My first time studying abroad was in Granada, Spain, and it was a really challenging experience. I was taking classes for 30 hours a week taught entirely in Spanish, I was the furthest from home that I’d ever been, and I had no air conditioning despite it being terribly hot. However, I learned a lot during that time abroad about who I was and what I was capable of. It pushed me to begin studying Mandarin Chinese in college, which I'd always wanted to take but didn't because I was convinced it would be too difficult.
My Mandarin studies eventually led me to study abroad in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan. The study abroad trip with my Mandarin class was originally scheduled for Hong Kong and Taiwan, but was changed to Japan because of COVID restrictions. In Japan, I was able to see everything from the bustling city culture in Tokyo, the most populated city on the planet, to the imperial capital city, Nara, which is populated with a lot of very friendly deer (they bow if you give them a cookie!).
Before I started at UNCA, I was worried that I would be limiting myself by staying so close to home for college. On the contrary, UNCA gave me opportunities to travel the world and explore different cultures, places, foods and languages. I was able to study Spanish and Mandarin, travel the world, play college volleyball and make so many amazing friends. My experiences also encouraged me to continue pursuing adventures after college. Immediately after graduation, I left for a trip to Germany and the Netherlands with my best friend and sister.
After college, I spent a year working for local government through an AmeriCorps program called Lead for North Carolina in a small, rural community in Murphy, NC.
