Susanna SU

Student of The Australian National University, Australia
Exchange to Peking University, China

My exchange experience was so much more than exploring a new country - it was journeying to a country that I was familiar with, with fresh eyes.

My parents migrated to Australia from China over 20 years ago, and in all those years I only had the opportunity to visit their homeland a year before I went on exchange. That trip gave me a 6-day glimpse into the lives of people who shared my surname, who shared my ethnicity - and I was hooked.

I knew this wasn't the country that my parents left, or the country I saw through my parents' eyes. It was a rapidly transforming, confusing mix of individuals struggling to make sense of a new identity. I knew I wanted to leap into the throng, to try and make sense of this country that I could have found myself growing up in.

Beijing was the perfect spot to people-watch and engage in conversation. I found myself in raucous debates with local students over hotpot, I was swept up in the energy of the start-up scene, and I was inspired by the passionate circles of international students huddled in cafés who really wanted to understand China and do things for and in China.

Coming on exchange gave me the chance to re-connect with the people who matter. I traveled with my cousins who I met in person for the first time, I was able to make it to my grandfather's funeral, and I forged life-long friendships with a number of insightful, caring 'third culture' kids who inspire me to do more and be better because of the lucky circumstances I was born in. That's what exchange was to me - coming to a country I thought I knew with fresh eyes and having those expectations unbundled led me to turn to another country I thought I knew with fresh eyes, and renewed appreciation.

© Copyright 2018 CK Group. All rights reserved.