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I don’t want to go home yet, so I’m not going to. I feel like I have just started to get comfortable in Shanghai, so why should I leave? I shouldn’t. Instead, I’m applying to internships in China for the summer.

Last weekend, I spent all of Saturday speaking Chinese because IES Abroad organized a BBQ with our language partners, and then we went to sing karaoke with them. One of the language partners said we should go shopping together next time we hang out. I was so excited because I had finally found someone to go shopping with in China, but I thought it was too late. I was thinking about how I was going to leave in 2 weeks, and wouldn’t have time to go shopping. However, when I woke up the next day, I realized I could still go shopping with my new Chinese friend! I would just stay here for the summer!

I have just gotten my foot in the door with speaking Chinese, and I don’t want to lose it by leaving China now. It was fun to rely on communication in Chinese with the language partners, and by the end of the night, I even started thinking in Chinese… for an hour…! I have always dreamed of thinking in Chinese. Therefore, I want to stay in China, so I can practice thinking in Chinese for longer than 60 minutes.

As a result, I started looking up internships in China, and I have been Skyping and applying my way through this week, along with getting ready for finals. When I told my parents that I was thinking about staying in China, I was really nervous because it would be more money coming out of their hard earned work, and my family is looking forward to me coming home. Of course, I want to see my family too, but they will always be there for me. I don’t know when the next opportunity for me to be in China will come around. Plus, my parents have been talking about coming to China as a family for as long as I can remember, and maybe they will make time to visit me this summer if I stay here. Anyways, my parents were really excited for me when I told them I wanted to stay, which was really nice because I was trying not to get too excited about the prospect of staying in China longer if my parents didn’t think it was a good idea.

However, it’s just a waiting game to see if I get any offers now. It makes me really nervous because I don’t know what I’m going to do this summer, but my parents said that I should embrace the unknown because I have so many different options. No matter what, I know my journey is not over. It’s just the beginning.