, I'm going to try to summarize more of my experiences from this past year.  2013 was a record year in so many ways... and 2014 is definitely shaping up to be full of new, fantastic experiences.  This semester I'm taking two engineering classes (one traditional and senior design) along with bowling, etiquette, personal finance and Spanish.  I'm also making time to exercise, learn to cook and make lots of fun memories as a Purdue senior.  More soon!