Michelle Guzman

             My journey to study abroad in China started like many ideas in my life. It started as a big dream. My first bachelor was in Business Administration outside of United State. When the millennium arrived, I established my permanent residency in United States. At that time, I decided to go in deep with my career and experience. As result, I learned English and finished an Associate in Internal Auditing.

             But the question is: When did I begin with the inquietude to learn about Asia and specifically about China? Two things converge to understand the beginning of my curiosity. First, my passion for different languages. Second, new professional demands for global employees.

             My passion for different languages has been present throughout my life. I fluently speak and write, Spanish, English and Portuguese. As well as you know, to speak other languages is a challenge. When I was finishing my English program, I encountered a group of Chinese people in the same path. In few weeks, we became friends. For many of occidental people, China, Chinese, and Mandarin are synonymous of complexity but astonishment, my new Chinese friends resulted a group of beautiful people, with similar ambitions: learn English, create a solid path of career with good salary, and a healthy life.  

             I very well noticed when they were speaking Mandarin; because obviously, I was excluded due to my ignorance not only in their language, also in their culture. Day by day, I was more attracted by the mandarin language. Every day, the topic of our conversations enriched my mind. We enjoyed conversations about topics like: immigrants and the new form of life in North America, different food, different religion, different languages, different forms of socialized, etc.  More and more, I was involved with them. English was the middle point because it was the common language for all of us. When we practiced English, we laughed together about our differences and unconsciously we were learning. In that precise moment, my interest started for the Asian culture and China was my main interest.

             In addition, I have been working for a global company with strong relations with Asian through its suppliers. I have been immersed in an environment of constant development. The business culture inside the company  established effective strategies to better negotiation with Asia and, one of these strategies was to learn about the culture and language in Asia. I embraced the company’s initiative; in consequence, I proposed to human resource department a pilot project for employees with long career inside of the company to take a program of Asian study. I work hard to find something suitable with our expectations and I was the pilot in this project.

             In fall 2016, I found the Florida International University, Asian Studies Program. This program fit my whole expectations and my employer expectations too. The deep knowledge about language and culture was involved and of course, the summer study abroad was included!   

In July 2018, I was inside an airplane traveling to Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province to start my study abroad program. This program was created by FIU and the Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (ZUST). I lived during one month like an international student resident in the ZUST. My dream became true. This is not be confuse, it was not a miracle, it was the result of lots of  hard work, team work and individual work. In this compendium of work, many people was involved such as, professors, coworkers, family members, and friends.

            My study abroad experience was a journey filled of happiness and lots of knowledge. Happiness came to me in a form of Hangzhou people and millennia places. Since I departed from Los Angeles Airport to Hangzhou, the change was touchable. Inside of the airplane you are the visitor, no more the resident. In other words, 90% of the airplane was filled with Asian people and the rest of Americans were the minority. Happiness and anxiety was mix of emotions.

            During my visit to China, every single day was a journey full of new interesting things. I cannot describe the splendid hostess that Chinese culture posses. I cannot describe the magnificent places located in Hangzhou, China. At the airport, I was received by a Chinese student with a perfect acknowledge of the English language. At the Hangzhou University, kindness, generosity, safety, and adventure were present every day. The study abroad program of FIU is a complete program of the real Asian culture. In class and in field trips, I learned about language, family, food, business, and school in a daily life between other things. I learned in a way that I would never forget. I learned living the experience of how to live in China. It was unforgettable! I left many beautiful friends in China. My Chinese friend, my acknowledges, and my memories are my treasures. My departure from China created a deep sorrow in my soul. Now, as I am writing  these lines, my heart receives a shock in a form of photo flash of these memories.

            I returned to United States convinced that many of our global cultural and economic controversies are the result of our ignorance. The FIU Study Abroad program in China creates not only global professional, but creates global humans. This program destroys our ignorance and builds strong benevolent bases to understand the difference between cultures. Many of us wrongly believe that simultaneous language translation technology replaces the barrier of the language. I strongly believe that technology could help us a lot but never replace the beauty of happiness involved in conversation and laugh around a table surrounded with people of other cultures.

            Since I decided to work hard to conquer this dream, I unconsciousness started my journey to become a global human. Now, I am a global human. I am a person that believes in the beauty and necessity of the human diversity, culture diversity, language diversity, inclusion and equity. In our actual world, we don’t have a better or a worst culture, we are simply different.

            The most important lesson of this journey is: it's never too late to learn about this magnificent world. Never is too late to be a better global human. Never give up on your dreams. Embrace it and conquer it!

            Thanks to Florida International University, department of Asian Studies, Professor Wang and Professor Ma, ZUST Study Abroad Professors and Summer Student Team,  my Chinese friends, and my family for such an amazing journey!